by Jo McNally
“You talk about Greensboro like it kicked your dog. Greensboro is a dot on a map. What is it that really chased you all the way to the Finger Lakes?”
Lucy was silent. Her tears had stopped. Thank God. She looked around the workroom. The coolers were full of assembled bouquets for weekend orders. Connie had a feeling Lucy wanted to be busy with something, but the work was done for the day.
“I like it here.” Lucy said the words softly, almost to herself.
“In Rendezvous Falls?” Connie asked. “That’s understandable, I guess. Even an old crank like me can see it has its qualities.”
Lucy shook her head. “No, I mean I like it here. In the shop. Doing this work. It’s what I’ve always wanted. No one ever listened when I tried to tell them that.” She blew her nose and sat straighter. “I could tell you all the things that chased me away from Greensboro, but it comes down to just...not being happy there. Not being heard. By anyone. I let it go on for years, waiting for things to change. I guess I finally realized that nothing would change if I didn’t make it change.” She smiled at Connie. “Maybe running away wasn’t the best way to make that happen, but it ended up showing me what I want. I want...this.” She gestured around the workroom.
“You want my business?”
“Well, I’m not claiming it by eminent domain or anything.” Lucy laughed. “But if you’re ever looking for a partner...”
Connie’s eyes widened. A partner? She’d never considered that as an option. She’d thought her choices were sell or keep. She hated the idea of selling, regardless of how much pressure her son and daughter-in-law put on her. Or maybe because of all that pressure. Lord knew she could be too stubborn for her own good. But a partner...that might be a happy medium. Someone to share the workload.
“That’s an interesting proposal.” She picked up her water glass, then set it down sharply. “This conversation requires something stronger than water.” Instead of going for the chilled wine she kept in the cooler, she went to the corner cabinet and pulled out the good stuff—a bottle of Courvoisier. Dumping the water from their glasses, she splashed the cognac in its place, then sat back down.
The task gave her time to think beyond the immediate appeal of a talented young partner who knew the business. She liked Lucy. But...
“I’ve only known you for a minute, Lucy Higgins. And one of the things I do know about you is that you took off and left a lot of people hanging back in North Carolina. Regardless of your reasons, it doesn’t look great on a résumé.” She sipped her drink, watching Lucy over the top of her glass. “And I can’t help but wonder if you have some secret stash of investment money you haven’t mentioned yet. I’m not just gifting you half of my business.”
Lucy frowned into her drink, her mouth pressed into a thin straight line. She stayed like that for a moment before swallowing hard and meeting Connie’s gaze. “Fair enough. I’d have to work my way into full partnership. But you know I’ve got the skills and the energy to do it. As far as my recent history...that’s an...aberration...”
“Really? Tell me your work history before that.”
She chewed her lip before answering. “I had a job in Wilmington after college. For a tax preparation company.” She brightened. “But I worked part-time for a florist in town. On weekends and before the big flower holidays.”
“For how many years?”
“Uh...a few.... The only reason I left was that I had to go home to the mountains to care for my grandmother. She had cancer and needed live-in help.”
“And you have training in home health care as well as accounting and flowers?”
Lucy paled. “No, but she was my grandmother. My parents didn’t want some stranger living with her, so they asked me to come home.”
Connie narrowed her eyes at her. “You just dropped everything and left Wilmington? I’m sensing a pattern.”
* * *
LUCY WANTED TO ARGUE, but what could she say? Becoming Connie’s partner had been barely the whisper of an idea. She hadn’t thought it through. Just blurted it out.
“I don’t think that’s fair, Connie. Yes, I left Wilmington, but it was to help my family. You can’t hold that against me. And I didn’t leave everything—I met Owen when I was in Wilmington. I kept him.”
Connie took another sip of her drink. “For a while, maybe. Were you the only family member who could care for her? Even though it meant giving up your job and moving across the state?”
“I was very close to my grandmother.” She closed her eyes. There was no point in denying the truth. “I’ve always been the one to give up things, Connie. It’s just how it was. My older sister was sick as a child—leukemia. I gave up music classes. I gave up school activities. But she was sick and...my parents needed me.”
“Ah, I see,” Connie said. “I had you pegged as a feisty one, but you’re really a people pleaser, aren’t you?”
“That’s me.” Lucy lifted her glass in a mock toast. “Although I think Owen’s mom would argue about me pleasing anyone.”
“So you were a people pleaser right up until your wedding day?”
“Something like that.” Exactly like that. “I just couldn’t do it anymore.” She gave herself a mental shake. “But we’re drifting from the subject of a partnership. Is that really something you’d consider?”
“Are you serious about the offer?”
“Yes. I haven’t thought through all the details of making it work, but yes.” She looked around the cozy-but-efficient workroom. “I know it’s fast, but I’m interested. I meant it when I said I love this place. And Rendezvous Falls feels like...”
“Home? After a month?”
“It feels like it could be, yes.”
“And Owen?
Her face heated. “What about him?”
“Don’t play coy, Lucy.” Connie’s brows drew together. “I don’t want to start making business plans and wake up to find you’ve packed up and left for North Carolina with him. You have the right to do what you want, of course, but I don’t want to be left dangling in the wind.”
“Owen is not going to get me back to North Carolina.” She held up her hand. “And yes, I know Greensboro is just a dot on a map, but it represents more than that to me. It’s where our families are, and if I go back...”
“You’re afraid you’ll fall back into your old patterns of making everyone happy but yourself?”
Lucy chuckled. “You’re pretty smart, Connie.”
That was exactly it. She wanted Owen, but she didn’t want Greensboro. And she couldn’t imagine Owen turning his back on his parents’ plans for him.
“Maybe,” Connie answered with a soft smile. “But what’s going to stop you from trying to please everyone here in Rendezvous Falls?” The older woman’s voice sharpened. “What if I have a bad spell with the Parkinson’s and I say you have to do everything for the shop? What if I ask you to move into my house and take care of me? Would you turn into Florence Nightingale all over again? Or would you run?”
Lucy pursed her lips, trying to decide how serious Connie was. And trying to decide the answers to the questions. It wasn’t a bad thing to care about other people, was it?
“Is your Parkinson’s getting worse? Have you had trouble at home?”
“Of course not. She’ll outlive us all and laugh about it.” Cecile Manning stood in the doorway. “What brought on this morbid conversation? You two didn’t even hear us come in.”
“Us?” Lucy stood. “A customer?”
“No, it’s just Maura and Vickie.”
“Oh, thanks a lot.” Lucy recognized Maura McKinnon’s voice, although she couldn’t see her. She’d met her one morning at the diner, having breakfast with her granddaughter Bridget. They’d been working on wedding plans for Bridget’s upcoming marriage to Finn. “But she’s right, dear.” Maura called out. “There’s no hurry. Just picking up Bridget’s
order for the bachelorette party she’s catering at the pub tonight, but we’re early. Vickie is in a roaring hurry today.”
Vickie Pendergast muttered something they couldn’t hear, but Lucy was pretty sure it rhymed with witch.
Cecile leaned farther into the workroom, barely whispering as she pointed between Connie and Lucy. “I want to hear more about this later.”
Connie grabbed Lucy’s hand as she stepped away.
“For the record, I’m fine. The new meds seem to be working, actually. I was just trying to make a point.”
“I... I’m glad you’re doing well. But you scared me.” She patted Connie’s shoulder. “And you also gave me something to think about. But I’d still like you to think about...” She glanced at Cecile, and noticed Vickie’s silver-blond hair right behind her. Connie had mentioned Vickie could be a busybody. “About what we discussed.”
Cecile and Vickie both gave her a curious look when she walked out to the front of the shop, but she just flashed them a cheerful grin as if she hadn’t just been drinking cognac with her boss in the middle of the afternoon.
As if she hadn’t just floated the idea of becoming a partner in Rendezvous Blooms.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“TIMBER!”
Luke Rutledge called out as a huge limb from a maple tree along the side of the vineyard came down with a crash. Logan Taggart was on the far side of Luke, where he’d been holding a rope to keep the limb from falling on the rows of grapevines. Luke nudged Owen’s arm, then called up to the guy in the tree, who’d turned off his chain saw and let it swing from the strap over his shoulder.
“As long as you’re up there, let’s get that other low-hanging limb out of there. Can you reach it?”
“Hell yeah, I can reach it. Let me just adjust my harness hookup.” Burly and bearded, Zayne Taggart easily maneuvered himself to the other side of the tree, bracing one foot on the stump of the limb he’d just cut, and fastening his safety strap around a larger one above him. On the ground he moved with a noticeable limp, but you’d never know it watching him up in that tree. Owen looked at Luke and shook his head with a laugh.
“Your brother is a beast!”
“Tell me about it. He’s unstoppable.” Luke looked down the treeline. “That storm last winter damaged a lot of our trees. I’m glad we’re getting them trimmed. Thanks for helping. I don’t imagine you have much experience with winter storms.”
He waited as Zayne made quick work of the other tree limb with the chain saw. “Guess again, pal. I’ve seen my share of snow.” Just thinking about it made his body tense.
Logan walked over after watching Zayne come down the ladder and out of the tree. “Give me a break. I’ve lived in the South, man, and what you call snow is not what we call snow.”
“Yeah? You ever been to Kabul in January, or up in the Hindu Kush mountains when the temps are below zero before the winds starts howling and the avalanches start breaking free?” He didn’t realize how much his voice had raised until he stopped for a breath. He jammed his fingers through his hair, turning away from the men who’d been nothing but generous with him the past few weeks. A hand rested on his shoulder. It was Logan.
“That was stupid of me. I don’t know how I forgot that you’d served over there.”
“Yeah.” Luke’s voice was filled with regret. “Sorry, Owen.”
Owen nodded. “It’s okay.” He blew out a long breath, trying to slow his adrenaline. He’d been so focused on fixing things with Lucy that sometimes he forgot about what happened over there. It was always a jolt when the memories hit.
Zayne moved in front of him, leaning over and looking up, waiting for Owen to open his eyes. The other man stared hard at him, frowning. Then he straightened with a sorrowful shake of his head.
“I know we just met pal, but you are not okay.”
He stood tall and did his best to smile. “I’m good. It’s not a happy memory, that’s all.”
“When did you get out?” Zayne didn’t look like he’d served. There was a certain way military people carried themselves, and this guy didn’t have it. But he did have that limp.
“I was out in March. You?”
“Never got the chance. Car accident messed up my leg when I was young. But I volunteer at the VA clinic up in Auburn. I drive veterans to their appointments and help them get settled and fill out their forms and stuff. I got to know a lot of the guys. And women.” He shifted his weight. “Especially the ones going to group therapy. They tell me it helps to talk.”
There was a beat of silence among the four men. Luke finally gave his brother a shove. “How many times have I told you to employ that filter of yours?” He turned to Owen. “Zayne spent ten years or so as a hermit, and his social skills are rusty.”
Owen held his hand up. “It’s cool. I got the message.” He looked at Zayne, who didn’t look at all sorry. Owen respected that. “You’re not the first one to suggest therapy, but I don’t think it’s for me.”
Zayne shrugged. “I didn’t think it was for me, either, but hey... I’m not a hermit anymore, and I haven’t had a drink in five years, so it seems like maybe it worked.”
“I thought you said you weren’t a vet?”
“I’m not. But my doc has a private practice as well as working the clinic. He’s the one who suggested volunteering to get me out my own head and thinking about other people.” He pulled off his leather work gloves and fished his wallet out of his pocket. He handed Owen a card. “If you change your mind, Dr. Curtis is good at helping you sort through those memories. Especially the not happy ones.”
Instead of smacking at his brother, Luke pulled him into a bear hug. “I don’t tell you often enough how proud I am of you.”
Logan caught Owen’s eye, looking bemused. “I’m pretty sure I heard something about drinking wine after we played lumberjack.”
Luke and Zayne stepped apart, but it was clear that there was a lot going on between them still. Owen clapped his hands, eager to move past all this unexpected emotioning.
“I hope there’s some beer in this place. Wine is really not my thing.”
Luke clasped his hands to his chest dramatically. “You do realize you’re in wine country here, right? That you’re standing in a vineyard? At a winery?” He turned to head down the hill. “And yes, I have beer. My pal has a microbrewery between here and Watkins Glen, and I always have some in the cooler.”
The men headed down to the winery...a Victorian miniature of the main house on the opposite side of the parking lot. Before they went inside, Owen glanced back up the hill, toward where he and Lucy had lunched before strolling into the trees. Where they’d kissed. Now that was a happy memory he didn’t mind hanging on to.
Zayne stopped at the door, looking back at Owen. “You good, man?”
Surely that kiss had changed things between him and Lucy. Surely she’d give him a chance now.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
* * *
LUCY STOOD ON the sidewalk just past Piper and Logan’s pink house and looked at the very similar home right next door. Same lacy gingerbread trim. Same covered front porch. Same long, narrow footprint, with a garage behind the house. Instead of the cotton candy pink of the Taggart house with all its heart-shaped trim, this house was many shades of yellow and gold. The trim around the windows was almost orange. She rolled her eyes. Who was she kidding—it was orange. There weren’t any hearts in sight, but there were wooden designs under the upstairs windows that were shaped like tulips.
“What do you think?” Piper stepped off her front porch, carrying two bottles of water. It was hot and humid that afternoon, and there were storms in the forecast later that week. She handed one bottle to Lucy. “It’s cute, right?”
“Cute is one word for it.” Lucy shielded her face with one hand. “Sunny would be another.”
“The Three Sisters ar
e famous in Rendezvous Falls!” Piper laughed, gesturing toward the third house, which was shades of mint green, with leaf-shaped details.
“Three Sisters?”
“Iris told me that back in the 1800s, the guy who had the inn built wanted to build housing for his staff. He only got as far as these three houses. The floor plans are almost identical. People started calling them the Three Sisters, with the inn as the momma.” She shook a key ring in front of her. “Wanna take a look inside?”
“You really think I can afford to rent a whole house?” They walked past the For Sale sign and up to the porch and Piper unlocked the door.
“The owners have about a dozen of these vacation rentals between the Glen and Lake Ontario. They’re trying to sell some of them, including the yellow Sister. But in the meantime, they don’t mind doing rentals.” She stepped inside and Lucy followed. “Especially when they think you might be a buyer...”
“What? I can’t afford to buy a house. I don’t even think I can afford to rent one.”
“I didn’t promise them anything. I just told them you were a friend who was thinking of moving here. They loved the idea of a nice single lady, whom I vouched for, renting long-term, instead of having revolving vacationers in and out every week while the place is on the market.” Piper pulled open the heavy drapes on the trio of large front windows. “Besides, even with your friends-and-family discount at the inn, the monthly rent here will be less than our nightly room rate. And it’s fully furnished!” She swung her arm around at the living room, and Lucy started to laugh.
“Yeah...like a funeral parlor.” It wasn’t ugly, just very... Victorian. A large tufted sofa sat in front of the windows, upholstered in burgundy velvet. The walls were sage green, and the curtains were dark gold brocade, with tasseled ropes holding them back. There were a few wingback chairs and ornate little marble-top tables. The wall opposite the sofa was covered with portraits of Victorian men and women—some were photographs and some were painted.
Piper grimaced. “I know. They went a little overboard with the Rendezvous Falls historical theme. But the kitchen is fully updated—it’s fancier than mine next door. And when I say the place is fully furnished, I mean dishes, cookware, linens...the works. There’s even a cute little deck out back with a wrought-iron table and chairs. I could walk over and have an evening glass of wine with you.”