She made a face right back at him. "With the orchard being his... It would have to be a surprise for everyone else."
"You're right," he admitted.
"But I do like the idea," she said slowly. "Let's go talk to Colton and see what he thinks."
Roy nodded and whipped out his phone. He put the call on speaker.
"Hey, Colton, you by any of the others right now?"
"I am. Is something wrong?"
"No, I just wanted to talk to you in private without having to actually see you," Roy joked.
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a sec. Okay, what's up?"
"So, and I would foot this, so don't worry about the price, but I wanted to surprise everyone by connecting a small part of the orchard into a grotto. For now, it would be Easter-themed, but we could switch it up for summer and for Christmas, different holidays. What do you think?"
"I love that idea. Where exactly?"
Roy explained, and Colton agreed.
"Not a lot of time before Easter," Colton pointed out.
"Oh, we can get it done," Beverly spoke up. "We'll be finished with the last of the work on the orchard tomorrow. Outside of the grotto. I can come up with some ideas to present to you—"
"Just talk to Roy about it," Colton said, "so I can be surprised some. I love this idea. Maybe talk to Susan some if you want flowers."
"We will," Roy said. He hung up. "See? All above board."
Beverly smiled, her eyes glittering in the afternoon sun. "Good. Now, what about you?" she asked. "What are your dreams?"
Roy felt his heart skip a beat, and he froze. He hadn't expected the question, and he hadn't ever been asked this question before. He wasn't sure how to answer it.
Beverly looked at him with such intensity that he almost couldn't look away. He could tell she was hoping for an honest answer.
Truthfully, he hadn't really thought about his dreams. All he'd done was focus on the orchard, even before it had been Colton's. Eventually, he would like a wife and a family, but he didn't think he should mention that to her.
All the things he wanted seemed so small compared to what she was going through now, and her dream of making Nails R Us successful meant so much more than anything else in his life.
"I...uh..." he stumbled, unsure of how to answer.
For a moment, he felt like she could see right through him, as though she already knew that he was still trying to figure out what he wanted for himself.
Finally, Roy managed to find something to say. "I guess I don't have any grand dreams," he said honestly. "Just a few little things here and there."
In truth, these "little things" were more like wishes. He wanted to ask her out. Maybe help with her dreams with her company if he could. Get a house one day. Start a family.
Okay, so many not all of those were small things.
For a moment, he considered asking her out on a date, but then she spoke again,
"I'm scared of losing my mom," she said softly. "I don't have many friends, and I've never felt so alone before."
Roy suddenly realized that all of his dreams didn't matter. All that mattered was being there for her and helping her get through this tough time in life.
"You have at least one friend in me," he said sincerely.
Her smile was small. "Sure, but you won't even share your dreams with me. This is just a business relationship."