Love on Lavender Lane

by Karis Walsh

  Paige cleared her throat and stood up. “Speaking of the public, they’ll be here soon. Are the craft kits ready to go?”

  Kassidy nodded and got up as well, hauling a box full of lavender bundles out from under the booth’s table. “What’s yours?” she asked.

  Paige was arranging sample crafts on one side of the table and she gave Kassidy a quizzical look. “My what?”

  “You described my ideal morning, when I feel connected to my farm and happy to be there. What’s your passion?”

  Paige laughed, but without any of the humor and joy Kassidy had come to expect from her. “I don’t have one of my own. I guess my ideal life is helping people figure out how to have theirs without going bankrupt.”

  “That’s a good reason to feel proud,” Kassidy said, but Paige merely shrugged without taking her eyes off the table in front of her.

  * * *

  After three hours of sharing her passion for lavender and helping visitors at the booth fumble through their crafts, Kassidy felt a renewed sense of irritation toward Paige for making her come to the fair. Maybe Paige was wrong, and Kassidy could just hide out on her farm, avoiding all contact with the public. Who cared if she went broke after a couple years? It would probably take that long before the muscles in her face—unused to forcing a smile for hours at a time—finally healed.

  Paige, on the other hand, had annoyingly gotten more cheerful as the day wore on. Whenever someone got frustrated with their craft, unable to recreate Kassidy’s elegant examples, Paige would bring out the wand she had made last night and would soon have the child or adult joining in her laughter. They walked away from the booth in love with their imperfect creations.

  “Where are the doughnuts?” Kassidy asked, getting on her hands and knees and looking through the empty boxes under the table.

  “You’ve had four,” Paige said, putting the last few craft bags out on display. “You’re going to have a massive sugar crash any minute now.”

  “That’s why I need another one,” Kassidy snapped, letting her public mask slip a little. Or maybe a lot, since Paige raised her eyebrows at the surly tone. “Sorry. You seem to thrive on this. It’s draining me.”

  “I have more experience being in situations where I need to behave a certain way. You’ll build up your stamina for it.”

  “So this is an act? You’re not having fun, you’re just better at hiding your aggravation than I am?”

  “Yes,” Paige said, looking like she was trying to force a serious expression on her face. She laughed. “Well, no. I’m having a blast. This is a vacation for me, though. You’re still trying to come to terms with a change in lifestyle. It’s understandable that you aren’t enjoying this as much as I am.”

  Somehow, being understood only made Kassidy feel more annoyed. Paige merely grinned and handed her a bottle of water, which was an unacceptable substitution for a glazed doughnut.

  “I gave the rest of the box to Jessica and asked her to either eat them or hide them from you. Were you planning to inhale the entire dozen?”

  “I thought you might want one or two, but otherwise, yes.” Kassidy took a drink of water and nearly choked on it. She grabbed Paige’s shirt and pulled at her until she was standing between Kassidy and the public front of the booth. “Hide me. Here come the Wilsons, and they’ve multiplied.”

  * * *

  Even though Kassidy had initially agreed with Paige’s description of a summer morning as her favorite place to be, she discovered a new, better version of heaven later that afternoon, sitting on her flimsy plastic chair next to Drew and Jessica, with a glass of wine in her hand and absolutely no need to smile unless she felt like it.

  She had survived, though. Her farm had made its first steps toward being a public commodity, and she had made it through with nothing worse than sore cheekbones and a torn bedsheet from when she had tripped over one end of it. She even had a newfound love for the Wilsons since, between their kids and the friends they had brought with them, they had purchased the last of her crafts, allowing her to close the booth and Paige to go back to her inn and get Dante.

  “Ouch,” Kassidy said under her breath, massaging her jaw when a small, real smile escaped. She’d never tell Paige, but she had enjoyed talking to the Wilsons again, especially since they seemed so appreciative of her lavender. And while she was keeping secrets from Paige, she’d also definitely hide the fact that she had been slightly disappointed when they were finished working in the booth together. They had been in close quarters all day, touching each other with brief flashes of heat, although Kassidy was sure she was the only one who had felt the warmth of Paige’s touch. Paige’s hand on her waist when she had to move around her to the other side of the booth. Her fingers brushing against Kassidy’s, leaving a trail of sparks with the tiniest of touches when one of them handed a craft to the other.

  Kassidy had needed to remind herself that Paige was here for a month or so, not forever. Next year—if Kassidy managed to follow Paige’s business plan and didn’t give up—Kassidy would be working at the festival on her own. Paige was a temporary business partner, not a life partner. Kassidy frowned and took a sip of her wine. How had Paige become a fixture in her life when they hadn’t spent more than a handful of days together? She could already imagine how quiet the booth—and her life—would be without Paige’s laughter filling in the empty spaces. But Kassidy didn’t want someone stepping permanently into her life. She’d lost confidence in herself with Audrey, and now she wasn’t sure she could ever be in a relationship without reverting to the frightened six-year-old whose father had disappeared into the city and her mother into the confines of her dark bedroom.

  Nothing was stopping Kassidy from seeking pleasure though, when she could control how close she got to someone and let them go when she felt herself getting too deeply involved. That’s all she would want from Paige—a chance to explore the currents between them and an opportunity to gather some memories that would keep her warm during the nights when she was alone. An opportunity to beta test the Valentine’s Day basket before offering it to the public. Knowing Paige had her life in the city and wouldn’t stay in McMinnville made it even more tempting to think of being with her. If only the pesky fact of their professional relationship wasn’t an issue…

  Kassidy needed to stop thinking of Paige in personal terms and pay more attention to her as a consultant because, truthfully, Paige was much better at marketing Kassidy’s business than she was. When someone had mentioned how good their hands smelled after working with the lavender, Paige had vanished, reappearing seconds later with a bottle of appropriately, yet cumbersomely, labeled Lavender Lane Farm Goat’s Milk Lotion to give to the visitor. And somehow, while Kassidy was helping a child make a wreath, Paige hurried around the festival and returned with an armful of lavender products to display and business cards from the vendors who sold them. She saw the big picture and was working on establishing relationships with these strangers who came to the booth. Kassidy had barely been able to concentrate on the person in front of her at the time, willing them to hurry through their crafts and leave her alone so she could eat another doughnut.

  Kassidy laughed to herself. In her heart, she was proud of how she had done. She would get better as she adjusted to a new way of living and selling her lavender. She might be slow to accept change, but she was aware enough to see the necessity of it. She’d adapt.

  Kassidy had been slouching wearily in her chair, but she sat up when the first entrant in the dog agility class came into the ring. The events so far had included wiener dog races and a costume contest. Not exactly the high stakes type of competition Paige claimed to crave. Kassidy could see them standing among the other dogs and owners, and Paige appeared to be giving Dante a pep talk, probably similar to the one she had given Kassidy today.

  “Are they any good?” Drew asked, leaning across Jessica’s lap toward her. “I saw her walking him around town last weekend and I’d be surprised if she didn’t have rope burns
.”

  “Paige says speed and independence are desirable qualities for an agility dog,” Kassidy said, repeating what Paige had told her before she left the fair to get her dog. “Actually, though, she seems to think he’d win the Tour de France if he could just reach the bike pedals, so I’m not sure if her expectations are realistic.”

  The dog events were a recent addition to the fair, but the turnout was impressive, with a mix of owners with well-trained, speedy dogs and ones that looked like they decided to enter on a whim and had never actually seen an agility course before.

  Kassidy shouted her encouragement when it was Paige’s turn, and Dante promptly galloped over to visit her on the sidelines.

  “Oops,” Kassidy said when Paige came to herd him back toward the obstacles. “At least the timer hasn’t started yet.”

  Paige winked at her. “You’re quite a distraction for us.”

  Kassidy pressed her lips together to hide her smile, pretending she didn’t see Jessica and Drew nudging each other, and wondering if Paige had really meant to include herself when she said us.

  Dante’s obedience didn’t improve when the whistle blew, and he and Paige started the course. He apparently wasn’t only interested in Kassidy, because he stopped by the sideline for a pat every time he passed a child among the spectators. He followed Paige around most of the obstacles instead of going over or through them, and at one point he disappeared into the tunnel and didn’t emerge again for an unusually long time. By the end, Paige was laughing as hard as the audience. Dante got the loudest cheers of any of the dogs when he sailed over a jump at the end of the course, heading in the wrong direction, but leaping with exuberance.

  Paige clapped, too, and praised him as she snapped on his leash and led him out of the ring. Kassidy watched with curiosity. She didn’t doubt that Paige had believed her own words when she talked about her competitive drive, but she looked far too happy for someone who had claimed to have adopted Dante solely for his agility championship potential. She had made a comment about wearing a mask to hide her true nature when she was around clients, and Kassidy wondered if Paige had been wearing it so long that she’d started to believe it was real, too.

  Chapter Twelve

  Paige was glad to have Dante to care for during the rest of their stay at the fair. He was enthralled by all the people and the permeating smell of food, and he kept her busy so she didn’t have to face the temptation of touching Kassidy. She had given in to the desire to reach for her too often while they were in the farm’s booth, sometimes out of necessity when Paige needed to get by her, but usually just because she wanted to.

  Kassidy was filled with contrasts, and Paige wanted to explore them all. She was a talented chef who made exquisite dishes, yet had a serious junk food addiction. Her hands were as soft and scented as if she had just gotten an expensive manicure, but when Paige had held her hand this morning, she had felt calluses at the base of her fingers and had seen the short, rough fingernails of a person who spent most of her days digging in the dirt. She was fiercely private, but willing to hang her sheets out in public because the color was pretty, and the booth needed decoration.

  Oh, those sheets. Paige had thought the green material nice enough when she first saw it. When Kassidy told her where they had come from, however, Paige hadn’t been able to stop her imagination from zooming directly to the bed itself, with Kassidy naked and warm and reaching for Paige…

  A steady pull on the leash brought her back to the present. Dante was aiming toward another food booth, of course.

  “Maybe you should train him as a retriever, instead. Find the pizza, Dante. Good boy!” Kassidy grinned and patted his head as she walked to the counter and bought two slices.

  “Thank you,” Paige said, accepting the piece of pizza when Kassidy handed it to her. “He showed great promise today on the course. We need to work on going in the right direction, but he was really fast.”

  “Fast? He sat inside the tunnel for two minutes.” Kassidy shook her head and took a big bite of pizza.

  “She’s exaggerating. Don’t listen to her,” Paige told Dante, giving him a tiny bite of her cheese.

  They started walking again, bumping shoulders whenever they were in a crowded area. Paige knew she could have moved a few inches over and avoided any contact whatsoever, but Kassidy could have moved just as easily, so Paige stayed where she was. It was innocent touching, just like this morning’s hand-holding had only been a way to get Kassidy’s attention and to offer support.

  Yeah, right. Paige hadn’t made any effort to hold Kenneth’s hand during her consulting job with his firm. She needed to be honest with herself and admit she was attracted to Kassidy. Then she had to be on guard against any attempt her damned body made to ignore their business relationship and explore the options for something more.

  Paige took a deep breath and altered her steps enough to keep their shoulders well apart. Kassidy didn’t seem to notice, and she made no effort to get close to Paige again. Kassidy seemed lost in thought and content to meander through the festival with Paige and Dante.

  At least the lack of physical contact helped Paige focus a little better on doing her job. She had been pleased with the way the festival had gone. She had veered away from her usual consulting process with Kassidy by introducing parts of her proposal before she had finished her evaluation phase. Usually, she provided a complete business plan all at once, instead of piecemeal, but she couldn’t treat Kassidy’s business like one of her corporations. The fair had been a perfect way to push Kassidy to make a change, and the rest of Paige’s ideas would follow organically from this one. Plus, she was entranced by this community, with its artisanal, collaborative feel. She wanted to be part of it for a short time, and she had a chance to be in Kassidy’s world when they tried out Paige’s plans together instead of Paige telling her what to do and moving on to the next job while she did it. Most of all, though, she simply liked spending time with Kassidy. More than she wanted to admit.

  Most of her reasons for sharing the day with Kassidy were sound, but even putting her personal attraction aside, she saw the day as a professional success. She was aware of Kassidy’s discomfort and how much the effort to remain upbeat and polite had wearied her, but Paige doubted anyone else had seen the strain on Kassidy’s face and in her posture. She was naturally a quiet person and would never be the boisterous type of host someone like Drew could be, but her gentleness and grace were perfectly suited to the delicate lavender she grew. She fit the role of lavender keeper perfectly. She probably would never be totally comfortable in a public role, and the heavy tourist season would be draining for her, but once she realized it was okay to be herself with her customers, she was going to make the farm even more of a success than it already was and keep it that way for the long haul.

  Paige handed Dante’s leash to Kassidy when they got to another food stand, and she threw away their greasy paper plates before buying them each a lemonade. When she got back to Kassidy, she was kneeling on the ground and scratching Dante’s belly.

  “You both seemed to be having fun in the ring today,” Kassidy said. She stood up and accepted the lemonade. “After all your talk about being competitive, I thought you’d be disappointed about not winning.”

  Paige smiled. She’d had a great time out there, and her stomach still hurt from laughing so hard. “Winning? We were disqualified at the first obstacle when he tried to chew on the hoop instead of jumping through it. I’m sure the judge only let us continue for entertainment value since everyone seemed to like watching us plow through the course. Winning wasn’t an option after the first beat of the timer.”

  “He showed promise,” Kassidy said. She angled Dante away from the thinning crowds until they were aiming for the street where they had parked. “As a canine comedian, if nothing else. I take it you were accustomed to being in first place in your other sports?”

  Paige tossed her empty lemonade cup in an ornate garbage can like she was dunking a ba
sketball. “My teams usually did well, and I was always first string. But Dad practiced with me all the time when I was little. We’d spend evenings and weekends playing basketball or softball. Starting in about first grade, my mom would take me to the high school track, too, and I was running hurdles by the time I was ten.”

  Paige leaned against the passenger door of her car once they reached it. “It was pretty intense at times, but it was okay. Those were the sports they had played, and it’s like they were sharing them with me. It was something we could do together.”

  “That’s nice,” Kassidy said, her attention focused on the leash she was twisting around her wrist. “So they played those sports in school, and you did, too?”

  Paige shrugged even though Kassidy wasn’t looking at her to see the movement. She was accustomed to talking about the activities she had been pushed toward in school, but no one ever asked why. Something that didn’t need to be a private thing had inadvertently become one by accident and habit, and as a result she felt strange talking about her childhood out loud. “Sort of. I mean, I think they had regrets about missing stuff in high school, and they didn’t want me to feel the same way. They pushed a little, but only to help me get the most out of my time at school.”

  “And did you?”

  Kassidy looked up when Paige laughed in response. The sound was a little harsh, and not as free as most of her laughter, but Paige attributed it to being uncomfortable talking about herself. She talked about business owners, about their employees, about her clients’ lives—but not her own.

  “I did,” Paige said, controlling her features again. “Sports, yearbook committee, even chairperson for prom. Student council, debate club, choir. I was in band for a while, but it interfered with my teams.”

  “That sounds exhausting,” Kassidy said quietly. “And your parents had done all of those activities, too?”