She'd get it out. It was best to get it out. She'd just plant it somewhere else, she thought, somewhere better.
But as she lifted it out, taking care with the roots, the flowers went black, and the blue dahlia withered and went to dust in her hands.
* * *
Keeping busy was the best way not to brood. And keeping busy was no problem for Stella with the
school year winding down, the perennial sale at the nursery about to begin, and her best saleswoman
on maternity leave.
She didn't have time to pick apart strange, disturbing dreams or worry about a man who proposed one minute, then vanished the next. She had a business to run, a family to tend, a ghost to identify.
She sold the last three bay laurels, then put her mind and her back into reordering the shrub area.
'Shouldn't you be pushing papers instead of camellias?'
She straightened, knowing very well she'd worked up a sweat, that there was soil on her pants, and
that her hair was frizzing out of the ball cap she'd stuck on. And faced Logan.
'I manage, and part of managing is making sure our stock is properly displayed. What do you want?'
'Got a new job worked up.' He waved the paperwork, and the breeze from it made her want to moan
out loud. 'I'm in for supplies.'
'Fine. You can put the paperwork on my desk.'
'This is as far as I'm going.' He shoved it into her hand. 'Crew's loading up some of it now. I'm going
to take that Japanese red maple, and five of the hardy pink oleanders.'
He dragged the flatbed over and started to load.
'Fine,' she repeated, under her breath. Annoyed, she glanced at the bid, blinked, then reread the client information.
'This is my father.'
'Uh-huh.'
'What are you doing planting oleander for my father?'
'My job. Putting in a new patio, too. Your stepmama's already talking about getting new furniture for
out there. And a fountain. Seems to me a woman can't see a flat surface without wanting to buy something to put on it. They were still talking about it when I left the other night.'
'You—what were you doing there?'
'Having pie. Gotta get on. We need to get started on this if I'm going to make it home and clean up
before this dinner with the professor guy tonight. See you later, Red.'
'Hold it. You just hold it. You had your mother call me, right out of the blue.'
'How's it out of the blue when you said you wanted us to meet each other's families? Mine's a couple thousand miles away right now, so the phone call seemed the best way.'
'I'd just like you to explain...' Now she waved the papers. 'All this.'
'I know. You're a demon for explanations.' He stopped long enough to grab her hair, crush his mouth
to hers. 'If that doesn't make it clear enough, I'm doing something wrong. Later.'
* * *
'Then he just walked away, leaving me standing there like an idiot.' Still stewing hours later, Stella changed Lily's diaper while Hayley finished dressing for dinner.
'You said you thought you should meet each other's families and stuff,' Hayley pointed out. 'So now
you talked to his mama, and he talked to your daddy.'
'I know what I said, but he just went tramping over there. And he had her call me without letting me know first. He just goes off, at the drop of a hat.' She picked up Lily, cuddled her. 'He gets me
stirred up.'
'I kinda miss getting stirred up that way.' She turned sideways in the mirror, sighed a little over the post-birth pudge she was carrying. 'I guess I thought, even though the books said different, that everything would just spring back where it was after Lily came out.'
'Nothing much springs after having a baby. But you're young and active. You'll get your body back.'
'I hope.' She reached for her favorite silver hoops while Stella nuzzled Lily. 'Stella, I'm going to tell
you something, because you're my best friend and I love you.'
'Oh, sweetie.'
'Well, it's true. Last week, when Logan came by to bring Lily her doll, and you and the boys came outside? Before I went in and he popped the big Q? You know what the four of you looked like?'
'No.'
'A family. And I think whatever your head's running around with, in your heart you know that. And
that that's the way it's going to be.'
'You're awfully young to be such a know-it-all.'
'It's not the years, it's the miles.' Hayley tossed a cloth over her shoulder. 'Come here, baby girl.
Mama's going to show you off to the dinner guests before you go to sleep. You ready?' she asked Stella.
'I guess we'll find out.'
They started toward the stairs, with Stella gathering her boys on the way, and met Roz on the landing.
'Well, don't we all look fine.'
'We had to wear new shirts,' Luke complained.
'And you look so handsome in them. I wonder if I can be greedy and steal both these well-dressed young men as my escorts.' She held out both her hands for theirs. 'It's going to storm,' she said with a glance out the window. 'And look here, I believe that must be our Dr. Carnegie, and right on time. What in the world is that man driving? It looks like a nasty red box on wheels.'
'I think it's a Volvo.' Hayley moved in to spy over Roz's shoulder. 'A really old Volvo. They're like one of the safest cars, and so dopey-looking, they're cool. Oh, my, look at that!' Her eyebrows lifted when Mitch got out of the car. 'Serious hottie alert.'
'Good God, Hayley, he's old enough to be your daddy.'
Hayley just smiled at Roz. 'Hot's hot. And he's hot.'
'Maybe he needs a drink of water,' Luke suggested.
'And we'll get one for Hayley, too.' Amused, Roz walked down to greet her first guest.
He brought a good white wine as a hostess gift, which she approved of, but he opted for mineral water when she offered him a drink. She supposed a man who drove a car manufactured about the same time he'd been born needed to keep his wits about him. He made appropriate noises over the baby, shook hands soberly with the boys.
She gave him points for tact when he settled into small talk rather than asking more about the reason
she wanted to hire him.
By the time Logan arrived, they were comfortable enough.
'I don't think we'll wait for Harper.' Roz got to her feet. 'My son is chronically late, and often missing
in action.'
'I've got one of my own,' Mitch said. 'I know how it goes.'
'Oh, I didn't realize you had children.'
'Just the one. Josh is twenty. He goes to college here. You really do have a beautiful home, Ms. Harper.'
'Roz, and thank you. It's one of my great loves. And here,' she added as Harper dashed in from the kitchen, 'is another.'
'Late. Sorry. Almost forgot. Hey, Logan, Stella. Hi, guys.' He kissed his mother, then looked at Hayley. 'Hi. Where's Lily?'
'Sleeping.'
'Dr. Carnegie, my tardy son, Harper.'
'Sorry. I hope I didn't hold you up.'
'Not at all,' Mitch said as they shook hands. 'Happy to meet you.'
'Why don't we sit down? It looks like David's outdone himself.'
An arrangement of summer flowers in a long, low bowl centered the table. Candles burned, slim white tapers in
