“Baby”—she put her copper-toned hand over his—“I know you’re doing the best you can. This is stressful for all of us. We all loved George and Harriet. They saved my life… in more ways than one.” Leonard leaned down and kissed her head. “Don’t wear yourself out. Have faith that everything is going to work out.”
My head was swimming when I stumbled out of the bathroom. While keenly aware that I knew nothing about Dan’s job on the farm, the conversation I overheard set my intuition on fire. Naivety wasn’t one of my personality traits. The wordshigh,growth phase,anddistributionmeant something, but it couldn’t possibly have meant what I thought it did. The thoughts that were spinning around my head were absolutely insane. So insane that I wouldn’t bring myself to say them out loud.
“Emma?” Dan stood when I emerged from the bathroom, feeling worse than I did when I went inside. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I lied. “I think I need to lie down. I’m so sorry, Mavis.”
“Don’t apologize, baby.” With a sympathetic smile, she patted my cheek. “You just get some rest. We’ll have plenty of time to talk later.”
I gave her a weak nod and allowed Dan to lead me to the door of the bakery.
“Wait!” I called out, flinging my arm into Dan’s chest to stop him.
“What?” he asked in alarm. “Are you okay?”
“Can we get some of those muffins to go?” I tucked my bottom lip between my teeth and made my eyes big.
He let out a relieved chuckle and shook his head.
“Of course.”
After a quiet, relaxing ride back to the farm in Dan’s truck, with the wind blowing on my face and two and a half blueberry muffins in my belly, I was feeling better. At least I was feeling better physically. The conversation I overheard in the bakery was still rattling around in my head, growing louder and louder with each revolution.
When we reached the house, the sun was still out. My curiosity and suspicion were too insatiable to ignore, so I reminded Dan of hisoffer to take me to the greenhouse. He must have forgotten about it because he cycled through about five different facial expressions while I carefully studied his face before he agreed. A small measure of relief joined my curiosity. If there was something suspicious going on, why would he agree to take me to the greenhouse?
After helping me climb into a vehicle that was a cross between an ATV and a golf cart, Dan drove us to a remote corner of the farm. Two hundred fifty acres was considered small for a family farm, but it felt like he was taking me to another world. The house and barn were no longer visible when I looked over my shoulder, and the flat land that was a combination of dirt and grass gave way to a heavily wooded area, dense with trees. Dan drove the vehicle through a small rocky stream, splashing the bottom of my coveralls and making me squeal in surprise. His arm tightened around my waist, bringing me closer to him, enveloping me in the warmth of his embrace and his delicious scent. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky beautiful shades of purple, orange, and gold. Fireflies danced in the field as a tractor rumbled by, making me feel like I was traveling through a dream.
“I had no idea there was so… much,” I said in an awestruck whisper.
I looked over at Dan to find him gazing at me in a way that made my heart race, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away.
“It really is beautiful, innit?” he whispered, his brown eyes still locked on mine. I only smiled in response because I wasn’t sure he was talking about the farm. The ATV hit another large bump, making me squeal in surprise again. Dan rested his hand on my knee tocalm me, and before I could give common sense a second to ruin this moment, I covered his hand with my own and squeezed.
He never acknowledged the fact that we were holding hands, which we definitely still were. He simply began talking about the farm and his role in it. Dan was the farm’s manager, so he oversaw everything that happened on the farm. Ernesto was his second-in-command, and primarily dealt with anything related to the animals. The farm was a no-kill farm. They occasionally sold livestock to other farms, and they produced dairy products and wool from the sheep. Dan explained that his parents are very devout Hindus, and he could never feel comfortable working in a profession that was cruel to animals. But even greater than his compassion for animals was his love for plants. As I listened to Dan talk, I realized how much I loved listening to him talk about his passions. It may have a little something to do with his accent, but his love for plants and my grandparents’ farm felt so pure and joyful that it spread warmth through my chest.
“All right, Emma?” Dan’s voice broke me out of a trance. We were stopped in front of a large glass structure that was easily recognizable as a greenhouse, but it was the biggest one I’d ever seen.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I responded. “Why?”
“You were staring at me.” He quirked an eyebrow and his mustache twitched into a smile.
“No, I wasn’t,” I stammered. I definitely was. “So this is the greenhouse.” I changed the subject and released Dan’s hand.
“This is the greenhouse,” he agreed. “Shall we?”
The structure seemed even bigger on the inside, with rows and rows of different types of plants that seemed to go on forever. Theinterior of the greenhouse was warm and humid, with a familiar earthy and floral smell. The moment I recognized it, my belly did a little flip. The greenhouse smelled like Dan. Or did Dan smell like the greenhouse? Whichever it was, I wanted to live in this smell forever. If Glade had made a Dan-scented air freshener, I’d have been their best customer.
Best of all, nothing in the greenhouse looked suspicious. Dan seemed happy and relaxed. There were rows and rows of gorgeous plants and flowers.
“These are my babies.” He gestured to a rosebush with crimson-colored blooms before gently caressing a petal of one of the largest flowers.
“So how exactly did you fall in love with plants?” I asked.
“That’s a long story, love,” he said with a sigh before snipping a bud off the bush and holding it out for me to smell.
“Give me the SparkNotes version?” I leaned forward and pressed my nose into the soft petals and inhaled. The scent immediately made my chest expand and my eyes flutter closed. I didn’t have the words to describe it, but if Diptyque were to make a Dan’s Roses–scented candle, I would max out another one of my credit cards.
“Lovely, innit?” he asked. I opened my eyes to find him gazing at me. I could only nod as he pressed the stem of the rose into my hand. My senses were overloaded. Between the deep, accented timbre of Dan’s voice, the scent of the roses, and the warmth of his fingers gently caressing mine as he handed me the rose, I felt like I was drunk. I noticed too late that Dan’s lips were moving.
