Scott laughed, and the two stood in companionable silence for a few minutes, watching the cheerful scene unfold outside their boardroom window. “Is that Jamie with them again?” Courtney asked when a dark-haired man jogging slowly up the street caught up with Kara and Maeve.
“I think so,” replied Scott with a shrug. “I haven’t met him yet, but Mark mentioned that he’s back in town. I’m sure it’ll be nice for Maeve to spend more time with her father and for Kara to have more help with her.”
Scott and Courtney watched silently as Kara helped Maeve slide off her bike and unclipped the little girl’s helmet. After she hung it from the bike’s handlebars, they headed toward the shop across the street.
“Hmm, I guess,” replied Courtney. “But since he took off and left them once, I find it hard to believe that he’s come back to be much help now. Leopards don’t change their spots that quickly, at least in my experience. I just hope Kara doesn’t get hurt again. I like her, and I’d hate to see anything happen to her or Maeve.”
“She told me that there was nothing between them, that anything between them had ended before Maeve was even born.”
“Like I said, I hope so.”
“Me too,” Scott replied under his breath as he watched Jamie accompany Kara and Maeve into the ice-cream store. His wistful tone made Courtney look at him sharply, then pat his shoulder with a knowing, sad smile before she turned away, leaving him staring out the window, wondering what he could do to make the uncomfortable ache in his chest go away.
The job Kara hated doing most for her business was taking care of the finances. She had long ago decided she wasn’t cut out to sit behind a desk for long periods of time looking at spreadsheets. Usually, she hired a bookkeeper to do all her record-keeping for the garden center. But since things had been slow lately, she’d tackled it herself this month to save the cost of outside help.
Sighing, she looked at the last page of all the reports she had just finished compiling. Studying the summary of her sales and expenses together had only confirmed her fears.
Things aren’t looking too profitable for the first half of the year.
Kara closed her eyes. Not having lucrative numbers was far from ideal. She didn’t need the garden center to make a huge profit, but it would be nice if it at least made enough to cover costs and provided her a big enough salary to buy groceries and pay her rent.
With a worried frown, Kara closed the file and left the office to wander through the store, trying to see if she could come up with any new ways to boost sales. Over the past few days, traffic in the store had been light, and this was especially troubling as sales at a garden center usually picked up during the spring season.
Kara made her way to the front of the store and spotted Mary sorting through packages of seeds. “I thought Rachel was doing inventory today,” Kara said.
“She was, but something was on her mind, and she was just making a mess of it, so I sent her off to do homework,” Mary replied. “I swear the hormones have hit that girl hard this term and scrambled her brains. She used to be so steady, but now she barely listens to me. I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately.”
Kara smiled. While Mary might complain about Rachel, her tone still conveyed great affection behind her critical words. “Well, let me know if she needs more time off to figure it out,” stated Kara. “I’ve just been looking at the finances, and we need to find more ways to cut back. I could trim her hours a bit and support the bottom line at the same time, but only if you think it would help her.”
Mary patted Kara reassuringly on the arm. “Rachel would work here for free, you know that,” she stated. “She loves this place as much as you and I do.”
Kara sighed heavily and sank down to perch on a large ornamental rock. “I know, and I do love this place. I just don’t know how much longer it can run on love.”
Mary nudged Kara over so she could sit beside her. “Are things that bad?” she asked. “I’ve noticed it’s been slow lately.”
Kara frowned. “Well, we’ve always run pretty close to being in the red, and that was okay, as I never worked here to get rich. But lately, not only have sales really slowed down, but we also just had that huge plumbing bill.” She sighed. “Things usually pick up at this time of the year too. I can’t figure out why they haven’t.”
Mary looked thoughtful for a minute. “How many people did you tell about the potential sale of the garden center?” she asked.
“Not many, but a lot of people seem to know anyway. You know what Larkin Bay is like—once you say anything to anyone, it gets around town faster than a brush fire during a drought.”
“Do you think that has anything to do with it?”
Kara frowned. “I don’t know. Do you think it would? I mean, I thought most of Larkin Bay would want the garden center to remain here. But if they keep staying home—it’s almost as if they’re forcing me into selling by not showing up.”
“They might also stay away if they don’t want to support someone they suspect is going to sell out to developers,” Mary suggested.
“But everyone in Larkin Bay knows me! They know I wouldn’t sell the garden center willingly,” Kara cried.
“I’m not saying that is what is happening,” Mary replied in a soothing tone. “This place is like a ghost town, though, and if we don’t start selling the spring flats and early-summer flowers soon, they are all going to end up in the compost pile.”
“I know,” Kara said sadly. “But what can I do? I can’t very well go around and tell everyone that if they don’t come shop here, I’ll have to sell out to the evil developers just so Maeve and I can afford to eat.”
“No, you can’t,” answered Mary thoughtfully, tapping a finger against her lower lip as she got to her feet, “but I can.”
As he threw the ball across the field, Scott’s stomach knotted.
He was nervous.
Not just a little nervous, either; he had multiple butterflies in his stomach, sweat was beading on his forehead, and his knees were noticeably shaking.
Closing his eyes, he did a few of the visualization and breathing exercises that a professional sports psychologist had taught him when he’d been a young pitcher but until now had never needed. Even while pitching in a post-season game, he didn’t remember being as anxious as he was right now. He might even find the whole thing funny if he wasn't so sure that he was about to throw up.
As he was trying to calm his churning stomach, Mark jogged over to talk to him.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”
“I’m okay. I’m just not used to playing infield, I guess. My nerves are catching up with me tonight.”
Mark grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “Well, we’re happy you could finally clear some time in your schedule to play tonight. It looks like you’re good for attendance too. The stands are full, and I doubt it’s me they’re here to watch.”
Scott looked around uneasily and jumped when a bright flash suddenly went off from the stands. Mark turned and smiled at the man holding the camera.
“Oh, and look, the town paper has even come out to see you play. You really are big-time,” Mark added teasingly. His smile dropped when he saw the look of distress on Scott’s face, and he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. “Just ignore everything and focus on the game. You’ll be fine,” Mark said, smiling sympathetically. “No one expects an ex-pitcher to hit anyway. As long as you don’t completely miss a grounder, the Larkin Bay press corps should be kind.”
Scott grinned weakly. Mark’s words weren’t making him feel any better, but he just dropped his hand and jogged away, chuckling. A few minutes later, the national anthem was sung by a few girls from the local Girl Scout troop, and after scattered applause for their efforts, the game began.
“Doesn’t Scott look so cute in his small-town uniform?” announced Candy in the stands to those seated around her. “I could just eat him up; he’s so sweet.”
