Page 5 of A Dream for Daphne

Laurel kissed Easton and then went into the house.

“You got lucky,” Abe said to his cousin.

“Don’t I know it. She’s right—you’ll get it too.”

“Whatever,” he said, taking another swig of his beer.

He was trying not to think about the woman named Daphne from the weekend before.

It was hard not to.

Shit, he hadn’t gone to the casino thinking he’d meet a woman and have a one-night stand. He’d never had one before and didn’t even know what he was thinking to start the conversation that night.

But he didn’t regret it.

Based on some of Daphne’s actions, he got the feeling it was not something she did often either but was trying to be a different person like he was.

He’d had every intention of getting her full name and number in the morning and trying to see her again.

But she’d vanished.

“How busy are you right now?” Easton asked.

“Crazy,” he said. “Things are in full swing. Thankfully I’m not down any men. That makes it harder. Most of them are split on jobs. Next week I’ve got the start of a big hardscaping job at McGill’s. That will take weeks if not a month and will pad my pockets well.”

Reese McGill’s family was worth billions. Their estate was massive and he’d been thrilled he was given the contract to maintain the grounds with the full-time gardener retired.

A steady source of revenue was something his father had been working on and Abe built it more.

He thought it’d be an easy mow and trim job weekly, but it had turned into so much more with Reese’s wife, Poppy, wanting the grounds updated.

He wasn’t about to say no to any of it.

“That job is going to be endless,” Easton said. “I thought it was a big job back in April when I met with them to get some planting done. That property is huge.”

Easton had covered for him and kept the company running for March and April while Abe was in Florida caring for his mother.

“It can keep coming as far as I’m concerned,” he said. Once the planting had been done, Poppy had other ideas.

His father had started Cooke Landscaping decades ago and Abe always knew he was going to take it over. He just didn’t know he could grow it as big as he had.

Hard work, determination, and not being afraid of getting dirty were winning for him.

In his career.

His personal life seemed to be one big failure after another though.

2

BE SOMEONE ELSE

“Morning, Poppy,” Daphne said a week later. “How are you feeling?”

Her boss, Poppy Bloom-McGill, was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of her, baby Tatum in her arms with a bottle in his mouth.

“I’m doing well,” Poppy said. “This little guy woke me up earlier than normal because he’s starving.”

“Two months old,” Daphne said, moving over to look at the baby guzzling as fast as he could. Tatum let out a shout when Poppy pulled the bottle out to put him on her shoulder to be burped. “They grow so fast and need the nourishment. Where is Holly?”

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