CONNIE WATCHED LUCY wipe down the counter in the shop. Or more accurately, wipe one particular spot on the counter. Over and over again. While smiling and staring off into space. Lucy could be bubbly. Unpredictable. Strong-willed. But dreamy-eyed was a new side of her. Connie closed the cooler door and arched her brow.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were downright swooning over something. Or somebody.” Lucy looked up in surprise, as if she hadn’t even noticed that Connie had walked right in front of her to get to the cooler and back again to stand in front of her.
“What? What do you mean?” She scrubbed with a bit more energy, still on that one spot next to the computer monitor.
Connie nodded. “Ah...that’s what it is, isn’t it? Someone. Is that fiancé of yours finally making some progress?” Lucy’s blush deepened. Nailed it. “Well, isn’t that interesting. Does this have anything to do with the picnic at the winery the other day?”
She’d barely gotten the last word out before Lucy jumped to deny it.
“No! Why would a picnic change anything? Besides, there was a whole group there. It’s not like it was a romantic tryst...”
Well. That was an interesting choice of words.
“I never said anything about romantic trysts, but now you have me curious.” She leaned her hip against the counter. “Helen said the two of you were at a private table near the top of the hill. And Cecile saw you walking into the woods together.”
Lucy’s cheeks were flaming now. Bingo. Something had happened.
“Oh, my God. The gossip in this town is worse than down South, and I didn’t think that was possible. Owen and I walked over to see the waterfall. That’s all Cecile saw. And we only took that table because the others were full. Nothing happened.”
“I call bullshit on that.”
Lucy’s mouth fell open. “I beg your pardon?” Her Southern accent deepened. She stared as if she expected Connie to back down and apologize, which was not about to happen.
“Look, darlin’.” Lucy’s eyes narrowed dangerously at the mockery, but Connie kept right on talking. “You were staring so far off into space just now that you didn’t even see me putting flowers in the cooler. And you’ve been wiping the same exact spot on that counter for ten minutes. I’ve been around the block a few times, girl, and I know a besotted expression when I see one. There’s no one else you’d look that way for except for Owen Cooper. My guess is you’re beginning to regret leaving him at the altar.”
It was as if she’d pushed a button that collapsed Lucy like one of those floppy dolls they sold at the fair. She was still standing, but all the air was let out of her, and...there were tears in her eyes. Lucy hadn’t come close to shedding a tear in front of Connie before now.
“Oh, shit.” This was what happened when she started caring about people. She had to deal with waterworks. “Come on in back. I’ll get you some water.” She took Lucy’s elbow and led her back to the worktable, where Lucy sat on a stool and buried her face in her hands. Connie kicked herself. She’d really done it now. Emotions. Emotions were flowing all over her workroom, and she didn’t know how to stop it. She awkwardly patted Lucy’s shoulder as she cried silently. She’d misread this completely. Owen must have done something stupid. She fetched a bottle of water. She checked the front of the shop to make sure no one was there. Then she sat at Lucy’s side.
“Look...men can be jerks. They’re born idiots and aging doesn’t help them one bit. Whatever Owen did...”
Lucy wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“He kissed me.”
Connie sat back, trying to figure out where the tears were coming from.
“Without your permission?”
Lucy shook her head emphatically. “No, nothing like that. I kissed him, too. In fact, I think I kissed him first.”
“I see. That bastard.”
A bubble of laughter came up through Lucy’s tears. “Right? I’m so confused. I mean... I left him. And he picked me up, put me against a tree and kissed me like nothing had ever happened. And it was...it was...”
“Earth-shattering?”
She wiped her face again, then took a drink of water.
“Something like that, yeah. I thought we were done. We had to be done, right?” She turned to face Connie. “Why wouldn’t we be done after I dumped him? Isn’t that the definition of dumping a guy? That you’re done? But then...”
“Then he kissed you. Against a tree.”
“Yes. He kissed me. Against a tree. And said he loved me. And I...said I might love him, too. But that makes no sense!”
Connie put her hand over Lucy’s.
“This may come as a shock to you, but love rarely makes sense.”
The room was silent for a few minutes. Lucy sniffled, her tears finally coming to an end.
“Tell me about your husband.”
“Where did that come from?” Connie yanked her hand away. “What does my marriage have to do with you and Owen?”
“You mentioned love as if you loved your husband once. But you never talk about him.”
She was now well and truly bristling, her voice sharp. “I don’t have to talk about him. He left me. You know that, right?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t love him once.” Lucy’s eyes went soft.
Connie started organizing ribbons and beads, trying to ignore the welling up of emotion inside of her. “I did, right up until he left me here alone and took off with that Sandy woman. I never saw it coming. That wasn’t the deal. It wasn’t the plan...” She sighed, remembering the absolute shock of the day she’d found Danny packing his suitcase. “I guess it isn’t fair to say I didn’t see it coming. I knew something was wrong. We’d settled into different lives. Him with his real estate business and me with the shop. Our son was grown and gone, and we had to find a new life just for the two of us. But Dan went out and found a new life that didn’t include me at all.
“And yes... I loved him for a long time. Even more importantly, I liked him. We had fun together. Like Cecile said, we threw some wild parties and laughed all the time. But once our nest was empty, I guess I wasn’t enough for him anymore. Maybe it was my health worries. Maybe it was male menopause or whatever they call it.” She tried to smile. “I guess I wouldn’t be this angry with him if I hadn’t loved him so much. Like I said...love doesn’t make sense. But he betrayed me. He betrayed our vows. He betrayed all the plans we’d made together.”
“I’m really am sorry.” Lucy tipped her head to the side. “You sound like Owen with all of your focus on plans. He doesn’t like having plans derailed, either.”
“He doesn’t mind derailing your plans to leave him.”
“Ha! That’s true.” Lucy’s forehead wrinkled. “I wonder why. He’s always said meeting me was never in his plans, but now he won’t let me go. I can’t figure out if it’s because he really cares about me, or because I disrupted The Plan. And since The Plan is based in Greensboro, that’s not going to happen.”
“You talk about Greensboro like it kicked your dog. Greensboro is a dot on a map. What is it that really chased you all the way to the Finger Lakes?”
Lucy was silent. Her tears had stopped. Thank God. She looked around the workroom. The coolers were full of assembled bouquets for weekend orders. Connie had a feeling Lucy wanted to be busy with something, but the work was done for the day.
“I like it here.” Lucy said the words softly, almost to herself.
“In Rendezvous Falls?” Connie asked. “That’s understandable, I guess. Even an old crank like me can see it has its qualities.”
Lucy shook her head. “No, I mean I like it here. In the shop. Doing this work. It’s what I’ve always wanted. No one ever listened when I tried to tell them that.” She blew her nose and sat straighter. “I could tell you all the things that chased me away from Greensboro, but it comes down to just...not being happy there. Not being heard. By anyone. I let it go on for years, waiting for things to change. I guess I finally realized that nothing would change if I didn’t make it change.” She smiled at Connie. “Maybe running away wasn’t the best way to make that happen, but it ended up showing me what I want. I want...this.” She gestured around the workroom.
“You want my business?”
“Well, I’m not claiming it by eminent domain or anything.” Lucy laughed. “But if you’re ever looking for a partner...”
Connie’s eyes widened. A partner? She’d never considered that as an option. She’d thought her choices were sell or keep. She hated the idea of selling, regardless of how much pressure her son and daughter-in-law put on her. Or maybe because of all that pressure. Lord knew she could be too stubborn for her own good. But a partner...that might be a happy medium. Someone to share the workload.
“That’s an interesting proposal.” She picked up her water glass, then set it down sharply. “This conversation requires something stronger than water.” Instead of going for the chilled wine she kept in the cooler, she went to the corner cabinet and pulled out the good stuff—a bottle of Courvoisier. Dumping the water from their glasses, she splashed the cognac in its place, then sat back down.
The task gave her time to think beyond the immediate appeal of a talented young partner who knew the business. She liked Lucy. But...
“I’ve only known you for a minute, Lucy Higgins. And one of the things I do know about you is that you took off and left a lot of people hanging back in North Carolina. Regardless of your reasons, it doesn’t look great on a résumé.” She sipped her drink, watching Lucy over the top of her glass. “And I can’t help but wonder if you have some secret stash of investment money you haven’t mentioned yet. I’m not just gifting you half of my business.”
Lucy frowned into her drink, her mouth pressed into a thin straight line. She stayed like that for a moment before swallowing hard and meeting Connie’s gaze. “Fair enough. I’d have to work my way into full partnership. But you know I’ve got the skills and the energy to do it. As far as my recent history...that’s an...aberration...”
“Really? Tell me your work history before that.”
She chewed her lip before answering. “I had a job in Wilmington after college. For a tax preparation company.” She brightened. “But I worked part-time for a florist in town. On weekends and before the big flower holidays.”
“For how many years?”
“Uh...a few.... The only reason I left was that I had to go home to the mountains to care for my grandmother. She had cancer and needed live-in help.”
“And you have training in home health care as well as accounting and flowers?”
Lucy paled. “No, but she was my grandmother. My parents didn’t want some stranger living with her, so they asked me to come home.”
Connie narrowed her eyes at her. “You just dropped everything and left Wilmington? I’m sensing a pattern.”
LUCY WANTED TO ARGUE, but what could she say? Becoming Connie’s partner had been barely the whisper of an idea. She hadn’t thought it through. Just blurted it out.
“I don’t think that’s fair, Connie. Yes, I left Wilmington, but it was to help my family. You can’t hold that against me. And I didn’t leave everything—I met Owen when I was in Wilmington. I kept him.”
Connie took another sip of her drink. “For a while, maybe. Were you the only family member who could care for her? Even though it meant giving up your job and moving across the state?”
“I was very close to my grandmother.” She closed her eyes. There was no point in denying the truth. “I’ve always been the one to give up things, Connie. It’s just how it was. My older sister was sick as a child—leukemia. I gave up music classes. I gave up school activities. But she was sick and...my parents needed me.”
“Ah, I see,” Connie said. “I had you pegged as a feisty one, but you’re really a people pleaser, aren’t you?”
“That’s me.” Lucy lifted her glass in a mock toast. “Although I think Owen’s mom would argue about me pleasing anyone.”
“So you were a people pleaser right up until your wedding day?”
“Something like that.” Exactly like that. “I just couldn’t do it anymore.” She gave herself a mental shake. “But we’re drifting from the subject of a partnership. Is that really something you’d consider?”
“Are you serious about the offer?”
“Yes. I haven’t thought through all the details of making it work, but yes.” She looked around the cozy-but-efficient workroom. “I know it’s fast, but I’m interested. I meant it when I said I love this place. And Rendezvous Falls feels like...”
“Home? After a month?”
“It feels like it could be, yes.”
“And Owen?
Her face heated. “What about him?”
“Don’t play coy, Lucy.” Connie’s brows drew together. “I don’t want to start making business plans and wake up to find you’ve packed up and left for North Carolina with him. You have the right to do what you want, of course, but I don’t want to be left dangling in the wind.”
“Owen is not going to get me back to North Carolina.” She held up her hand. “And yes, I know Greensboro is just a dot on a map, but it represents more than that to me. It’s where our families are, and if I go back...”
“You’re afraid you’ll fall back into your old patterns of making everyone happy but yourself?”
Lucy chuckled. “You’re pretty smart, Connie.”
That was exactly it. She wanted Owen, but she didn’t want Greensboro. And she couldn’t imagine Owen turning his back on his parents’ plans for him.
“Maybe,” Connie answered with a soft smile. “But what’s going to stop you from trying to please everyone here in Rendezvous Falls?” The older woman’s voice sharpened. “What if I have a bad spell with the Parkinson’s and I say you have to do everything for the shop? What if I ask you to move into my house and take care of me? Would you turn into Florence Nightingale all over again? Or would you run?”
Lucy pursed her lips, trying to decide how serious Connie was. And trying to decide the answers to the questions. It wasn’t a bad thing to care about other people, was it?
“Is your Parkinson’s getting worse? Have you had trouble at home?”
“Of course not. She’ll outlive us all and laugh about it.” Cecile Manning stood in the doorway. “What brought on this morbid conversation? You two didn’t even hear us come in.”
“Us?” Lucy stood. “A customer?”
“No, it’s just Maura and Vickie.”
“Oh, thanks a lot.” Lucy recognized Maura McKinnon’s voice, although she couldn’t see her. She’d met her one morning at the diner, having breakfast with her granddaughter Bridget. They’d been working on wedding plans for Bridget’s upcoming marriage to Finn. “But she’s right, dear.” Maura called out. “There’s no hurry. Just picking up Bridget’s order for the bachelorette party she’s catering at the pub tonight, but we’re early. Vickie is in a roaring hurry today.”
Vickie Pendergast muttered something they couldn’t hear, but Lucy was pretty sure it rhymed with witch.
Cecile leaned farther into the workroom, barely whispering as she pointed between Connie and Lucy. “I want to hear more about this later.”
Connie grabbed Lucy’s hand as she stepped away.
“For the record, I’m fine. The new meds seem to be working, actually. I was just trying to make a point.”
“I... I’m glad you’re doing well. But you scared me.” She patted Connie’s shoulder. “And you also gave me something to think about. But I’d still like you to think about...” She glanced at Cecile, and noticed Vickie’s silver-blond hair right behind her. Connie had mentioned Vickie could be a busybody. “About what we discussed.”
Cecile and Vickie both gave her a curious look when she walked out to the front of the shop, but she just flashed them a cheerful grin as if she hadn’t just been drinking cognac with her boss in the middle of the afternoon.
As if she hadn’t just floated the idea of becoming a partner in Rendezvous Blooms.