Page 57 of Where You're Planted

Everyone looked from the clusters of yellow pompoms to Tansy, and within two seconds, the flush of heat creeping up her neck gave her away.

“Why is Jack leavingtansiesat our doorstep?” Marianne demanded.

“Good question.” Kai’s eyes sparked with delight.

“It’s a common flower,” Tansy replied too nonchalantly,scouring her agenda for anything to redirect the conversation.

“Nuh-uh. Something happened,” Kai said, giving her a scrutinizing up-and-down. “What was it?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Look us all in the eyes and tell us that,” Irma said.

“I can’t look atallof you at the same time,” she pointed out.

Kai jumped to their feet, flipping the hammock and dumping their books into the dirt. “Aha! You’re blushing! I ask again, why is Jack flirting with you via plants?”

“We don’t know it was Jack,” she hedged.

“Who else around here is flirting with you then?” Irma cut in.

“Honestly, this just makes the gardens look nicer,” Tansy said. “I’m sure someone decided to spruce up the area, and it had nothing to do with—”

“If that were the case,” Kai said, “it would have made more sense to do itbeforethe festival.”

“Just answer the question,” Irma demanded. “I’ll be dead before you come out with it at this rate.”

Marianne blanched and reached for Irma’s hand.

“Fine,” Tansy said on a resigned sigh. “We might have had a moment at the festival.”

“Definea moment,” Kai pressed.

“A…kiss,” she choked out under a cough.

“I knew something happened!” Kai declared. “When? During the rain?”

Marianne turned up her nose. She’d never gotten over Jack’s disregard for the birdsorthe kittens he’d removed.

Irma gave an approving nod. “A kiss in the rain. That’s some steamy romance material right there.”

Tansy cut off Kai’s next question with a raised palm. “We are not going to talk about it. We have business to finish.”

Kai booed and flounced back into the hammock, making it swing.

“For example,” Tansy went on, frowning at the one dark spot on her itinerary, “the food bank is trying to pull out of serving meals during spring break. Apparently, they can’t just give people the food. They want them to consume it within an enclosed facility on the premises, which we don’t have.”

“That’s bullshit,” Kai muttered.

“I agree. So let’s focus on solvingthatproblem rather than worrying about why someone did a nice thing for us.”

“Don’t mind me. I need to pee,” Irma announced, pushing up from the picnic table. On her way next door, she mused, “Flirting via plants.”

—

Tansy had avoided Jack allweek following the festival, stuck between how embarrassing her behavior had been…and how badly she wanted to do it again. Best not to tempt herself.

She’d watched his speech from the back of the small crowd to make sure he was okay before taking Briar home early. He kept his remarks brief and straight to the point, but if she hadn’t seen him panicking about it, she never would have known he was nervous. Healsofound her among the crowd more times than she could count, which was why she hurried Briar to the car immediately after. She could tell he would come looking for her, and she had no idea what to say to him.

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