Page 21 of The Floral Arrangement

“Please, come in,” I said to Fred. “I can take you through the financials and my vision for the farm, and then I can give you a tour. Mom, Olivia, please excuse us.”

“Actually, could we do the tour first? I’ve just spent the last hour and a half in the car. I’d love to stretch my legs and enjoy the fresh air.” Fred inhaled a vigorous breath to make his point.

“Yes, of course.” I turned to Mom and Olivia, who were both still hovering next to me. “Well, Fred and I will be off, then. I’ll see you both soon.” I stepped out of the door while trying my best to emulate Olivia’s sweet smile.

“Oh, babe, I decided to open my shop later today so I can stay to show Fred around the farm as well.” Olivia flashed a grin at Fred. “We have so many great plans for it that we can’t wait to share with you.”

I frowned. “That’s really not necessary?—”

“Excellent.” Fred clasped his hands together. “The more the merrier. And I’d love to get to know the woman who has stolen Roz’s heart.”

I clenched my teeth together.Stolen control of my meeting, more like it.

In my long career, I’d experienced many meetings that had gone off the rails, and I’d always been able to bring them back on course. But usually, I knew the motives of the person disrupting the meeting, and I was able to use that information to my advantage. However, while Olivia clearly had her own agenda, it wasn’t clear what it was. I straightened my back. I couldn’t let her throw me off my game.

“Before you three head off… how long are you in the area for, Fred?” Mom asked.

Fred swatted at a passing fly with his hand. “I thought I’d mix work with pleasure and stay for the weekend. I’d also love to explore the Hudson Valley some more. And considering it’s not a small investment, I’ll probably visit the farm a couple times before I make my final decision.”

Damnit. I’d hoped Fred would decide quickly. How long could I put off fixing the backhoe?

Mom smiled. “Well then, we’d love to have you over for lunch if you’re free tomorrow? You too, Olivia.”

“Mom—” I cut in, eager to shut down any talk of the three of them regrouping. This conversation had already spiraled out of control after only a few minutes.

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Fred said.

“Say about twelve?”

“Sounds great.” Fred pulled down his sunglasses.

Goddamnit.The plan was set. How could I get out of it? I tried not to clench my jaw too hard. I did not need a fractured tooth on top of everything else.

“Well, should we get going?” I stepped forward. “I thought we could walk around the café, farm stand and petting zoo first, and then we can take my truck to see everything else. It would take too long to walk the entire farm.” I nodded toward an old truck parked next to the house, an inheritance from the farm that I now relied on to get around after the tractor incident. The truck didn’t have any back passenger seats, so hopefully, I could get rid of Olivia at that point.

“Sounds great.” Olivia beamed at Fred as they turned toward the café, their backs to me. “I’m sure you’ll love the animals and the flowers.”

She glanced over her shoulder at me, shooting me another sugary sweet smile, and I glared at her. Not only was Olivia more attractive than I remembered, but she was also way more annoying. I needed to work out her ulterior motive stat, before this meeting completely crashed and burned.

CHAPTERNINE

ROZ

Olivia’swarm shoulder pressed against me as I drove down the dirt road. Much to my chagrin, Olivia had insisted on squishing into the front of the truck with me and Fred. The truck was so ancient it had a bench seat, which unfortunately was just wide enough to fit the three of us. Olivia’s faint floral scent tickled my nose. The image of her body pressed to mine in a very different way that night at Pryde flashed into my mind. I tensed.Do not go there, Roz.

I accelerated as we passed my crushed car, hoping no one would notice. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Olivia’s eyes widen, but she didn’t comment.

Olivia had been irritatingly charming during the tour of the café and farm stand, raving about the delicious apple fritters and cherry pies using homegrown fruit, and then introducing all the animals by name at the petting zoo. How did she know so much about my farm? Instead of being the liability I had expected, she was actually doing a good job selling it to Fred—maybe even better than me.

“What are these for?” Fred asked, pointing to the empty fields on either side of the path.

I pulled over. “We’ll be planting corn and pumpkins there next week. By fall, they’ll be transformed into a corn maze and pumpkin patch. They’re a big draw with the families.” I smiled at the memory of Lottie scrambling around pumpkins to find the biggest one last fall.

“I can imagine,” Fred replied. “I wish my parents had left their Upper East Side bubble and taken me to somewhere like this as a kid. I didn’t realize that milk came from cows’ udders until embarrassingly late.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Babe, we forgot to introduce Fred to Thelma and Louise!” Olivia slapped my thigh so hard I nearly jumped off the bench. The last time that hand had been on my body, it had been running up and down my bare back in the restroom at Pryde, driving me wild. A shiver shot down my spine. I clenched my jaw. Now Olivia was driving me wild in a much less enjoyable manner.

Olivia turned to Fred. “We’ll have to show you on the way back. They’re two of the sweetest cows.”

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