the foliage.
âThanks for letting me help.â
She couldnât help smiling. âThanks for insisting.â
He pushed himself to his feet and then they filled in the hole and watered the tree into its new site.
âThere. Done,â Flynn finally said, thrusting the shovel into the earth one last time.
Mel pushed a stray curl out of her eyes and considered her orange tree. In its new position, it would get close to eight hours of clear sunlight a day. With a bit of luck, she might even get fruit this summer.
Reaching out a hand, she patted the trunk affectionately. âOver to you. Show us what youâve got, baby,â she said quietly.
Then she remembered she had an audience. When she glanced at Flynn, he was trying to hide a smile.
âOkay. So I talk to my plants occasionally,â she admitted sheepishly.
âI read my tomatoes Shakespeare one year.â
âYeah, right.â She squinted at him, sure he was making fun of her.
âI did, I swear. My motherâs housekeeper swore her grandmother used to do it and got bumper crops.â
âAnd?â
âI think I should have gone for one of the comedies instead of the Scottish play.â
Melâs laugh was loud and heartfelt.
Flynn grinned, then checked his watch. âWhoa. Itâs nearly eleven. Iâd better get going. Iâm supposed to be doing the final inspection on Summerlea.â
âYou bought it? Oh, wow.â
Usually the local grapevine was good for gossip, butshe hadnât heard a whisper about the old estate being sold so sheâd simply assumed that Flynn and Hayley had walked away from their inspection unimpressed.
âItâs going to be a money pit, but I couldnât let Edna Wallingâs last great design slip through my fingers.â
Mel couldnât hide her surprise. It was one thing to know how to transplant a tree, but to know the name of a long-dead, highly influential garden designer took his interest in gardening to a whole new level.
âWhatâs wrong? Having visions of polo ponies again?â he asked wryly.
âNo.â
But he was rightâshe was. Mel was the first to admit she had some pretty set ideas about what people with money were like. Sheâd learned them firsthand at the feet of her husband and her in-laws. Sheâd seen the hypocrisy, the judgment, the insularity. Sheâd absorbed the politics, the values, the social mores. She knew where women of a certain income bracket liked to shop, who they allowed to cut their hair, how they preferred to keep their bodies lean and slim. She knew where the men lunched, the football clubs they supported, the charities they were happy to fund in return for a piece of the glory.
Sheâd assumed Flynn was like the rest of them, but apparently sheâd assumed wrong.
He checked his watch again. âIâd really better get going.â
âIâll walk you up.â It was the least she could do after heâd saved her considerable effort and offered her what was clearly expert advice.
They walked side by side in silence. Mel wracked her brain for something innocuous to say, but the edgy feeling was back now they didnât have the task of transplanting the orange tree to occupy them. She snuck a look at him out of the corner of her eye but he seemed perfectly at ease.
âI can give you your key now if youâd like,â she said. âSave you from having to collect it later.â
âSure, if that makes life easier for you.â
âI was trying to make life easier for you.â
They were approaching the house and Flynn stooped to collect his jacket and sweater. He washed his hands on the garden tap at the bottom of the stairs as she raced into the house to grab the keys.
âYouâre not in Red Coat this time, Iâm sorry. I had a previous booking, so youâre in Tea Cutter, the cottage we passed on the way to plant the tree,â she
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