“Great, just let me write up a bill for you, then. Do you need it delivered too? We offer free delivery in town,” Kara said. “I can have one of our trucks drop it off later today if you like.”
The man shook his head. “No, that’s fine. I think it should fit in the back of my car. That way, I can have it placed in front of the door should Courtney come into the office today. That’ll really impress her.”
“Courtney Blackstone?”
He raised one eyebrow. “You know her?”
“I do. Since we were kids,” Kara replied and, reaching over, tugged the price tag off the arrangement. “She’s lovely,” she added before heading to the store's front counter and pressing a few keys to power up the register. She smiled at him. “Can I help you with anything else?” she asked. “We also design flower arrangements. Do you have a reception area that needs a welcoming plant or display? I’d be happy to put something together for you.”
He shook his head. “No, we’re just a small office, and the only receptionist we have so far is ourselves. But I’ll keep it in mind for when we expand. It would be nice to have something green out front.”
As Kara took the man’s credit card from him, she read the name—Scott Davidson. She liked it. It suited this handsome and well-dressed man.
After she had finished ringing up the sale, she handed the card back to him with a smile. “Well, thank you, Mr. Davidson. I’ll just grab some plastic sheets to line and protect the back of your car, and then I’ll give you a hand getting the planter loaded in.”
Scott nodded as she handed him his receipt, along with her business card.
“Just Scott is fine,” he replied, glancing at it. “And thank you, Kara. I appreciate your help.”
“No problem. Now, let me see if I can find a cart to help us move this out to your car for you.”
After Kara pushed the small dolly into position, Scott easily lifted the heavy urn onto it, and she couldn’t help but notice how impressively his biceps bulged under his button-down shirt. She felt a small pang of desire roll through her stomach, and heat flushed her cheeks.
Stop it.
Silently scolding herself while steadying the planter on the cart, Kara slowly wheeled the dolly to the garden center’s front door when suddenly, from the pocket of her apron, came a loud thud and then the muffled rustling of cloth—the unmistakable sound of a fall. Kara straightened.
Scott's eyes widened, and all the hairs on the back of Kara's neck stood on end as a high-pitched and pain-filled wail emanated from the baby monitor.
Maeve!
Kara shot Scott a startled look, dropped the handle to the dolly, and ran toward the sound of her daughter’s cries, with him following closely behind.
Chapter Two
“That’s weird,” Rachel muttered to herself as the line rang several times before it kicked over to voice mail. She disconnected the call without leaving a message. Biting down on her bottom lip, she scanned the almost empty parking lot around her and tried to decide what to do next.
It was already nine o’clock in the morning, and the garden center still wasn’t open. Usually, the store was open by eight on Saturdays. And often, someone was propping open the old double wooden doors and hanging out the welcome sign even earlier. The fact that Kara wasn’t there already welcoming customers, setting up new displays, or potting plants was definitely strange.
“What do you think we should do?” Rachel asked Evan, another part-time employee, who was sitting at her feet. His forehead was resting on his knees, and loud music emanated from the AirPods hidden under his long, dark hair.
When he didn’t respond, Rachel sighed and gently kicked the boy’s boot with her worn sneaker to get his attention. Her job only paid minimum wage, but she enjoyed working at the garden center and with Kara, so she always did her best to arrive on time and do what her mother called an honest and hard day’s work. Evan’s indifference to the garden center not being open, even though the gate from the road was already unlocked, annoyed her.
“Um, call someone?” the boy finally suggested and blinked up at her, squirming under Rachel’s long, hard stare.
She rolled her eyes and turned away. She had already called Kara’s cell phone twice and tried the main garden center number too. But no one had answered her calls. “I hope nothing happened to Maeve,” Rachel said as she paced around the front of the store once more. Maeve, Kara’s young daughter, was another reason Rachel loved working here. It was part of Rachel’s job to keep an eye on the little girl when the garden center was busy, and now that Maeve was three years old, keeping the little girl out of trouble was sometimes a full-time job in itself.
Rachel flipped her long, shiny hair back behind her shoulders, slipped her cell phone into the front pocket of her jeans, and used both hands to peer through the garden center’s front windows again. Squinting through the glass, the only thing she could see that looked out of place was a large potted planter sitting near the front of the store on a dolly.
“Where is everyone?” Rachel asked aloud. She sighed as only the distorted rap music emanating from Evan’s headphones answered her.
Hurrying back over to the large, ornately carved wooden front doors, Rachel tapped on them again. When there was still no response, she banged a little harder just in case Kara was in the back or busy with Maeve and hadn’t heard her knocking the first time.
There was still no reply.
Scowling, Rachel once again fished her phone out of her pocket and, after glancing again at Evan and quickly deciding that he would be of no help at all, she decided she was going to have to call her mother.
Rachel’s mother, Mary, and Kara had been friends for a long time. Mary had even looked after Kara and her twin brother, Mark, after their mother had passed away. If anyone knew what to do, it would be her. As Rachel punched in her cell phone’s passcode, she walked back over to the parking lot where she’d left her bike. Kara’s old truck was in its usual spot, she saw, but Kara herself was missing. Rachel felt a chill run down her spine as she considered the possibility that maybe she should be calling the police. Shuddering at the thought, she hurried back to the garden center entrance and tapped her foot impatiently as she peered through the windows and waited for her mother to answer her call.
“It was only four stitches, he told me,” Kara exclaimed to her brother. “The doctor said only four stitches like it was no big deal that my baby needed any stitches at all! I mean, what kind of a mother am I that I’m so busy with a sale I’m not paying attention to my daughter, who then hurts herself badly enough to need to go to the ER?”
Kara was shaking. Mark put his arm around her and pulled her closer as he looked over at the hospital bed where his niece was happily scribbling in a coloring book provided by the hospital nurses.
“Maeve is okay, and you’re a great mom,” he reassured Kara. “Look at her. She’s fine. But sometimes, no matter how many precautions you take, kids are going to get hurt. You can’t wrap her in bubble wrap. She needs to be free to experience things, and yes, kids roll off couches. It was just bad luck that she fell and hit her head. You can’t protect her from everything. Besides, the nurse told us that the cut is high up enough on her head that her hair will cover any scar. She’s going to be fine.”
Mark hugged Kara again, and once she was steadier, he released her to return to Maeve. He then looked curiously at the man sitting patiently in a chair in the corner of the small hospital room.
“I don’t think we’ve met,” said Mark, extending his hand and taking a step toward him. “I’m Mark Sullivan, Kara’s brother.”
Scott got to his feet and shook Mark’s hand. “I’m Scott Davidson. I drove your sister and Maeve here. Kara was a little panicky, so it seemed best that I drive.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked over at the little girl. “I thought I should stay until someone else was with them; they were both pretty shaken up.”
Mark nodded and chuckled. “I can only imagine what it was like. Kara gets a little crazy when it comes to Maeve. I appreciate you being there for them.”
He looked over at his sister. “What’s going on with the garden center, anyway? Did you call Mary to ask her to come in and help Rachel?”
Kara’s eyes widened in dismay and she quickly flipped over the watch on her wrist to look at the time.
