In the Garden Trilogy (15 page)

“It’s after you have them you learn to be afraid of everything.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Roz scooped her fingers through her hair twice. “I’ll make a few calls, find out a little more about that part of the Ashby family. I honestly don’t remember very well. We never had much contact, even when he was alive. I do remember the scandal when the wife took off, left him with the baby. From the impression she made on me, and you, apparently he managed very well.”

“Her managerial experience could be a real asset.”

“Another manager.” Roz, in a gesture Stella took as only half mocking, cast her eyes to heaven. “Pray for me.”

IT DIDN’T TAKE TWO WEEKS. AFTER TWO DAYS, STELLA decided Hayley was going to be the answer to her personal prayer. Here was someone with youth, energy, and enthusiasm who understood and appreciated efficiency in the workplace.

She knew how to read and generate spreadsheets, understood instructions after one telling, and respected color codes. If she was half as good relating to customers as she was with filing systems, she would be a jewel.

When it came to plants, she didn’t know much more than the basic this is a geranium, and this is a pansy. But she could be taught.

Stella was already prepared to beg Roz to offer Hayley part-time work when May got closer.

“Hayley?” Stella poked her head in the now efficient and tidy office. “Why don’t you come out with me? We’ve got nearly an hour before we open. We’ll have a lesson on shade plants in Greenhouse Number Three.”

“Cool. We’re input through the H’s in perennials. I don’t know what half of them are, but I’m doing some reading up at night. I didn’t know sunflowers were called Helia ... wait. Helianthus.”

“It’s more that Helianthus are called sunflowers. The perennial ones can be divided in spring, or propagated by seeds—in the spring—or cuttings in late spring. Seeds from annual Helianthus can be harvested—from that big brown eye—in late summer or early fall. Though the cultivars hybridize freely, they may not come true from the seeds collected. And I’m lecturing.”

“That’s okay. I grew up with a teacher. I like to learn.”

As they passed through the counter area, Hayley glanced out the window. “Truck just pulled in over by the ... what do y’all call them? Pavers,” she said before Stella could answer. “And, mmmm, just
look
at what’s getting out of that truck. Mister tall, dark, and totally
built.
Who’s the hunk?”

Struggling not to frown, Stella lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “That would be Logan Kitridge, Roz’s landscape designer. I suppose he does score fairly high on the hunk-o-meter.”

“Rings my bell.” At Stella’s expression, Hayley pressed a hand to her belly and laughed. “I’m pregnant. Still have all working parts, though. And just because I’m not looking for a man doesn’t mean I don’t want to look at one. Especially when he’s yummy. He really is all tough and broody-looking, isn’t he? What is it about tough, broody-looking men that gives you that tickle down in the belly?”

“I couldn’t say. What’s he doing over there?”

“Looks like he’s loading pavers. If it wasn’t so cool, he’d pull off that jacket. Bet we’d get a real muscle show. God, I do love my eye candy.”

“That sort’ll give you cavities,” Stella mumbled. “He’s not scheduled for pavers. He hasn’t put in the order for pavers. Damn it!”

Hayley’s eyebrows shot up as Stella stomped to the door and slammed out. Then she pressed her nose to the window, prepared to watch the show.

“Excuse me?”

“Uh-huh?” Hayley’s answer was absent as she tried to get a better look outside. Then she popped back from the window, remembering spying was one thing, getting caught at it another. She turned, put on an innocent smile. And decided she’d gotten a double serving of eye candy.

This one wasn’t big and broody, but sort of lanky and dreamy. And hot damn. It took an extra beat for her brain to engage, but she was quick.

“Hey! You must be Harper. You look just like your mama. I didn’t get a chance to meet you yet, ’cause you never seemed to be around wherever I was around. Or whenever. I’m Hayley. Cousin Hayley from Little Rock? Maybe your mama told you I was working here now.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” He couldn’t think of anything else. Could barely think at all. He felt lightning-struck and stupid.

“Do you just
love
working here? I do already. There’s so much of everything, and the customers are so friendly. And Stella, she’s just amazing, that’s all. Your mama’s like, I don’t know, a goddess, for giving me a chance this way.”

“Yeah.” He winced. Could he
be
any more lame? “They’re great. It’s great.” Apparently he could. And damn it, he was good with women. Usually. But one look at this one had given him some sort of concussion. “You, ah, do you need anything?”

“No.” She gave him a puzzled smile. “I thought you did.”

“I need something? What?”

“I don’t know.” She laid a hand on the fascinating mound of her belly and laughed, all throaty and free. “You’re the one who came in.”

“Right. Right. No, nothing. Now. Later. I’ve got to get back.” Outside, in the air, where he should be able to breathe again.

“It was nice meeting you, Harper.”

“You, too.” He glanced back as he retreated and saw she was already back at the window.

OUTSIDE, STELLA SPED ACROSS THE PARKING AREA. She called out twice, and the second time got a quick glance and an absent wave. Building up steam as she went, she pumped it out the minute she reached the stacks of pavers.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Playing tennis. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like you’re taking material you haven’t ordered, that you haven’t been authorized to take.”

“Really?” He hauled up another stack. “No wonder my backhand is rusty.” The truck shuddered as he loaded. “Hey.”

Much to her amazement, he leaned toward her, sniffed. “Different shampoo. Nice.”

“Stop smelling me.” She waved him away by flapping a hand at his chin as she stepped back.

“I can’t help it. You’re standing right there. I have a nose.”

“I need the paperwork on this material.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fine, fine, fine. I’ll come in and take care of it after I’m loaded.”

“You’re supposed to take care of it
before
you load.”

He turned, aimed a hot look with those mossy green eyes. “Red, you’re a pain in the ass.”

“I’m supposed to be. I’m the manager.”

He had to smile at that, and he tipped down his sunglasses to look over them at her. “You’re real good at it, too. Think of it this way. The pavers are stored on the way to the building. By loading first, then coming in, I’m actually being more efficient.”

The smile morphed into a smirk. “That’d be important, I’d think, if we were doing, say, a projection of man-hours.”

He took a moment to lean against the truck and study her. Then he loaded another stack of pavers. “You standing here watching me means you’re wasting time, and likely adding to your own man-hours.”

“You don’t come in to handle the paperwork, Kitridge, I’ll hunt you down.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

He took his time, but he came in.

He was calculating how best to annoy Stella again. Her eyes went the color of Texas bluebonnets when she was pissed off. But when he stepped in, he saw Hayley.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she said back and smiled. “I’m Hayley Phillips. A family connection to Roz’s first husband? I’m working here now.”

“Logan. Nice to meet you. Don’t let this Yankee scare you.” He nodded toward Stella. “Where are the sacred forms, and the ritual knife so I can slice open a vein and sign them in blood?”

“My office.”

“Uh-huh.” But he lingered rather than following her. “When’s the baby due?” he asked Hayley.

“May.”

“Feeling okay?”

“Never better.”

“Good. This here’s a nice outfit, a good place to work
most
of the time. Welcome aboard.” He sauntered into Stella’s office, where she was already at her computer, with the form on the screen.

“I’ll type this one up to save time. There’s a whole stack of them in that folder. Take it. All you have to do is fill them in as needed, date, sign or initial. Drop them off.”

“Uh-huh.” He looked around the room. The desk was cleared off. There were no cartons, no books sitting on the floor or stacked on chairs.

That was too bad, he thought. He’d liked the workaday chaos of it.

“Where’s all the stuff in here?”

“Where it belongs. Those pavers were the eighteen-inch round, number A-23?”

“They were eighteen-inch rounds.” He picked up the framed photo on her desk and studied the picture of her boys and their dog. “Cute.”

“Yes, they are. Are the pavers for personal use or for a scheduled job?”

“Red, you ever loosen up?”

“No. We Yankees never do.”

He ran his tongue over his teeth. “Um-hmm.”

“Do you know how
sick
I am of being referred to as ‘the Yankee,’ as though it were a foreign species, or a disease? Half the customers who come in here look me over like I’m from another planet and may not be coming in peace. Then I have to tell them I was born here, answer all sorts of questions about why I left, why I’m back, who my
people
are, for Christ’s sake, before I can get down to any sort of business. I’m from Michigan, not the moon, and the Civil damn War’s been over for quite some time.”

Yep, just like Texas bluebonnets. “That would be the War Between the damn States this side of the Mason-Dixon, honey. And looks to me like you loosen up just fine when you get riled enough.”

“Don’t ‘honey’ me in that southern-fried twang.”

“You know, Red, I like you better this way.”

“Oh, shut up. Pavers. Personal or professional use?”

“Well, that depends on your point of view.” Since there was room now, he edged a hip onto the corner of the desk. “They’re for a friend. I’m putting in a walkway for her—my own time, no labor charge. I told her I’d pick up the materials and give her a bill from the center.”

“We’ll consider that personal use and apply your employee discount.” She began tapping keys. “How many pavers?”

“Twenty-two.”

She tapped again and gave him the price per paver, before discount, after discount.

Impressed despite himself, he tapped the monitor. “You got a math nerd trapped in there?”

“Just the wonders of the twenty-first century. You’d find it quicker than counting on your fingers.”

“I don’t know. I’ve got pretty fast fingers.” Drumming them on his thigh, he kept his gaze on her face. “I need three white pine.”

“For this same
friend
?”

“No.” His grin flashed, fast and crooked. If she wanted to interpret “friend” as “lover,” he couldn’t see any point in saying the pavers were for Mrs. Kingsley, his tenth-grade English teacher. “Pine’s for a client. Roland Guppy. Yes, like the fish. You’ve probably got him somewhere in your vast and mysterious files. We did a job for him last fall.”

Since there was a coffeemaker on the table against the wall, and the pot was half full, he got up, took a mug, and helped himself.

“Make yourself at home,” Stella said dryly.

“Thanks. As it happens, I recommended white pine for a windbreak. He hemmed and hawed. Took him this long to decide to go for it. He called me at home yesterday. I said I’d pick them up and work him in.”

“We need a different form.”

He sampled the coffee. Not bad. “Somehow I knew that.”

“Are the pavers all you’re taking for personal use?”

“Probably. For today.”

She hit Print, then brought up another form. “That’s three white pine. What size?”

“We got some nice eight-foot ones.”

“Balled and burlapped?”