Page 12 of A Field of Beauty

“Nope. Your Vespa is too small for three. I’ll drive us in the truck.”

“Three?”

At that moment, the passenger door of the truck opened. Tessa hadn’t realized someone else was waiting in the truck. She pulled her eyes off Dawson to meet his date.

six

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

—Audrey Hepburn

The Biltmore Estate was a national treasure. It was the largest home in America, built over a century ago by George and Edith Vanderbilt. Or, as Dawson described it, built in the days before federal income tax. The four-story house was an architectural masterpiece, surpassed only by the landscaping of over eight thousand acres. Designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the gardens were, in a word, magnificent.

And Tessa hardly noticed them. She was too busy wondering about Dawson’s date—Lovey Mitchell, who had dressed up in a low-cut gold sequined dress that showed every line of her Spanx underwear. Her hair, tonight, had been dyed a deep purple.

On the drive to the Biltmore, Lovey sat between Dawson and Tessa in the front seat, all three squeezed in. Lovey’s perfume was so strong that Tessa inhaled fresh air from the window, which rolled with a crank, and held her breath until she needed to exhale. Lovey chattered away during the entire drive, just like at thefarmers’ market. Tessa hardly listened until Lovey started talking about Tessa.

“So Dawson says you’re a real hard worker.”

Did he? Well, he’s right. She had never worked so hard in her life, but she didn’t know that Dawson had noticed. “He’s the one who makes those flowers grow.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, honey. Dawson says that fixing soil is easy. Creating the vision is the hard part.”

He saidthat?

“He says you’ve made something beautiful out of nothing with that farm of yours. Isn’t that just so sweet?” Lovey gave Dawson a jab with her elbow.

Tessa leaned around Lovey to look at Dawson, but his focus stayed on the road. His ears seemed to be turning a little pink. They were nice ears. She hadn’t seen them before.

She settled back against the truck seat. Wow. Something beautiful out of nothing. That might be one of the best compliments she’d ever received.

Maybe Lovey wasn’t so bad.

No sooner had Tessa thought it than Lovey flew off to talking about a new hair mousse she’d discovered that could make your hair stick straight up like you’d stuck your finger in an electric socket. Even in a hurricane wind, she said. “Y’all may think it’s crazy, but it’s the best thing for gals with short hair. That’s the latest trend, y’know.”

Hair. Trendy hair.

Could Dawson and Lovey really be dating? Tessa would never have thought a woman like Lovey would be his type, but what did she really know about Dawson’s personal life? He showed up at her screen door each morning and mumbled what he’d be doing that day and told her what she needed to be doing. Ninety percent of their conversation was about growing flowers, and the remaining ten percent was entirely her doing. She did most all the talking, though he didn’t seem to mind.

Still, Lovey Mitchell and Dawson? Mind boggling. She couldn’t stop thinking about why Dawson was attracted to Lovey. Frankly, it was disturbing that she had no idea he had a girlfriend. She spent hours every single day with Dawson. How could she not have known that he was dating someone? And Lovey Mitchell, of all people!

Then a startling thought struck her. Was she jealous?

Oh my goodness. She might be.

Right on the heels of that realization came another one: Tessa didn’t want Dawson to have a girlfriend. Especially not Lovey Mitchell.

Somewhere along the way, Tessa had started to have territorial feelings for Dawson Greene, who had never shown any romantic interest in her at all. None.

Maybe just that one time.

It was in late June, on a sunny morning, and the first dahlia had bloomed, literally unfolding before their eyes, like it was taking its first breath. They were crouched down in the field, close together, and without even realizing it, they held hands as if they were parents watching their baby take his first steps. Afterward, they realized what they were doing at the exact same moment, and both let go like dropping a hot potato. For the next few minutes, Tessa had felt a tingling in the hand he’d been holding.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Those thoughts felt disloyal to Tyler. He had been waiting for them near the front door. As Tessa stepped out of the truck, he stared at her as if a princess had arrived. Sweet ... until he snapped out of it and turned back into Tyler the aspiring politician.

He was acting very amped-up tonight. Very weird. During the walk through the gardens led by the governor, the mayor of Asheville, and lots of eager journalists and photographers, he kept trying to muscle into conversations with the governor, to jump in on photos. He held a tight grip on Tessa’s hand, pulling her along with him, though she was far more interested in trying to observe Dawson and Lovey’s interaction.

At one point during the walk through the conservatory, the governor stopped and sniffed the air. “Is someone making cotton candy?”

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