An hour later, she glanced up to see Cameron in the doorway, listening to her rant on about the events and products and courses shed scheduled for the summer. He lifted his hand in the air, showing her what looked to be an oatmeal raisin cookie. Thank God. If she didnt get some sugar and junk food soon, she was probably going to fade out altogether.
After the interview, she leveled the plate of cookies hed brought-but hed disappeared by then. She searched until she found him on her back porch, talking with Filbert Green.
Filbert was the farmer her father had hired to caretake the farm after her parents retired to Florida. The idea was for Filbert to put in corn and soybeans or whatever, to keep the land in shape, until one of the Campbell daughters realized how much they belonged on the Vermont homestead and settled down to have some kids.
Camille had just gotten married, but she had no need for the land, and heaven knew when or if Daisy was coming back from France. So when Violet had limped home after the divorce, the house had been empty and everyone happy she was going to stay there. Shed let Filbert go. She wanted to wallow on the land in peace and quiet. Now, though, she saw Filbert hunkered down on her porch with Cam hunkered down next to him, both of them drawing plans with sticks like two smudge-nosed boys in a sandbox. They were talking about her lavender. Talking about the harvest. What needed doing, whod do it, how. She needed to listen, needed to actively participate, only, damnation if there wasnt another interruption.
Kari was the interruption, and actually it occurred to Violet by then that the girl had been shadowing her around for some time. A job interview, she recalled. Kari wanted a job, and God knew Violet was so behind she could barely catch her own tail. The girl was hardly out of diapers, but damn, she could talk spreadsheets like a true computer geek.
Okay. These are the rules. Take em or leave em. I dont give a damn what you wear, as long as you dont show up naked. I dont care if youre late or early as long as the work gets done. But you have to like cats. And I need accurate records. I cant work with someone whos careless with numbers. So. Are we square or not?
Kari of the shy smile and hopelessly baby blue eyes suddenly turned shrewd. How much you gonna pay me?
How much you want?
Ten bucks an hour. Im worth it.
This is your first job. Dont you think thats a little high?
Beats me. Thats what my dad told me to ask for, first try.
Okay, then you got it, first try. I love guts in a girl.
Once she put the girl on the payroll, by a miracle, she caught a thirty-second break. In those thirty seconds, she remembered those kisses of Camerons from last night, how shed felt-how hed felt-and whether she dared entertain the extraordinary fantasy of making love with him.
Cripes, it was one of those days when she could barely find time to pee, so considering a love affair seemed the height of lunacy. But her sisters phone call had helped promote the lunacy. Daisy had pointed out that Cameron had a uniquely perfect qualification for a lover-he didnt want to settle down.
For another woman, that would obviously be a disadvantage. But for her For three years now, shed been afraid of attracting a man whod want a normal, married type of life with her. Cameron was the first guy where she was dead sure he wouldnt want something from her that she couldnt give.
On top of which, she couldnt even remember feeling this level of lust and longing for a man shed barely met. There was something dangerous about that man. Something wicked. Something that made her dream about dumb things she knew she couldnt have.
Thankfully, the insane day just kept getting worse. There were no more thirty-second breaks. Around four, she gulped down two glasses of water before she keeled over from heat exhaustion, remembered she had a killer bee sting, babied it with some honey, then abruptly heard raised voices from inside the shop.
She hiked out to find Boobla near tears, being railed on by an unsatisfied customer. Wilhelmena wanted a cure for age. There wasnt one. It seemed shed bought some chamomile and clover and mint and parsley and primrose a few weeks ago, believing the combination of products would clear up her wrinkles and fix her dry skin, and now she wanted a refund because they didnt work.
Violet gently stepped in front of her clerk. Those are all good ideas for dry skin, but I dont know why you had the impression theyd fix wrinkles.
Because your girl told me it would.
Violet didnt have to ask Boobla to know the teenager never said any such thing. If you dont want the products, you can bring them back. Ill give you a partial refund.
That isnt good enough.
Violets gaze narrowed. She knew Wilhelmena. Hells bells, every shopkeeper in three counties knew Wilhelmena. Im afraid youll have to sue me then, hon, because thats as far as Im going.
The woman railed a little while longer. For anyone else, shed have gone the long mile, but not for a complainer-and then there was the principle of backing up her staff. Boobla was still a baby, which was precisely the point. This was her first job. Violet wasnt about to let anyone browbeat her just because she was a kid.
More customers came and went. In the meantime, orders for baskets still had to be filled, plants needed watering, the grass mowed. Even after hours, the phone kept ringing and a delivery truck came in.
The next time Violet looked up, somehow it was well past seven. The kids had both gone home, the closed sign was parked in the window, and Cameron was standing in the Herb Haven doorway with the fading sun behind him.
What the hell kind of place are you running here, chére? he murmured.
What do you mean?
I mean youre doing the work of four men and then some. You barely had time to grab half a sandwich at lunch, and I know you had a couple of cookies. But have you had anything serious to eat since breakfast?
Who knew? Who cared? She had no idea how long hed been standing there, but the silence suddenly coiled around her nerves like velvet ribbons. He looked like such a shout of male next to all the flower sights and smells and fuss, especially with his leg cocked forward and his broad shoulders filling the doorway. When she met his gaze, there was no instant thunderclap, just more of those itchy-soft velvet nerves. She was just so aware that no one else was in sight or sound but her and Cam and all that golden dusk.
But then she recalled his question. He sounded as if he were accusing her of being an effective manager, so Violet instinctively defended herself. I really dont work very hard. All my running around is just an act-to fool people into thinking I have a head for business. Id be in real trouble if the customers ever realized I dont have a clue what Im doing.
Sure, Cam said, but there was a wicked glint in his eyes. She had a bad feeling he was on to her flutter-brained routine-which was a foolish fear, since every guy in the neighborhood and surrounding county had been convinced for years she was a hard-core ditz. He distracted her, though, when he lifted a white paper bag and shook it.
She smelled. Food?
Dont get your hopes up. Its nothing like what you cook. But I made a trek into White Hills and picked up some fresh deli sandwiches, drinks, dessert. By midafternoon I figured that Id never get you out to the lavender to talk unless I somehow wooed you away from the phone and the business. I thought you must be hungry by now.
She wasnt. Until she looked at him. And then realized there seemed to be something hollow inside her that had been aching for a long time.
I dont have long, she said.
He nodded, as if expecting that answer, too-but shook the bag again, so she could catch the scent of a kosher dill and corned beef on rye.
I dont usually eat red meat, she said twenty minutes later, as she was wolfing down her second sandwich.
I can see youre not into it.
And I never eat chips. Theyre terrible for you.
Uh-huh, he said, as he opened the second bag of chips and spilled them onto a napkin.
She wasnt exactly sure how hed conned her into this picnic, but he seemed to have pulled a Pied Piper routine-his carrying an old sheet to use as a tablecloth, and the food and his car keys and strapping her into the front seat and his driving-while she did nothing but follow the scent of food. By the time hed unfurled the sheet to sit on, on the crest of the east hill overlooking the lavender, shed already been diving in.
He had a kind side, she had to give him that, because he didnt say a word when she gobbled down the second helping of chips. All that salt. All that fat. She tasted guilt with every bite, but, man, were they good. You really ate ahead of time? she insisted again.
Sure did, he said.
But she wasnt convinced. Hed brought enough for two. Shed assumed he was diving in when she was, until she suddenly glanced up and noticed that he was mounding his food on her plate. I never eat this much. You must think Im a greedy pig.
Sure did, he said.
But she wasnt convinced. Hed brought enough for two. Shed assumed he was diving in when she was, until she suddenly glanced up and noticed that he was mounding his food on her plate. I never eat this much. You must think Im a greedy pig.
Yeah. Ive always admired greed in a woman. Always admired meanness, too, and youve got an unusually mean streak. I was watching how you treated those two kids who work for you. They both think youre a goddess.
Are you making fun of me?
Are you kidding? Im in awe, chére. When she finally finished enough to please him, he reopened the bag and emerged with more goodies. Almond cookies. And theres a little more raspberry iced tea. Although I only bought a few cookies. I had no idea you were going to need three or four dozen just to fill you up on a first round.
The darn man was so comfortable and fun to be with that she had to laughbut then, of course, reality caught up with her. She couldnt be feeling comfortable. Not here.
It wasnt that she never came out to this stretch of the farm. Shed planted the twenty acres of lavender over the past few years, after all. Still, she avoided this view if she could help it. She wasnt the one whod tended it-her younger sister Camille had, when shed come home early in the spring, yelling the whole time about how crazy Violet had become to neglect anything like this.