3. Drool Worthy

The next morning, Sage brought her cookies into the conference room and set them on the table, then sought out her sister-in-law, knowing she'd be in early.

"Hi, Sage," Violet said. "What are you doing back here so early?"

"Bringing you some cookies."

"Oh yum," Violet said. "Gimme."

"Those are for Trace…and you for home," she said. "I baked yesterday while I was waiting for the electrician to come."

"Fine," Violet said, letting out a huff along with her grin. "I'll put them away."

She smiled. "There is a dish on the conference room table for everyone."

"Sweet," Violet said. "I'll be having one with my morning coffee. Is there a problem with your place?"

"No," she said. "The condo next to me is having some renovations done. They had to make sure when they cut the power to do work there it won't affect me. It was a pretty quick visit."

She was debating telling Violet about Knox and decided not to.

She might not see him again even if she wanted to.

But she would send him an email once she talked to Poppy today.

Who would have thought she'd run into him again, let alone he'd look like that?

Talk about drool worthy.

Good lord. She was shocked she didn't come off like a fool talking to him when she remembered the horrible words Brit had said.

At least she felt like she could put it behind her now.

"That's always good," Violet said. "I'm glad all our renovations are done now. Trace needs peace and quiet when he works."

Trace and Violet had bought a house when they were engaged but had some work done to it before they moved in, staying in Violet's old apartment during the renovations.

Her brother's house was stunning.

And though Trace had a lot of success with his writing and was going to be even more well-known soon, it was Violet who really had the money that no one had known about until Trace came into her life.

Sage's brother had been here researching a book but also helping out his best friend, Kate, find some answers to a mystery in her family.

Trace and Violet found each other and all their truths came out.

Meanwhile, Sage would like to stay away from her truths. They were too painful.

Not that secrets were a great thing, and her family was aware of why she ran, even if it was embarrassing and made her feel like a fool. Not to mention went against everything she stood for in her morals and values and how she was raised.

She trusted her family to keep it to themselves and they had. She just had to move past it and was.

It felt like too many times in her life she fell into a big old black hole filled with horse poop. Big piles of hay covered in shit spinning around and smacking her in the face.

Half the time she tripped and fell into more without knowing it was there.

When was her life going to turn into pretty-smelling things?

Maybe that was why she was so excited about this job at Blossoms.

Everything smelled great and she hoped it wore off on her.

"And he has it now," she said. "When he's not walking around and stretching his legs."

Her brother had broken his back during a bombing in the Army. They thought they were going to lose him, then they weren't sure he'd walk again. It was a long painful recovery, but her brother had made it.

His military career was over and he started to write when he wasn't working with their father who now had his own PI firm.

She found it funny how it was just another thing she and Trace were opposite about. She didn't like reading much and her brother lived for it.

But she made time to read her brother's books. It was the least she could do so she could brag about him.

"That's why he's in such good shape," Violet said.

"I'll let you get to putting your arrangements together," Sage said. There were all sorts of flowers and materials spread out on the table. The flower shop wouldn't open for another hour or so, but Violet would be putting things together for a wedding this weekend while it was quiet.

"Thanks," Violet said. "I'll talk to you later if you're around."

She nodded and went to see if Poppy was in yet. Her boss was talking to Ivy.

Ivy Greene was an assistant to the three sisters and managed the retail shop. Sage knew when she was hired she'd be taking some of Ivy's work and thought there'd be some bad blood. She'd worked that way before.

The women never got along and everyone was territorial about what was theirs.

It didn't happen here and she was thrilled.

"Hey," Ivy said. "Are you the one that brought in the cookies? Dahlia had one inhaled before I could get one off the plate. I thought she was going to slap my hand."

She laughed. Ivy, Dahlia, and Jasmine were sisters and all worked here too.

Jasmine was Violet's boss and ran the greenhouses. Dahlia was the Director of Finance and worked upstairs with Sage. Ivy never sat still.

"It's those pregnancy hormones I'm sure," she said.

Dahlia was pregnant along with her sister Jasmine.

"She says it is," Ivy said.

"Is Poppy in? Do you know?"

"I'm here," Poppy said. "I heard my name called. Did you get to see butt crack yesterday? Fill me in."

Ivy's eyes went wide. "Are you looking at some man's ass? Tell me about it."

Ivy was almost jumping in place and grabbed her hands. She liked Ivy a lot. Though she was younger, you wouldn't always know it. And she was recently engaged too.

"I didn't see any butt cracks," Sage said. Though she might not have complained if she had. "An electrician stopped over to check a few things out yesterday and Poppy and I joked about it being an old man with sagging pants. It'd be the most I've seen in almost a year."

Ivy laughed. "That's no fun. We need to have a girls' night out. Maybe we can find you some action."

"I already brought it up," Poppy said. "Then Lily walked in and, well, you know."

"Did you get your hand slapped?" Ivy asked Poppy.

"Nope. Lily had Remi in her hands. I got lucky. Come into my office, Sage," Poppy said.

It was as if Poppy knew she wanted to be alone.

"The electrician wanted to know if you knew of any work done in the place before you bought it?"

"Nope," Poppy said. "The place was original when I bought it so the only work was what I did. I didn't do anything major other than upgrade and replace things, but the layout was never touched. Nothing electrical."

"That is what Knox thought."

"Knox?" Poppy asked. "Do you know him?"

Oops, let that slip.

She had to decide how much to say.

"Actually," she said. "I do and didn't know it. I mean he recognized me. I don't think I would have recognized him at all unless I saw his name."

"Tell me about it," Poppy said. "First off, is he cute?"

"Very," she said.

The chiseled jaw he hadn't had back then. A day"s growth of beard or so. Like he decided daily if he wanted to shave or just trim it. As if life was just an adventure each morning to pull something out of a hat.

He had to be close to a foot taller than her now and a hundred pounds more. A lot of it muscle.

Talk about a transformation someone could make.

"How do you know him?"

"We went to middle school together. He had a crush on me, but I just thought of him as a friend back then."

"You said you didn't recognize him. So he got better with age?"

Poppy was rubbing her hands together and almost vibrating in place.

She laughed. "Oh boy, did he. I haven't thought of a man like that in a year. Haven't wanted to. And then, surprise, there he is on my doorstep. I said I was single in a roundabout way. He did the same."

"Woohoo," Poppy said. "You go, girl."

"I'm not sure. We are different people now. I don't know anything about him. He moved before our freshman year of high school. I'm not sure how he ended up here. I think I remember his father was a professor. It popped into my head because one of our last conversations was about an English test and we both hated to read."

"Just because our parents like something or are good at it doesn't mean we have to do it," Poppy said.

"I know. Anyway, I'm not sure how he ended up here, but he had a shirt on that said Bradford Electrical so he must own the business."

"Ask him to dinner and find out," Poppy said. "You know, good old times to catch up and chat."

She smiled. "I'm not sure it was good old times. I was with some friends that didn't say nice things about him and he overheard."

"Ahhh," Poppy said. "That's too bad. But it didn't seem as if it bothered him yesterday, did it?"

"No," she admitted. "I'd apologized back then and then again yesterday. He brushed it off. Even said how much he appreciated that I had back then."

"Good for you," Poppy said. "That is a hard age for any teen."

"Tell me about it," she said. "I've got to email him the information he asked for and I'll think about dinner."

"Don't think," Poppy said. "Just do it. Lily isn't here to slap my hand. Make the move."

"I hear you," Rose yelled. "I'm here. Don't push people."

"I can't get away from my sisters slapping my hand," Poppy yelled to her baby sister across the hall. "Maybe sometimes they want my help. Not everyone is cold like you."

Sage laughed. "Rose isn't cold."

"You don't need to suck up to her," Poppy said. "I'll always be in your corner."

"I'm not sucking up," she said, laughing. She really did love it here. Who would have thought a bunch of women could work together and not hate each other? "It's the truth."

Poppy waved her closer and leaned in and said quietly, "Listen to me. Just do it. Worst case it's dinner and gets you out of cooking. Best case, you get another date out of it."

"I'll think about it," she said.

"You're smiling brighter than I've ever seen. If you don't believe me, go look in the mirror. That should be your answer."

Sage didn't need to look in the mirror because she felt the smile on her face.