Page 31 of The Floral Arrangement

“It’s our pleasure.” Roz’s mom dried her hands on a towel then reached out for a hug. “We’re just so happy Roz has finally found someone as lovely and as youthful as you.”

Roz’s jaw tensed, but she said nothing. She walked me down the hallway.

At the front door, she faced me. “Can you text me your address?”

I bent down to pick up my handbag I’d left next to the door. “You have it already—I live above Sapphire Blooms.”

“Ah, right. Well, I’ll need your email address too, so I can send you the business plan sections for you to complete.”

The last thing I felt like right now was working on a damn business plan. “I’ll text it to you.”

“Do it now so you don’t forget.” Roz held the front door open. “See you tomorrow.”

I stepped outside and huffed. Thank god Roz had agreed to the ten a.m. start. There was no way I could deal with her any earlier than that. I needed at least an hour of lying in bed and two coffees to prepare me for more one-on-one time with her.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

OLIVIA

“Liv!”George waved at me from a wooden table lit by dappled sunshine under a towering oak tree at the back of the Builders Arms’ beer garden. Clutching a glass of rosé, I weaved through groups of day drinkers until I reached my friends.

“Sorry I’m late.” I flopped down onto the seat next to Hannah.

Blake turned to me. “I was just saying that if we’re going to beat The Gran Masters on Thursday night, we’ll have to work on our economics and sports knowledge. We could each choose a sport to read up on—or economics if you’d prefer.”

I stared at my sister. “I don’t really have time at the moment, sorry.” I already had enough homework from Roz. Blake’s face dropped and I bit my lip. “Perhaps we could find someone who already knows about that stuff?”

Blake creased her forehead. “I can’t think of anyone.”

Hannah put her cider on the table. “I’m in procrastination mode at the moment with my book, so I can take a sport. Maybe hockey?”

“I can take baseball,” George added, smiling at Hannah and squeezing her hand. God, they were cute.

Blake grinned. “That sounds great. I can pick up football and I’ll text Dana and see if she’s interested in researching golf or economics.” Blake turned to me. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. It’s just the new owner of Red Tractor Farm is creating quite a bit of work for me.” I closed my eyes for a moment and took a sip of wine.

George peered around Hannah, her face soft with sympathy. “From what I’ve heard at Novel Gossip, she’s been rubbing everyone the wrong way. Dana is ready to quit, the kitchen staff at the farm café are furious that she wants to reduce the menu for cost-cutting purposes, and she apparently made one of the teens who works at the petting zoo cry.”

“Oh my god, what happened?” I twisted to stare at George.

“He accidentally let the baby goats out of the yard?—”

I clutched the stem of my wine glass. “Roz wasn’t driving a tractor was she?” After hearing about Roz’s run in with her car, I had serious concerns about anyone or anything getting close to her in a tractor.

“What? No.” George’s brow furrowed. “They didn’t get very far, but apparently she snapped at the kid who did it—something about him not being the GOAT of petting zoo employees and telling him if it happened again he’d be fired.”

I snorted, my shoulders relaxing. That sounded like Roz. She didn’t strike me as the person who would suffer fools lightly. I imagined her pairing her cutting words with a withering glare. Poor kid.

The smell of fries wafted over from a neighboring table and my stomach rumbled.

“So how did it go confronting her yesterday?” George asked. “The way you stormed off I expected we’d hear she’d been murdered or, at the very least, get some updates in our group chat, but this Roslyn woman is alive enough to make more enemies and you’ve been radio silent.”

“Yes. Well, there have been some developments.” I took a gulp of wine.

“Did you convince her not to destroy the flower farm?” Jenny asked.

“Well, sort of. We came to an understanding.” I swirled my wine glass, creating a whirlpool which reflected the current state of my stomach. I was not looking forward to this conversation.

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