think it was the other way around.”
“Does it matter?” Paige asked.
“No, not really. I’m just so proud of all of you. I think of all of my day-care kids, including you and Kyle, as my own, you know.”
“I do, and I appreciate that.”
“Good. Because I want you to know that no matter what happens between you, Kyle and Justin, I’m always here for you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll always be friends.”
BY THE TIME Justin Collier arrived home the sun was low in the sky. Not even the approaching dusk could hide the condition of the seventy-five-year-old house he called home. When he and Kyle had bought the place shortly after graduating from college they had intended to fix it up and sell it within a couple of years. That was seven years ago. All the money that should have gone into home improvements had been sunk into the landscape company they’d started. Now their business was flourishing and the house still looked neglected. As Justin went to get the mail from the dented box nailed to the porch, he saw an exterior badly in need of attention.
He added paint to his mental list of things to buy next time he was at the hardware store. Summer was always the busiest season for J&K Landscapes and this year was no exception. Even with the addition of several new employees, he and Kyle often worked twelve-hour days. He consoled himself with the knowledge that by late fall and early winter they would have the time to work on the house. He kicked the dirt off his work boots and went into the kitchen, which showed the same signs of wear as the exterior. Faded floor tiles, permanently stained countertops and dated appliances were fine for a couple of bachelors, but he knew why Paige had been after them to update the place.
Justin grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and sat down on a wooden chair at the table. He glanced at his mail and saw little of interest except for a neon-yellow envelope. He ripped it open and found a schedule for the Bulldog Reunion. In her usual efficient manner Paige had made all the arrangements for the weekend. Only this year there was something different. At the bottom of the invitation were the words Friends are welcome. Justin frowned.
As he folded the schedule he noticed a personal note.
Can’t wait to see you. It’s been too long. Love, P
Yes, it had been a while since he had seen her but that wasn’t his fault. She was the one who had been in a hurry to pack up her things and move a hundred and fifty miles away as soon as she’d finished her teaching job. But it wasn’t simply the distance separating them. The reason it had been so long since Justin and Paige had been together was she had fallen in love. Annoyance rippled through him at the thought of Michael Cross. Of all the men Paige could have fallen in love with, he didn’t understand why she had chosen one so totally wrong for her.
He and Kyle had been suspicious of the golf pro the first time Paige had brought him home. Not that it mattered to Paige. She was in love and didn’t want to hear anything negative about her boyfriend. Ever since they were kids she’d been coming to them for advice, but before either one could tell her why he was wary of Michael, she’d looked at them and said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.”
He looked again at the Bulldog schedule. There was hiking, disc golf, sailing, volleyball, bonfires…all the things they had done in the past that had made everyone want to continue reuniting each summer. Only this year while doing the fun stuff, Paige would be looking at Michael with that lovesick-puppy gaze. Justin didn’t want to spend one hour, let alone an entire weekend, with the lovebirds.
He’d always considered a weekend at the North Shore to be more like therapy. No customer complaints to deal with, no long hours out in the hot sun digging and planting. It was a chance to reconnect with nature and with friends. Spending any length of time watching Paige act all lovey-dovey with her fiancé would be more like punishment.
“I hope you didn’t drink the last cold one.”
Justin glanced toward the doorway to see Kyle had come home. He looked heat weary and physically exhausted as he walked into the kitchen.
“No, there are plenty more,” Justin answered.
Kyle ambled over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of beer then dropped onto a chair opposite him. He twisted off the cap and took a long drink before saying, “I think it’s time we seriously consider accepting Harry Bonner’s offer to buy into the business.”
Justin sighed. “I thought we agreed that as beneficial as it would be financially to join forces with Bonner, it would also mean that we’re no longer a small local company.”
“No, we’d be a Midwest company. Bigger and better.” Kyle took another drink. “We could hire the additional employees we need to bid on the larger commercial projects and you and I could devote more of our time to managing the company instead of doing the physical labor. We were business majors in college,” he reminded Justin.
“I know, but I happen to like working with the trees,” Justin reminded him.
“And that’s fine. All I’m saying is that if we expand, we’ll have the option to delegate more of the work. We’ll also make more money. And that would be a good thing.” He used his beer bottle as a pointer. “We could also afford to move to a nice place—something a little more modern than this place.”
“Even if we sell the house we’re going to have to fix it up a bit…put some fresh paint on the walls.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like Paige. She was always after me to put one of those designer colors on the walls…something called Mesa Sunrise.”
Justin grinned. “It looked like pink to me.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not living in a pink house. There’s nothing wrong with white walls.”
“Except these walls look more like dirty socks.” Justin toyed with the label on the neck of his beer bottle. “The whole house needs work. Every year we say we’re going to do it during our slow season and it doesn’t get done.”
“That’s because there’ve been better things to do—like lie in the sun on a beach in Mexico,” Kyle reminded him.
“Maybe this year we should think about staying home and taking care of the work that needs to be done around this place.”
“I thought you wanted me to look up info on those nursery seminars that are being offered in Oregon—which reminds me.” He sat forward, patting his pockets until he produced a folded piece of paper. “I have the name of a contact person. Another reason why it would be to our advantage to have Bonner come on board. You and I could take the seminar at the same time and still have someone running the company back here.”
Justin pondered that a moment. “Good point. Maybe it is time we bring on another partner.”
“What about the house? Should we have a real estate appraiser come out to take a look?”
“It wouldn’t hurt, but I suppose we really ought to talk to Paige before we do anything. She has been our silent partner.”
“Well, technically she isn’t, but we’ve treated her like one since she invested her first paycheck as a teacher to help us get started.”
