“I know, and I will. This time, Scott just happened to be right there,” Kara replied.

“Well, I haven’t met or even seen the man yet, but from what I hear, he’s gorgeous with a capital G. So I may just have to stroll by Courtney’s new law office sometime soon and check him out for myself. I must need some sort of legal work done,” said Amanda, winking.

“Sure, bring along your toddler and your pregnant belly and that enormous diamond that Danny put on your ring finger on your wedding day. I’m sure he’ll be totally interested in you,” Jaycee said with a broad smile.

The girls all joined in her laughter, and then, to Kara’s relief, the conversation turned to other things, so she was able to simply sit back, sip her drink, and reflect on all that she had just learned.

The girls’ laughter and reminiscing was cut short an hour later when Kara looked around the crowded bar and got to her feet.

“What are you doing?” asked Amanda, watching Kara pick up her purse and jacket.

“I’m going to have to call it a night, I’m afraid. Mark is getting slammed here,” Kara replied, waving a hand toward the entrance. “Look, there are people lined up out the door and his staff is running every which way. I’m going to throw on an apron and help for a bit. Just let me know what I owe, and I’ll settle it up at the bar before I leave.”

Amanda sat back in her chair and looked around them. She frowned. “Mark needs to hire some more help. You can’t work all day at the garden center and then come here and wait tables too.”

“I know. I’ll talk to him about it. But right now, I’m going to pitch in. This place is hopping tonight.”

“And that’s great. Let us know if we can do anything. I’m good at working behind a counter,” Jaycee said with a grin.

“Will do. Thanks, guys. I’ll see you soon,” Kara said, hurrying away to stash her things in the small back office and grab a dark green apron embroidered with the pub’s name and logo.

A few minutes later, she exited the office with an order pad in hand, and Mark flashed her a tired but grateful smile. “Thanks, Kara,” he shouted over the live music and chatter around him. “I’m going to get the grill order that’s up for table three. If you could take over the food orders for the booths at the back, that would be a great help.”

“On it,” answered Kara, not needing any further instruction. One of the great things about being a twin was that they usually understood what the other needed, even when they didn’t have time to articulate it.

Rachel lifted her camera and lined up the shot. It wouldn’t be great, but she clicked the shutter anyway, knowing that often what didn’t look good through her lens looked great after she tweaked it in Photoshop.

Whistling to herself, she continued to wander through the nursery while keeping a careful eye on Maeve. The little girl certainly didn’t seem affected in any way from her fall a few days ago, but Rachel didn't want anything like that to happen again, especially not when she was responsible for her.

As Maeve played with her dolls in a corner of the garden center, Rachel took a few more close-ups of the little girl. She started by zooming in on one of Maeve’s enormous eyes and then moved on to her tiny, chubby hands. Squinting, she pressed a few buttons and looked at the pictures on her camera’s small viewfinder. They were cute photos, and if she enlarged and printed them out, they could be striking shots, especially if she added a filter. Kara would love them.

While Rachel was crafting intriguing pictures of Maeve, Kara arrived through the front doors of the garden center and Rachel clicked off several frames, catching the little girl in motion as she raced toward her mother, obviously eager to be scooped up and cuddled in her loving embrace.

Kara hugged and kissed her daughter hello before smoothing back her hair to check on her stitches. Frowning, she studied them for a second before quickly fluffing Maeve’s curls to cover them once again and setting the little girl back down on her feet. She smiled at Rachel before turning to greet Mary, who’d appeared from the back office.

“Things are quiet still?” Kara asked. Her lips were pressed together as she looked around the empty store. “I hoped we might start seeing some of the spring business soon. It’s just about time for the spring flower flats to start selling.”

“It was a little busier earlier,” answered Mary, placing a reassuring hand on Kara’s shoulder. “The boys out back have been busy loading mulch and grass seed for people too. There’s just a lull right now, and it’s always quiet inside the store at this time of the year as it’s the outside flowers that people are thinking about. Don’t start fretting. Sales will pick up soon.”

Kara nodded. Mary was right. She should be looking at the outside traffic, not the lack of it inside. Kara forced herself to smile as she leaned over and kissed Maeve on the head again. “I’ll just head outside and see how the guys are doing with the seasonal stuff,” she said. “Thanks for watching Maeve for me, Rachel, and thanks for keeping an eye on the store, Mary.”

Mary waved away her words and turned to Rachel to give her directions on putting out stock as Kara took Maeve by the hand and headed back out the garden center door to check what was happening outside.

Chapter Five

In the garden center’s back office, Kara sighed as she sorted through the mail.

I hate this part of my job.

Quickly, she placed the junk flyers in one pile for recycling and put the bills that needed to be paid in her in-tray to be dealt with later. She paused when she picked up an official-looking envelope that was addressed to Kara using her full legal name.

What do we have here?

Kara carefully ripped the envelope open, skimmed the letter it contained, and then went back and read it more slowly. The words she was seeing made little sense. Someone had written her a letter, with the help of an attorney, asking if she would be interested in selling the garden center. Kara turned the letter over carefully and then looked inside the envelope it had come in to see if she had missed something. But all she found was the single-page letter printed on heavily embossed paper with a phone number at the bottom. The last paragraph of the letter requested Kara contact the legal firm that had written it to discuss their proposal at her earliest convenience.

“Isn’t this funny, Maeve? Someone thinks I want to sell the garden center. Don’t they know this place isn’t for sale and never will be?”

Maeve looked up briefly from the puzzle she was doing at a small table in the corner of the room and beamed at her mother before looking back down at her toy.

Kara read the letter again, and her forehead furrowed as she momentarily considered throwing it in the recycling bin beside her desk. She could, but since the garden center buildings and all the property surrounding them had been left to both her and Mark when their mother passed away, he probably should have an equal say in what happened to it. Pulling her phone out of the front pocket of her dark-wash jeans, Kara hit the speed dial button that would connect her with him. When the call immediately flipped over to voice mail, Kara sighed softly under her breath and disconnected without leaving a message.

Placing the letter to one side, she looked up and smiled as Rachel came into the office to collect Maeve for a walk. “Thank you, hon,” she called after them as the little girl skipped out the door with her.

Kara returned to her task and once finished, she yawned and leaned back in her chair. Looking over the things scattered on her desk, she picked up the picture she kept there of her mother, her brother, and herself.

“She was beautiful, wasn’t she?” Mary asked from the doorway, where she was watching Kara gently trace her mother’s face in the photograph with one finger.

“I don’t know if she was what people would consider classically beautiful, but she loved me and she worked hard looking after us, so I’ll always think she was,” Kara replied.

Mary shook her head. “She was beautiful,” she said firmly. Mary had taken on a parental role with Mark and Kara when their mother had tragically passed away after a brief battle with ovarian cancer when the twins were teenagers. For a few years, Mary had even let both of the heartbroken twins live with her and had cooked them hot meals and spent many evenings reminding them to do their homework. Both Mark and Kara were grateful for all Mary had done, and even when they could have rebelled as teenagers at her rules, they hadn’t, knowing that Mary had their best interests at heart. She was the only family they had at the time besides each other, and Mary had made sure the twins felt cherished and loved.

“I still miss her every day,” Kara admitted. She placed the framed photograph back on her desk.

“I do too. She was my best friend,” said Mary. “You look just like she did at your age,” Mary added, “except she had more meat on her than you do. Did you eat at all today?”

Kara laughed at the sudden change of topic. “Yes, I ate today. I had a fairly big lunch,” she replied. “Why are you always trying to get me to eat, anyway? I’m not overly skinny and I’m healthy.”

“I don’t know. I guess I just worry about you because you work so hard. Besides, your mom would expect me to occasionally mother you and do things like check to see if you’re eating enough.”

Mary walked over and sat down on the couch in the office across from her. “So if it’s not that, then what’s wrong?” she asked, crossing her arms and looking over at Kara.

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. What makes you ask that?” Kara’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re all alone at your desk, mooning over an old picture of your mother. You wouldn’t be doing that unless something was bothering you.”

Kara smiled. “I sometimes forget how well you know me,” she replied. “But nothing is wrong, really. I just got a funny letter today, and it got me thinking about my mother.”

Picking the letter up, she handed it over to Mary, who skimmed it, then handed it back to Kara. “I always wondered when the developers would come along and try to buy this property up,” she said. “It’s in the best part of town, and it’s perfect for condominiums or a box store. I’m actually surprised it’s taken this long for anyone else to think of it.”

Kara looked at Mary in surprise. “Well, think of it or not, the garden center is not for sale. Especially if whoever wants to buy it plans to tear it down and put some hideous, concrete big box stores in its place! I love this land and my mother gave it to me to carry on her business. I intend to always grow trees and plants here, not let someone build ugly condominiums.”

“Well, you just have to tell them that. You don’t have to sell this place if you don’t want to. But you should at least go and hear what they’re offering.”

“You think so?”

Mary nodded. “I do. Land is selling for huge amounts in Larkin Bay right now, and the money you and Mark could get for this parcel might set both you and little Maeve up for the rest of your lives. You’d also probably have enough money left over to build another garden center farther outside of town if that’s how you still wanted to spend your time.”