Chapter 16

16

F aith pulled up to Destiny's office and felt her heart skip a beat. She'd had a busy morning, but the clock seemed to stand still. To say she'd been looking forward to working on the bid this afternoon with Destiny was an understatement.

They were going to the nursery first to get prices on supplies, shrubs, trees, and flowers. After that they were headed back to the business complex for one more look. The bids were to be presented next week and they still had a lot of work to do.

"Hi Monica," Faith said, walking up to her desk.

"Faith!" Monica got up and gave Faith a hug. "It's so good to see you. Destiny said you were coming by this afternoon."

"It's nice to see you, too." Faith smiled.

"Hey," Destiny said, walking out of her office.

"Hi." Faith tried to contain her smile, but couldn't help it. She wanted to see Destiny again yesterday, but knew it was too fast. So she settled for a few text messages instead. Was that a sparkle she saw in Destiny's eyes?

"I've heard all about how well you two used to work together," Monica said, looking from Faith to Destiny. "I hope you're ready to bury those other companies."

Faith chuckled, knowing Monica had noticed them staring at each other. "Oh, we're ready. If only we can convince the contractor."

"Your ideas will convince them," Destiny said. "They're amazing."

Faith shuffled her feet at the praise and smiled. "Only if you present them," she said. "You're the one that makes us look good."

"Oh my God," Monica said, amused. "I'm loving this. No more landscape wars around here."

"What?" Faith furrowed her brow.

"Get Destiny to explain it to you," Monica said. "We need to get together, Faith. It's been too long."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Sorry about that."

"No worries," Monica replied. "What about this weekend? Kim would love to see you both. Drinks? Dinner?"

"Uh—well," Faith stammered.

"We have to work on the bid," Destiny said. "How about next weekend?"

"We can celebrate y'all winning the job," Monica said. "Let's do it."

Faith laughed. "I love your confidence."

"Like I said, I've heard about the great things y'all have done when you work together. It's easy to be confident of that," Monica said.

"Thanks, Mon," Destiny said. "We will do our best."

"Yes we will," Faith agreed. "But we're not the only ones in this."

"Oh, I know," Monica said. "We'll be ready."

"We'd better get going so we'll have plenty of time at the site," Destiny said.

"Please don't get trapped again," Monica said. "Wait…On second thought…"

"No!" Destiny and Faith said in unison.

Monica laughed. "Do I need to text when it's time to leave?"

"No, we'll be watching the clock this time," Faith said. "It was nice to see you, Monica. Please tell Kim hello for me."

"You tell her yourself next weekend," Monica replied.

Faith smiled. "I will."

"See you tomorrow," Destiny said as they turned to leave.

"It's just a matter of time," Monica said with a smile as they walked out the front door.

"That didn't seem too awkward," Faith said as she drove them to the nursery.

"It wasn't awkward at all," Destiny said. "Monica and Kim are our friends. Did you mean it when you said you'd go for drinks or dinner next weekend?"

"Yes," Faith replied. She glanced over at Destiny. "Why? Do you not believe me?"

"No, I do," Destiny said. "It's just that we didn't do a lot of things with our friends before."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Faith said.

"It's not necessarily bad," Destiny said. "I just wonder if we should have been more social."

Faith glanced over at her and smiled. "Maybe, but you can't blame me if you're so amazing that I don't want to share you with anyone else."

Destiny looked over at Faith with a smirk. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Faith laughed. "Come on, Des. You liked staying home just as much as I did."

Destiny sighed. "Guilty, but this time…"

When Faith looked over at Destiny her eyes were wide and she was staring out the front windshield. Yes, there's hope.

"And just like that, here we are," Faith said, pulling into the nursery parking lot. She could've pressed Destiny on what she'd said, but she was just glad they had a chance. Faith knew they couldn't go back to the way things were, but they could go forward and this time things would be even better. She just knew it.

They walked into the nursery and found Abel standing at the counter in the back.

"Well, hello, you two. I heard a rumor," Abel said, looking up at them.

"Rumor?" they both said swiftly in unison.

Abel held up his hands. "Whoa," he said. "Mark said you two were joining forces to take down the big landscaping firms on that business complex. They don't buy from a small wholesaler like me, so I'm here to help. Count me in!"

"Oh," Destiny said, glancing over at Faith.

Abel leaned over the counter. "Is there another rumor I need to know about?"

Faith looked over at Destiny and grinned. "Not yet, but I'm hopeful."

Destiny smirked. "We have a list of things we need prices on."

They opened up their notebooks and explained their vision for the complex. He gave them suggestions, prices, and other options for some of their selections. They walked around the nursery looking at other plants they hadn't considered and made notes.

Faith looked at her watch and gently touched Destiny's arm. "Hey, we'd better get going if we want to have time to look at everything at the site."

"Okay," Destiny replied. "Thanks for all your help, Abel."

"I'm sure we'll have more questions," Faith added.

"I'm happy to help," Abel said. "By the way, it's nice to see you two working together again. I love the designs you come up with. You make my flowers and plants happy."

Faith gazed over at Destiny and smiled. "It makes us happy, too."

Destiny grinned and nodded. "See you later, Abel."

On the way back to the truck Faith bumped her shoulder against Destiny's. "It was okay for me to say it makes us happy just then, wasn't it?"

"Can't you tell I'm happy working with you?" Destiny asked.

Faith raised her eyebrows. She knew Destiny was happy while they worked, but she could also feel her holding back. Faith understood why, but she hoped to earn Destiny's trust once again.

"Yeah, Des," Faith said. "I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but we were really good at this."

Destiny shrugged. "Until we weren't."

"Maybe we're beginning a new chapter of the story of Destiny and Faith," Faith said, bringing up the amusing way they once referred to their relationship. "Because I know we're not done yet."

"I hope the chapter we're writing is about slaying big landscaping dragons," Destiny said.

"Me, too," Faith agreed. "Hey, what was Monica saying about landscape wars?"

"Oh," Destiny groaned. "She wanted to pitch a reality show about warring landscape companies."

"Let me guess," Faith said. "We were the stars because we were always going after the same accounts?"

"Something like that," Destiny said.

"Maybe that's what we're walking into on this project. Except now we're on the same team," Faith said. "I think that makes us hard to beat."

Destiny looked over at her and smiled. "I hope so."

Faith pulled into the parking lot at the office complex. They got out of her truck and checked in with the security guard at the gate. There would be no issues with dogs or the clock this time.

Destiny led them over to the building she had looked over the last time they were there. "This is the area I think we could do the rock cairns in. Imagine several trees placed away from the building providing shade for this area." Destiny spread her arms out. "We put the rocks here, a bench here, and another bench over here," she said, stepping to each location.

"Okay." Faith nodded. "We could make it a triangular space from here at the front, back to where that wing of the building begins." She walked off the area talking as she gestured.

"I like it," Destiny said.

"On the building on the other side of the main structure we can do the same shape because the buildings are identical. Only over there, we can do a water feature," Faith explained.

"This garden will be shielded from the afternoon sun so the rocks should work," Destiny said.

"The other building gets the sun so we could use that to make the water feature glisten in the evenings."

"These people aren't going to want to stay inside to work," Destiny said with a grin. "They'll want to be outside in our gardens."

Faith laughed. "We still need to tie them together with the landscaping around the main building."

They walked toward the main building and surveyed the area. "We've got to have trees," Destiny said.

"Yeah," Faith agreed. "It is so sparse out here."

"In an area like this sparse is easy to maintain," a voice said from behind them.

Faith and Destiny both wheeled around when they recognized the voice.

"Of course you two probably don't know that," Gloria said with a fake smile.

"Sparse may be easy to maintain, but it isn't much to look at," Faith said.

"We know what you did," Destiny said with a bite to her voice.

Gloria looked from Destiny to Faith as a snide grin grew on her face. "I never dreamed you would both quit, much less break up. Did that ever work out for me! I thought while you were figuring it out, I'd get the project which then led me here, running one of the largest landscaping firms in the country."

"You'd better be careful and not trip on your ego, Gloria," Destiny said. "You might fall off your pedestal and land down here in the dirt with the rest of us."

Gloria laughed. "I think it's sweet how the contractor is entertaining bids from little landscaping companies like yours."

"Watch out," Destiny said. "We have something you don't. It's called creativity. Your firm is known for planting flowers in a row and hoping they bloom."

"Wouldn't it be a shame if someone came along and dug them up," Faith said, joining the conversation.

Gloria stood a little straighter and eyed them both. She gave them an evil smile before turning and walking back towards the parking lot.

"Come on," Destiny said, grabbing Faith's hand and walking towards the other building. "There's no way we're going to let that bitch beat us."

A smile crept onto Faith's face as Destiny squeezed her hand even tighter. Faith was usually the one quick to anger, but in this moment she could feel Destiny's need to protect her. She didn't care for that in most instances, but right now, it was Destiny's way to show her love and Faith was all for that.

Destiny was grumbling under her breath when they stopped to look back at the main building.

"Take a breath, Des," Faith said.

Destiny looked at their joined hands and dropped them. "Sorry about that. That smug bitch makes me so mad! She doesn't care who she hurts as long as she gets what she wants."

"She's not getting her way this time," Faith said, catching Destiny's gaze. "They are going to love our trees."

Destiny visibly relaxed and smiled. "Yeah, they are."