Page 46 of The Floral Arrangement

Matt’s eyes widened. “But I thought you left your number and she never called?”

“That’s right.” I tipped back my beer, letting my body sink into the chair.

“Then how have you two been dating for six months?”

I filled him in on my fake-dating fiasco.

“I thought you were the smart one of the two of us,” Matt said once I’d finished. “Surely there was another way to handle it. Faking a relationship seems a little drastic.”

I sighed. “Do you really think Fred would have agreed to invest if I confessed I’d just pretended to be Olivia’s girlfriend for the farm tour?”

Matt shrugged. “Maybe if you’d told him the whole story he might have.”

Frowning, I took another sip of beer. “Well, we’re in too deep to turn back now.”

Matt shook his head. “Why didn’t you just ask Mom and Dad for the money? That would have been a lot more straightforward. They would have lent it to you, even after you came clean to them about Olivia. Unconditional love and all that.” He waved his hand.

My stomach roiled and I glared at him. “Absolutely not. You know how I feel about asking Mom and Dad for favors. I’d rather sell it all and go back to working at Saunders & Co.”

“But is it really a worse option than continuing this fake relationship nonsense?”

“Yes.” I fixed my eyes on a black bird that was pecking the dirt near the petting zoo. “It’s only for a few weeks. Borrowing money from Mom and Dad would undermine everything I’ve done over the past twenty years to prove I can succeed without them.”

Matt sighed. “Look I know what they did was shit, but it was a long time ago. They’ve changed, Roz.”

“But have they? I heard them going on at you the other night about Lottie’s school again.” The public-versus-private-school show down had struck once again.

Matt rolled his eyes. “It drives me up the wall that they won’t drop that, but their heart is in the right place. They just don’t always go about it in the right way.”

“And sometimes they go about it in illegal ways,” I muttered.

“Okay, okay.” Matt raised his palm placatingly. “And your insistence on fake dating definitely has nothing to do with the fact your fake girlfriend is gorgeous and lovely to boot?” He grinned behind his beer.

The image of Olivia teasing me about my newfound dislike of dairy yesterday, her eyes bright and her broad smile flashed into my mind, and my heart stuttered.Stop that. “Don’t be ridiculous. She never called me, remember? And anyway, I’m not looking for a real relationship. This fake one is as close as I’m willing to get.”

Matt rested his beer on the round wicker table in front of us. “Are you sure that’s what you really want?”

“What?” My eyes flickered to Lottie, who had thankfully moved away from the cows and was now climbing a bale of hay.

“To be single forever?” He leaned forward. “If it really is, that’s fine. But I just want to make sure your reluctance isn’t because of that psychopath or Mom and Dad. Or both.”

Heaviness tugged at my chest. Matt was really making me relive all my trauma tonight. “Yes. It’s what I want.” I never wanted to be hurt like that again. “Anyway, please don’t tell anyone. Olivia has told her close friends and family, but they’re all sworn to secrecy. We don’t want this getting out. If it does, I’m screwed.”

The rumble of a truck attracted my attention. Dana pulled up near the petting zoo, jumped out and walked over to us.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said, not sounding particularly apologetic. “Roz, the chainsaw we use for cutting the trees has broken. Are you okay if I order a new one?”

I frowned. “How much will that be?”

“Around a grand.”

My heart sank. “Fine. But if you can do it on the cheap, such as buying one second-hand, do it that way.”

“Okay.” Dana’s surly face relaxed slightly. “Oh, and I heard Blake roped you in to coming to trivia too. She’s got me studying up on golf.” Dana grimaced. “Has she assigned you a topic too? She took our loss last week quite badly.”

Huh. I didn’t realize Dana was part of Olivia’s friendship group.I shook my head. “No. Was that all, Dana?”

Dana yanked the truck keys from her pocket. “Yes. I’ll put in the order. Bye.”

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