I had volunteered to help at the right time, it turned out, since Ozzo chose that moment to have his latest accident. I watched in horrified fascination as he somehow managed to poke himself in the eye with a low-hanging tree branch while trying to help a customer load their fir.
“Ow! Shit! Sorry, excuse my French,” Ozzo said, stumbling backward while holding his hand over his injured eye. “I can’t see! I think I’m bleeding!”
One of the customers, a middle-aged woman with the take-charge attitude of someone used to handling a crisis, immediately stepped in to help.
“I’m a nurse,” she said. “Let me see it.”
Ozzo uncovered his eye and she made a face. “Is it bad, ma’am?” he asked, voice quivering. It was easy to forget how young he was because of his size. He was still just a big kid.
“I think you might have scratched your cornea,” the woman said. “Just to be safe, I can drive you to the emergency clinic in town. I was heading that way anyway for my shift.”
Sylvie looked torn between concern for Ozzo and the practical reality that we now had customers to serve and were down a person.
“Go,” I told Ozzo. “Get that looked at. We can handle things here.”
He went off with the nurse, sniffling, and she said soft soothing things to him, telling him he was going to be alright.
I got busy helping families find their perfect trees while trying not to think about the fact that this might be one of the last times anyone would buy a tree from this lot.
CHAPTER 35
SYLVIE
By the end of the workday, I was practically vibrating with excitement and nervous energy. Kent had spent the entire afternoon helping customers. Watching him work alongside me had only reinforced my growing feelings. He was patient with families, gentle with children, and didn’t complain once about getting pine needles in his expensive clothes.
I found Kent standing in the middle of some of the bigger trees in the older section. He was completely still, staring up at the towering evergreens like he was seeing them for the first time. Something about the way he stood there, with his hands shoved deep in his coat pockets and his shoulders slightly hunched against the cold, made me pause.
“If you’re waiting for them to talk, you might be out here a while,” I said to him.
He turned at the sound of my voice. I caught something in his expression that I couldn’t quite read. Sadness? Regret? But it was gone so quickly I wondered if I had imagined it.
“Just taking it all in,” he said, that familiar easy smile sliding back into place. “It’s peaceful out here.”
“Peaceful is one word for it,” I said, stepping closer until I was standing beside him. “I was thinking more along the lines of freezing cold and full of sap and pokey needles.”
He chuckled, but his gaze drifted back to the trees. “How long do these take to grow? From seedling to this size?”
“Depends on the variety, but most of these are probably fifteen years old.” I followed his gaze upward, trying to see what he was seeing. “Why?”
“Just curious,” he said. “That’s a long time to wait for something.”
His voice had a wistful edge to it that made me study his profile. “Are we still talking about trees?”
“Always talking about trees,” he said, but there was a teasing note that didn’t quite mask whatever he was really thinking about.
I bumped his shoulder with mine. “Well, thank you for helping today. I know customer service isn’t exactly your area of expertise, but you were great with everyone.”
“How do you know customer service isn’t my area of expertise?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because you’re rich,” I said with a grin. “Rich people don’t usually have to be nice to other people for money.”
“Ouch,” he said, pressing a hand to his chest in mock offense. “That’s a harsh assessment of my character.”
“But accurate?”
He considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Probably accurate.”
I laughed, loving his honesty. “See? I knew it. You’ve been pampered and catered to your whole life.”
