“Were you the favorite?”
“I think I was just the one she knew needed this.”
“Needed it,” he repeated. It wasn’t quite a question, but the way he said it invited me to elaborate.
I couldn’t tell him the truth, of course. That was too heavy for a casual conversation with a man I’d likely never see again.
“A change of pace. A start-over. And maybe just the grounding that comes with working with dirt and plants.”
“Used to put too much pressure on yourself, huh?”
That was putting it lightly.
“Something like that,” I said. “So these are just the cuttings that aren’t big enough to sell yet,” I told him. “But this othergreenhouse,” I said, moving outside again with him, “is where the new shipments come in. They’re in quarantine.”
“Do plants carry communicable diseases?” he asked, opening the door for me.
“Well, sort of. But to each other, not to people or anything. Or they have bugs. And, believe me, you do not want a mealybug infestation. Or spider mites. They’re a nightmare to try to manage and could kill your plants if you don’t get a hold of it fast.”
“Good to know. These look sad,” he said, waving toward where the new plants stood stooped and wilted in their fresh pots.
“Yeah, they just came in yesterday. Plants usually do okay in transit, but they go through a little shock when they’re taken out of the dark, planted, and watered. They’ll be okay.”
“This one is badass,” he said, gesturing toward a white Syngonium with pink spots.
“Pink Confetti,” I told him. “Despite what I told you about white and pink varieties, I totally want one too.”
“Might have to come back for one. So, how often do you get shipments?”
“Oh, only once a month. It used to be less, kind of just when I needed stock, until—” I trailed off, realizing what I was about to say.
“Until?”
“Until I decided it was smart to keep new stock coming in regularly,” I lied. Convincingly, too, if I do say so myself. “So, ready to head back in?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Kylo
She was a terrible liar.
I followed her out of the greenhouse and toward the shop again, wondering what she was lying to cover up. That she was some international arms dealer?
The thought was so absurd that I almost laughed aloud.
No one who met this woman would think she even understood how to use a gun, let alone how to source one from other countries.
Sure, some people who were in illegal trades were surprisingly normal. Others also were good enough actors that they could pretend to lie poorly to mask the fact that they were masters of it.
I didn’t think that was the case for Rue.
There’d been something vulnerable in her eyes. It was gone in a flash, but it had been there.
I was pretty sure she wasn’t in on the shipments. At least not willingly. But my feelings weren’t going to be evidence enough for McCoy or Huck.
By the time I left the store, I had three new plants, pots, moisture meters, a watering can shaped like an elephant,fertilizer, and a macramé plant hanger, since one of my plants was going to ‘trail’ eventually.
I put everything into the trunk, got in the driver’s seat, turned on the air, then finally let out the breath I’d been half-holding since the second I’d walked into that shop.
