Read Online All They Need by Sarah Mayberry - Free Book Online Page A

said as she descended the steps to rejoin him.
    â€œI noticed there was another car in the parking lot. Interlopers.”
    She smiled at his small joke and handed the key over. “Good luck with your inspection. When do you take possession?”
    â€œNext weekend.”
    She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t muck around.”
    â€œYou know what they say, life’s short. It suited the vendors to have the sale go through quickly and it suited me.”
    He pulled his car keys from his jeans pocket and she realized she was holding him up.
    â€œTake notes on the orchard grove for me.” She took a backward step to signal she was letting him go. “I’m basing my new orchard on memories of my last visit to Summerlea so I might quiz you on it later.”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you admitting to shamelessly ripping off my new garden’s design, Ms. Porter?”
    â€œUm…yes?”
    He laughed. “I’ll take some photos for you.” He turned to go, then swung back. “Unless you want to come to the inspection with me?”
    It was her turn to laugh. “Sure. I could give you advice on your renovations. Tell you how a pro would do it.”
    â€œI’m serious. I’d actually appreciate hearing your opinion.”
    He was sincere, she could see it in his face. Once she got past her surprise, her first impulse was to say no—she’d gotten into the habit of saying no to a lot of things during her marriage, for a number of reasons—but it had been ten years since she’d seen the gardens at Summerlea. It would be beyond helpful to see how Edna Walling had designed the orchard and how the garden had matured.
    Mel hesitated for a moment, then caught sight of her muddy jeans. She was caked from the knees down, her sweater blotched with yet more muck. The Lord only knew what was going on with her hair—something bad, she suspected, because it rarely behaved itself.
    â€œThanks for the offer, but I’m not really fit to be seen in public right now.”
    She indicated her muddy clothes.
    â€œIt’ll only be me and the real estate agent. No film crews or paparazzi.”
    She opened her mouth to issue another polite excuse.
    â€œAll right. If I wouldn’t be in the way,” she heard herself say. “I’d love to come.”
    â€œDo you need to lock up?”
    â€œI do. I won’t be a tick.”
    She went into the house to secure the front door and grab her house keys, and all the while a voice in her head screamed at her to go back and tell him no,thank you, and send him on his way. The voice told her he was simply being polite, that he couldn’t possibly really want her tagging along, that even if they’d had a perfectly nice, perfectly normal conversation, she was bound to say or do something wrong because that was what she always did.
    She ignored it, because it was her husband’s voice, and her mission over the past twelve months had been to get him out of her head now that she’d gotten him out of her life.
    An ongoing challenge, obviously. But she was getting there.
    Coat in hand, she pulled the door closed behind her and started down the stairs. “I’m ready.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    â€œW HEN WAS THE LAST TIME you saw Summerlea?” Flynn asked as he reversed out of the driveway.
    Mel glanced at the man sitting beside her. “I guess about ten years. I attended the last open garden weekend they held.”
    â€œReally? So did I.” He shot her a speculative look and she knew he was wondering if they’d crossed paths all those years ago.
    She was almost certain they hadn’t. Even though she hadn’t known a Randall from a rhododendron then, she would have noticed him if she’d seen him. He was a strikingly handsome man, and she’d been twenty-one and constantly on the lookout for anyone of the opposite sex who was taller than her. He would have stood out as