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Owen cleared his throat, alerting Hallie to the fact that she’d drifted.
“Sorry,” she muttered, attempting to focus on him. Consider him.
Maybe next time he asked her out, she would say yes. And she would wear a dress and perfume, hire a dog sitter, and take it seriously this time. She could see it was coming, too. Owen popped a tablet of gum into his mouth, chewed a moment, and exhaled at the ceiling. Oh, this was serious. He was going to go for a steak house.
Why had she left the dogs at home? They were always the perfect excuse to bolt.
“Hallie,” Owen started, red infusing his cheeks. “Since it’s Friday and all, I was wondering if you had plans for—”
Her phone rang.
She sucked in a thankful breath and snatched it up, frowning down at the screen. Unknown number. So what? She’d even take a telemarketer over agreeing to a steak house date and hours of personal conversation with Owen.
“Hello?” Hallie chirped into the phone.
“Hallie.”
Her stomach dropped to the ground like a sandbag. Julian Vos?
Julian was calling her?
“Yes. It’s me.” Did her voice sound unnatural? She couldn’t decipher her tone over the sudden babble of white noise in her ears. “How did you get my number?”
“I googled ‘Becca’s Blooms in Napa’ and there it was.”
“Oh right.” She wet her dry lips, searching desperately for something witty to say. “So important to have that internet presence.”
Nope. That wasn’t witty.
“Who is that?” Owen asked, not so quietly.
“Who is that?” Julian asked, too, after a beat.
Client, she mouthed to Owen, who gave her an understanding thumbs-up. To Julian, she said, “I’m at the nursery buying materials for a project later today. I ran into my friend Owen.”
“I see.”
Seconds ticked by.
She checked the phone to see if they’d gotten disconnected. “Are you still there?”
“Yes. Sorry.” He cleared his throat, but the sound was muffled, as if he’d briefly placed a hand over the receiver. “I’m distracted by the gopher holes in my yard.”
Her blood pressure spiked at the utterance of a gardener’s least favorite words. Except for maybe “weeds” or “crabgrass” or “do you take personal checks.” “Gopher holes?”
Owen winced with sympathy, turning away to peruse a plastic shelf of mini cactuses.
“Yes, at least three.” She could hear footsteps, as if he’d walked to the window to look out over the green expanse of lawn and the sun-drenched vineyard beyond. “One of them is right in the middle of the flowers you planted yesterday, which made me think you’d dealt with something of this nature before. Do you have a way of convincing gophers to move on? Or should I call pest control?”
“No need for that, I have a mixture I can use to . . .” The seal busted on her laughter. “Convince them.”
He made a considering sound. “You’re taking issue with my word choice?”
“Not at all. I’m picturing a formal negotiation. Once the contracts are signed, we’ll shake his little paw. He’ll pack his tiny suitcase and promise to write—”
“You’re very entertaining, Hallie.” Briefly, she heard a ticking, as if he’d lifted his watch closer to his face. “I’m sorry, I only have five minutes for this phone call. Are you able to make it over or should I just try and flush him out with the hose?”
“God, no. Don’t do that.” She cut a hand across her neck, even though he couldn’t see her. “You’re only softening the soil and making it easier for him to dig.”
Owen shot her a horrified glance over his shoulder. Amateur, he mouthed.
“I have a job this afternoon, but I can swing by afterward,” she said to Julian.
“At what time?”
“Whenever I finish.”
Julian’s breath released in her ear. “That’s extremely vague.”
How could it be so painfully obvious that someone was all wrong for her, yet his deep voice, and the very fact that he’d called her at all, was causing a mudslide in her stomach? It made little to no sense. Her lingering crush made her feel like a silly, naive teenager. While at the same time, the anticipation of seeing him again made Hallie almost light-headed.
So she would let herself go to the vineyard once more, even at the risk of extending this infatuation longer than it should have ever gone. But she wasn’t going to jump over hurdles for him. Oh no. At this point, her pride was on the line with this non-remembering fool.
“Vague is all I’ve got, I’m afraid.” She stared into the eye of an iris for moral support. “Take it or leave it.”
He was going to tell her to shove it. She convinced herself of that distinct possibility as the silence stretched. The Vos family had money coming out of their ears. They could find someone else to resolve their gopher issue at a moment’s notice. Julian didn’t necessarily need her.
“I’ll see you later, Hallie,” he sighed. “God knows when.”
