a preplanted pot of pink and purple million bells, white lobelia, trailing sweet potato vine and yellow aspermums. She pinched off a dead flower, her hand arranging the one vine.
“That’s pretty,” Vic said, his voice holding a note of approval.
“I love the colors they’ve used. It would look lovely on a deck.” Then she pulled her hand back, knowing that she had already spent more than she should, and marched on, resisting the temptation.
She got to the cashier, unloaded her plants on the old wooden counter, pulled her debit card out of her wallet and slapped it on the counter as if afraid her more practical self would convince her it was a waste of money.
“You’ve got some lovely plants.” Sonja bustled about as she rang them up on the old-fashioned cash register, her gray curls bouncing. She was an older woman, with a rough voice and a broad smile. Her T-shirt proclaimed Life’s a Garden. Dig It. “If you need any help or advice, you just call. We can answer all your questions. ’Course, you have your aunt to help you out. I know you used to help her at the flower shop from time to time,” she said.
“I’m sorry, I feel like I should remember you,” Lauren said.
“I used to deliver perennial pots to your aunt’s shop,” Sonja said. “Used to see you and your sisters there once in a while.”
Then Lauren did remember. Sonja was always laughing and joking, her personality filling the store, making it a fun and happy place to be.
But before Lauren could say anything, Sonja was finished with her and already on to the next customer. Lauren looked around for Vic, doing a double take as she realized he was purchasing the pot she had just admired.
“Figured if you liked it, so would my mom,” he said as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
“Your mother will love them.” Sonja rang up his purchase, smiling her approval. “Very considerate of you.”
“I’m angling for son of the year,” Vic said.
“And he’ll get it, don’t you think, Lauren?”
“I guess” was all Lauren could muster. She was still wrapping her head around a guy buying a potted plant for his mother.
“Our Vic is an amazing young man,” Sonja said, her voice heavy with meaning. She gave Lauren a knowing look that she didn’t have to interpret. “A girl would be lucky to have him.”
“I think it’s time to load up what we got and get out of here,” Vic cut in with a sheepish smile as he set the pot he’d just bought on the two-layered cart holding Lauren’s plants.
“You know I’m right,” Sonja teased, looking from Vic to Lauren as if connecting the two. “You won’t find better in all of Saddlebank.”
“Now it’s really time to go,” Vic said, ushering Lauren out of the store. His truck was right out the door and he opened the back door of the double cab. “If it’s okay with you, I thought we could set them here,” he said as he started unloading them.
“But you’ll get the floor of your truck dirty,” Lauren protested. The carpet was immaculately clean and the seats even more so.
“It’s honest dirt,” he said, tossing her a grin as he took the pots from her and set them on the carpet. “Sorry about Sonja, by the way. She’s the local busybody.”
“I remember her coming into my aunt’s flower shop,” Lauren said. Sonja’s comment had made her even more aware of Vic than she liked. “She was like this ball of energy.”
“That about sums her up.” He got into the truck. “Do you need to do anything else?”
“I think I’ve taken enough of your time and spent enough of my money. I know you want to get back to your hay baling.”
“Yeah. I do. Thanks.”
A few minutes later they were back on the highway, headed toward the ranch. Lauren’s groceries were stashed on the floor of the truck by her feet.
“By the way, I can’t thank you enough for taking care of the tires,” Lauren said. “But shouldn’t we have stopped to pay for them?”
“You can next time you’re in town. I talked to Alan, who runs the place. He said it was okay.”
Lauren shook her head. “Small towns,” she said. “I can’t imagine getting away with running a business like that in Boston or Fresno.”
“You lived in both those places?”
“And Chicago, and New York for a month. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, now.”
“That’s a lot of moving.”
“Harvey, my fiancé was a real go-getter. Always looking for a better job.”
“And you followed him around?”
“Sort of. His opportunities were good for me, as well.” She was surprised at how his comment made her feel.
“Your dad said you worked as an accountant.”
Lauren chuckled at the grimace on his face. “It’s good work.”
Vic shuddered. “Numbers are not my friends. I can’t imagine working with them all day.”
“To each his own,” she said. “I like how predictable and orderly they make life. There’s no surprises or guesswork. One plus one will always equal two.”
“Do you enjoy it? Is it your passion?”
Lauren opened her mouth to say yes but hesitated. To say it was her passion wasn’t correct. “I’m good at it and it pays well.”
Vic laughed and she shot him a puzzled glance. “Is it the money? That why you do it? You don’t seem like that kind of person.”
Lauren’s back stiffened. “No. Of course not. I do it because I’m competent. I’m trained for it and because...because...well... I’ve got this opportunity now to start my own business and...” For a few long moments she couldn’t latch on to any solid reason why. No one had ever asked her. Harvey had always assumed this was what she should do.
She turned away from Vic and his probing questions and curious expression. The uncertainty his comments raised frustrated her. Then came a chilling realization.
It’s because that’s all you’ve ever done.
“I’m sorry if I’ve upset you,” Vic said. “I was just making conversation.”
She suddenly felt as if the ground that she had always thought of as solid and unmoving had shifted.
You don’t seem like that kind of person.
How did he know what she was like?
“It’s all right,” she said, giving him a careful smile. “For some reason your comment caught me unawares.”
“Never
