It took her a full minute to fish the buzzing device out of her packed purse. “Hello?”
“Hallie! This is Veronica over on Hollis Lane. Are you still planning on landscaping my walkway this afternoon? It’s past four o’clock now and I have early dinner plans.”
Four o’clock? How long had she been brooding across the street from UNCORKED, pretending to read the same Nancy and Sluggo comic strip over and over? “That’s fine. Go ahead and take off. I’ll be over to get started soon.”
“But I won’t be home to let you in,” explained Veronica.
Hallie opened her mouth and closed it. “Your garden is outside, right?”
“Yes, but . . . well, I should be here to greet you, at least. The neighbors should witness me acknowledging your arrival, so they don’t think you’re trespassing. And—oh fine, maybe I wouldn’t mind supervising a little. I’m very particular.”
There it was. Hallie’s personal kiss of death.
A client wanting to control the flower narrative.
Her grandmother had been patient with that sort of thing, listening carefully to a customer’s demands and gently guiding them over to her camp. Hallie didn’t own a pair of kid gloves. She could produce beautiful gardens bursting with color and life—and she did. All over St. Helena. Keeping the name Becca’s Blooms alive in the spirit of the grandmother who had raised her from age fourteen. But she didn’t have a method to her madness. It was all gut feelings and mood planting.
Chaotic, like the rest of her life.
That’s what worked for her. The madness kept her busy and distracted. When she sat down and tried to get organized, that’s when the future seemed too overwhelming.
“Hallie?” chirped Veronica into her ear. “Are you coming?”
“Veronica, I’m so sorry for the inconvenience,” she said, swallowing, hoping her grandmother couldn’t hear her from heaven. “With it being late June and all, I’m afraid my schedule is bursting at the seams a little. But I have a colleague in town who I know could do a fabulous job on your garden—and he’s much better at interpreting a specific vision than I am. I’m sure you’ve heard of Owen Stark, seen his name around town. I’m going to call him as soon as I hang up and have him give you a ring.”
Hallie ended the call a moment later. “Well, my evening is free now. Maybe I’ll go knock over a convenience store.”
“Do steal me a pack of smokes while you’re at it, babe,” Lavinia requested without missing a beat. “And some antacids for our Jerome.”
“Anything for my accomplices.”
Jerome snorted. “I’d turn you in to the police in a heartbeat,” he said, turning back to his bear claws, dusting them with powdered sugar.
He doesn’t mean that, Lavinia mouthed at Hallie.
Hallie gave her friend a wry look. Truthfully, she didn’t blame Jerome for being annoyed with her. This wasn’t the first time she’d hidden behind the standing mixer. Come to think of it . . . had it even been a full month since the last time? On opening day at UNCORKED, she might have pilfered a few of the flyers being circulated around town. And by a few, she meant she’d canceled all of her appointments and snuck around, taking them out of store windows. On the final leg of her quest, she’d been caught by an overdressed manager in a tweed suit and little round glasses. He’d chased her half a block.
She should stop worrying so much about things she couldn’t change. If she’d learned anything growing up with a vagabond for a mother, it’s that change was inevitable. Things and people and even traditions were often there one minute and replaced the next. But her grandmother wasn’t going to be one of them. Rebecca was the ship’s rudder of her life. In which direction would Hallie go without her?
Hallie forced a smile onto her face. “All right, I’ll leave you to it. Thanks for harboring me.” Because she knew herself too well, she crossed her fingers behind her back. “I promise it’s the last time.”
Lavinia doubled over laughing. “My God, Hallie. I can see your crossed fingers in the stainless steel fridge.”
“Oh.” Face heating, she sidestepped toward the rear exit. “I’ll just see myself out—”
“Wait! I forgot. I have news,” Lavinia said abruptly, speed walking in Hallie’s direction. She slung their arms together and pulled her into the small parking lot that ran behind the donut shop, as well as the rest of the stores on Grapevine Way. As soon as the screen door of Fudge Judy slapped shut behind them, Lavinia lit another cigarette and hit Hallie with the kind of eye contact that screamed this is big news. Exactly the kind of distraction Hallie needed to stall her self-reflective mood. “Remember that tasting you dragged me to a few months back at Vos Vineyard?”