Should I stay and take this opportunity? Should I find a new line of work I won’t love nearly as much? And what about Gems-n-Stems? Taylor could certainly break off and do her own thing but…
“How much?”
Russel frowns and looks at the ground for a moment. My heart slows down. I’m already bracing to hear a fair, but big amount I can’t afford. This company owns a huge piece of property for the nursery and expensive equipment. Wrapping it all up in a package will cost a pretty penny.
“One hundred.”
“Thousand?” I ask, standing straighter because hope just speared my heart. Between draining my bank account and getting a small loan, I could probably swing it.
“No.” Russel shakes his head. “Just one hundred.”
“One hundreddollars?” Taylor asks, also not believing what her father just said.
“Yup.” Russ pokes his finger at me. “But I want it in cash.”
Is he serious?
“What do you say, son? We got a deal or what?”
Chapter 28
Taylor
It’s been a month since my dad and Conner made a deal and Larson Landscaping became Green Witch Gardens. Conner insisted on the name change since my dad said nothing could stay the same, and I’m not complaining. I love it. Especially since the logo looks a lot like my silhouette in a sundress holding up a plant.
It’s sweet, whimsical, and easy to remember,my mom said.
Sounds like some woo-woo shit, my dad teased.
They both approved, wholeheartedly, which was something Conner was nervous about. The property and everything are still in the process of being transferred, but Conner hasn’t stopped moving forward since the moment he shook my father’s hand, gave him a hundred bucks, and kissed the hell out of me afterwards.
Beep, Beep!
The sound of him driving by my shop sends happiness through my veins. He does that every day as he comes and goes. He’ll likely stop in for lunch. And be back for dinner.
He’s going to move in with me soon, I hope. We haven’t had a chance to discuss it much further thansaying his lease is up in another month.
It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining, my tea is sweet, and I’m in my favorite white sundress and black rubber boots that are caked in mud.
“It’s planting day!” Grace squeals from my front yard. “Are you ready to get dirty, baby?”
I laugh because that’s a line Dean uses in a lot of his thirst traps. Speaking of which—
“Have you seen Conner’s latest post?”
Grace fans herself. “It’s like five hours long.”
She cracks me up. The video is only a minute long, all short clips of him smearing dirt all over himself. But I get what she means. “Really? I thought it was six hours, not five?”
“He nailed that one. I swear he’s been on such a roll lately. He’s glowing with happiness and it shows, girl.”
We make our way to the greenhouse where I have boxes of fresh pots to fill and bags of different soil.
“I love this,” she says, enjoying the variety of old windows that make this place so special.
“Conner and Nick salvaged all these windows and doors and built it for me for my twenty-first birthday.”
“Wow.” Grace seems to appreciate it even more knowing that.
