Page 28 of The Floral Arrangement

“Yes. Roz has been keeping Olivia from us for some reason,” Mom said, fixing me with a pointed stare.

“Really? Well, don’t let my presence hold you back, Roz. I’m quite intrigued to hear your love story.” Fred leaned forward. “So howdidyou meet?”

Shit. We really should have prepped some answers beforehand.I gulped down a mouthful of water.

Olivia looked at me expectantly. From across the table, Matt raised an eyebrow. The silence, punctuated only by cutlery scraping across plates, stretched on far too long.

I had to say something—fast. Best to stick to the truth as close as possible.

“We sat near each other at the bar and started talking,” I said, my tone crisper than I’d intended.

A frown flickered across Fred’s face. Damn.This was clearly not the love story Fred had in mind.

A soft, warm hand grasped my arm. “It was a lot more romantic than that, babe,” Olivia said, winking at Fred and then looking around the table. “I was being an absolute klutz and hit my head on the bar counter—before I’d even had a drink—and Roz struck up conversation with me on the pretense of making sure I was lucid. I then managed to spill my drink all over her, so we had to go to the restroom… And one thing led to another.” Olivia’s cheeks flushed pink. “And it’s great having you here for the ‘meet the parents’ lunch, Fred. It takes the pressure off me.”

“I’m happy to help.” Fred grinned. “How long have you been dating for?”

My chest clenched. All this questioning was probably quite innocuous, but it felt like the Spanish Inquisition. Up until now, I hadn’t directly lied to anyone—the situation we’d found ourselves in had been the result of misunderstandings we’d failed to correct. While my behavior was already morally questionable, I couldn’t bring myself to lie outright to Fred. But I needed to say something. I couldn’t leave him hanging.

“We met six months ago, but obviously Roz was living in New York then, so it’s only recently we’ve been able to spend much time together,” Olivia said, running her hand up and down my arm and smiling adoringly at me. Her hand left a trail of goosebumps on my skin, and it took all my effort not to scowl. Damn my body and its involuntary reactions. I stabbed a crispy piece of potato with my fork.

Fred leaned over and spooned some salad on to his plate. “Oh, that must be a relief to finally be in the same area. Long-distance relationships can be a challenge.”

I popped the potato in my mouth and chewed. Fred was taking this well. Olivia seemed to be much better at fake dating than me. And she’d managed to give answers that were effectively true but also didn’t blow our cover.

“Aunty Roz, are you good enough at driving the tractor yet to take me on a hayride?” Lottie piped up.

I swallowed too quickly, sending the potato traveling painfully down my throat. A change in topic was needed, but could it not be about my tractor-driving skills?

Mom handed Lottie the salad bowl. “I think she’ll need a few more weeks of practice before it’s safe to take you out, sweetheart.” Mom turned to me. “Did you hear back from the insurance company about your car?”

I gave Mom a death stare, willing her to stop talking. “Let’s not talk about insurance.”

Fred raised his eyebrows. “Oh, what happened to your car?”

“It was nothing.” I scrambled to think of another conversation topic. “So, is anyone watching any good TV shows at the moment?”

“She didn’t tell you?” Mom looked at Fred then gave an awkward grimace. “Roz tried to connect the tractor to the hay wagon so she could take Lottie on a hayride. Thankfully, Roz survived unscathed. Her car was less fortunate. We all witnessed it. It wasn’t pretty.”

Fred’s gaze shot to me. “Oh, yikes. That’s rough.”

The tic started up again under my eye.What the hell is Mom thinking?

Mom snapped her mouth shut, as if she’d realized that perhaps telling my potential investor that I’d negligently driven a tractor into my car was a bad idea. Which it most definitely was.

“Oh, it was just a little incident,” she backtracked. “I’m sure her car will be repaired without any hassle.”

Fred glanced at Olivia, who was staring at me wide-eyed.

Olivia blinked, her gaze shifting to Fred. “Um, yes. It wasn’t a big deal.” She wasn’t very convincing, but at least she’d made an attempt to sound like she knew what Mom was talking about.

“It was like this!” Lottie jumped up on her seat, clenched her fists together, and smashed one down on the other. “Crunch, crunch, crunch!”

Matt tapped her back. “That’s enough, Lottie.”

Dad cleared his throat. “So, what do you think of the farm, Fred?”

Fred patted his mouth with his napkin. “I loved it. I was particularly impressed by the focus on sustainability. The geothermal greenhouse was fantastic.”

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