Love on Lavender Lane

by Karis Walsh

  The young dog gamboled around her legs for an exhausting few minutes, nearly tripping her up. He was a rescue dog, of uncertain origins, and the love of her life. He seemed to be partly black Lab, but his ears were huge enough—and his energy level frantic enough—to make Paige suspect a crazy Chihuahua or two in his convoluted gene pool. Paige watched him run in circles for a few minutes and wondered if part of Evie’s decision to move on was connected to the realization that if Paige became a fixture in her life, Dante was part of the package. The two of them had never gotten along.

  In a heartbeat, Paige went from feeling parentally indulgent of Dante’s show of energy to panicked when he took off toward the rows of lavender near the entrance to the farm and started digging with abandon. He flung an uprooted plant to the side and moved on to the next as she ran after him, conflicted between getting him to stop and returning the discarded plants to their now-empty holes.

  After destroying a dozen or more plants, he stopped suddenly and stared toward the farmhouse. Paige breathed a sigh of gratitude and hastily shoved the bushes into the ground, doing her best to cover the roots, but her relief was short-lived because Dante took off, running away from her and down the lane toward the cottage.

  Paige stood for a moment, staring after her dog with dirt clumping off her fingernails. She was tempted to cut her losses and go back to Portland right now. She already needed to apologize for insulting Kassidy’s food, and now she had to add Dante’s indiscretions to the list. She climbed in the car with weary resignation, wiping her muddy hands on some fast food napkins she had stashed in her glove compartment. The compartment door refused to shut completely when she was finished, and she drove slowly up Lavender Lane with it bumping noisily at every rut in the road.

  Paige parked near the cottage and got out of her car again. She slowly turned in a circle and stared at the farm. There was no sign of Dante, but she saw seemingly endless rows of mounded lavender bushes, stretching out and away from her in tidy lines. Some were bright green and others had a silvery tinge to them. Most of the early buds on them were a deep purple, but some were pink or lighter shades of lavender. She hadn’t expected such a variety of colors. A smaller cottage—trimmed and painted to be a tiny replica of the main house—sat on the edge of the main farmhouse’s garden, which was as different from the exact rows of the fields as it could be. It was already a riot of color, even early in the spring, and it had the wild, crowded look of an English garden. All sorts of lavender shades were there, as she expected, but there were also splashes of red poppies and yellow daisies, and numerous other plants she couldn’t identify, massed together in one glorious tangle.

  She completed a 360-degree view of the farm and arrived back at the farmhouse, where she saw Kassidy standing near the open front door watching her with crossed arms and a wary expression. The lower half of the door was streaked with mud, and given the way her day was going, Paige figured Dante was the cause of the mess. Please don’t let it be any worse than a muddy door.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a dog running around,” she said, trying to slip back into her usual professional demeanor and tone of voice, as if most of her business meetings took place on farms and involved disobedient pets. “I seem to have misplaced mine.”

  Kassidy gestured over her shoulder, and Paige stifled a groan as she walked up the steps and joined her in the doorway.

  The farmhouse’s living room was gorgeous, with a plush cream-colored couch and two elegant bergère chairs upholstered in stripes of deep rose and cream. The wooden frames of the chairs were stained in a deep cherry tone to match the hardwood floors, and a thick beige and pale rose rug neatly framed the sitting area. A few colorful and interesting touches kept the room from looking overly matchy-matchy. Throw pillows in lilac and light blue, some framed photographs of the farm, and what seemed to be an enormous dark wicker picnic basket sitting next to one of the chairs, covered with magazines and bits of mail.

  Paige was silent as she admired the room. It was beautiful and transported her mentally to the South of France as long as she didn’t dwell too much on the muddy paw prints leading across the lovely rug, directly to where Dante was sprawled on the couch. He seemed enormously pleased with himself, as if he appreciated the aesthetics of the room and was happy to improve upon it with his presence.

  Paige covered her mouth as her urge to laugh at the scene overrode her dismay. “You probably shouldn’t have let him inside,” she managed to choke out.

  “Gee, you think? I heard a noise at the door and when I opened it, he ran past me. I didn’t exactly invite him in.”

  Paige cleared her throat. “I am really sorry. I’ll pay to get the couch and rug cleaned. And the chair.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Once the dirt dries, it’ll be easy to vacuum. I live on a farm in a state where it’s usually raining, so it’s certainly not the first time I’ve had mud tracked into the house. He scared my cat, though.” She pushed Paige’s shoulder, playfully knocking her over the threshold and into the room. “Go ahead and laugh. I can tell you’re trying to hold it in.”

  Paige wasn’t sure if it was the physical jarring or Kassidy’s words that made her release control of her composure, but she bent over and put her hands on her knees, laughing until she had to wipe a few stray tears from the corner of her eye. Kassidy didn’t seem as amused as she was, but she chuckled softly. At least she wasn’t calling the police to report a pair of dirty trespassers.

  “Sorry,” Paige said again, gasping for breath. She was proud of her ability to see humor in most situations, but more often than she liked, the tendency to collapse in inappropriate laughter was awkward when it happened in front of clients or girlfriends. Hopefully, Kassidy wouldn’t hold it against her since she wasn’t the one paying the bill for Paige’s services. “It’s just so awful that it’s funny. I was coming here to apologize for last night, and now this…” She waved her hand weakly toward the mess.

  “Are you going to tell me what field he destroyed, or shall I be surprised when I discover it on my own?”

  Paige straightened up. She felt calmer since she didn’t have to fight her laughter anymore, and only an occasional giggle seeped out. “He dug up one or two…or maybe twelve plants at the end of the driveway, near the Lavender Lane sign. I put them back, though, so they should be fine.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Without saying any actual words, Kassidy managed to convey her doubts about Paige’s ability to save her mangled lavender bushes. She pointed at Paige’s arms. “I can see you tried, at least.”

  “Oh. Ugh.” Paige looked at the stained sleeves of her blouse. It had been bright white when she left the bed-and-breakfast this morning, and probably never would be again. She had removed most of the loose dirt from her hands, but they were still gray and her short fingernails were a mess. She unbuttoned her cuffs and rolled the sleeves to her elbows to hide most of the mud.

  Kassidy walked down a hall and returned with a fluffy blue towel. “There’s a hose by the garden gate. Why don’t you rinse him off while I try to get my poor cat to come out from under the bed.”

  Paige walked across the room and caught Dante’s collar, belatedly realizing she had left her own muddy set of prints next to his. She took him outside to the hose and rinsed the mud off his paws and her black flats before drying them both with the towel. The process took some careful maneuvering since she didn’t dare let her dog loose in the garden. She spent her few minutes of alone time reminding herself that she was here to do Kassidy a favor. The benefits she could provide by refiguring the running of the farm would far outweigh the trouble of cleaning a sofa and a carpet. And a chair, and possibly a scratched door.

  She got back to the farmhouse and kicked off her shoes on the porch. Kassidy was standing in the middle of the living room holding a cat, and Dante strained against Paige’s hold, trying to reach them. She shut the door behind her and gripped his collar with both hands. When Kassidy had mentioned a cat, she had immediately pictured a
Persian or something equally fancy and pedigreed. Something suited to the décor of the house, and possibly purchased because it blended well with the color palette.

  Kassidy knelt on the floor and nodded for Paige and Dante to come closer. She set the cat down and the two animals briefly touched noses before the cat jumped onto the back of a chair and started cleaning his patchy tiger-striped coat. He was missing part of an ear and he had the face of a boxer who had gone one too many rounds. Dante pulled himself free and jumped onto the seat of the cat’s chair, curling into a ball with his chin on his paws.

  “What happened to him?” Paige asked. She had been trying to come up with a politer way to ask the question, but she decided she’d missed the chance for tact and decorum. Might as well go the direct route.

  “Don’t make fun of him.” Kassidy frowned at her and went over to stand by the cat, scratching his chin and petting Dante with her other hand. “He had a tough life out there, before I got him.”

  “I’ve heard McMinnville has a lot of trouble with cat gangs.”

  Kassidy kept her head turned, looking at the animals, but Paige saw the hint of a smile she was apparently trying to hide. “It’s pretty bad. The dropout rate at obedience schools is astronomical. You’d be wise to avoid dark alleys and fish markets while you’re in town. Anyway, I heard this horrible yowling one night, and when I went out to see what was going on, he streaked into the house. He hasn’t expressed the slightest interest in going back out since.”

  Of course not. Why would he want to leave you? Paige was surprised by the sudden thought. It was reasonable to believe the cat would prefer living in a nice, safe house rather than outside, but Paige’s consideration had been more to do with being around Kassidy than being in this house in particular. She kept her tone light and ignored the entirely too personal way she was thinking about Kassidy. “You really need to be more careful about opening your door every time you hear a noise. You never know what will come inside.”

  Kassidy looked her up and down. “I’m beginning to realize…”

  “Very funny. So, what’s his name? Bruiser? Bugsy? Prince Fuzzyboots?”

  “Kipper,” Kassidy said. “We have a lot of K names in my family, and it was the first one to come to mind.”

  “Best he stays inside. He won’t get a lot of street cred with a name like Kipper.” Paige paused, distracted by Kassidy’s obvious affection for the animals. Of course Kassidy liked her own cat, but she paid just as much warm attention to Dante, regardless of his disastrous entrance into her life.

  “His name is Dante,” she said, before realizing she hadn’t introduced herself yet. She’d started in on the lavender joke last night before she had a chance to exchange names, and her arrival today hadn’t gone any more smoothly. “And I’m—”

  “Paige Leighton. I know.”

  She frowned. Had Kassidy’s father called her about Paige’s impending visit? She had been under the impression that his involvement ended when he deposited the money in her account. He didn’t know his daughter’s birthday or what type of farm she had, and Paige was frankly a little surprised that he even had Kassidy’s phone number.

  “Sarai called,” Kassidy said, as if she could see Paige trying to figure out who had given her name. “She asked me to forgive you for last night because you didn’t know who I was and because you ended up eating the entire tray of chicken cups.”

  “They were really good,” Paige said with a shrug. “And I only ate ten or so. I expected them to taste like—”

  “Perfume. Yes, you mentioned that.”

  “Well, at least you left before I was able to ask you out. That would have made today really awkward,” Paige said. She had probably made Kassidy feel vulnerable and hurt with her comments, so she decided to share her own embarrassing ulterior motive from their interaction to even the playing field.

  Kassidy turned a deep shade of pink and avoided meeting Paige’s gaze, but the smile still hovered around the corners of her mouth. “You’re right. That would have been awkward. Thank goodness I am completely unaware that that was your intention.” She gestured toward a door leading out of the living room. “I was just making some lunch for us. Do you want to come with me and make fun of the ingredients I’m using, or would you rather wait here with the animals?”

  “I’ll wait here.” Paige sat on the clean side of the couch and Kipper immediately hopped off the chair and onto her lap. Dante followed and jumped onto the cushion next to hers. She called to Kassidy’s retreating back, “Remember, I like extra cologne in mine.”

  Kassidy shook her head as she pushed through the swinging door and into her kitchen. Once she was alone, she leaned against the counter and took a deep breath. She had spent her entire life seeking calm. Even her relationship with Audrey, with all its dysfunctionality, had been a fairly steady and predictable affair, with no extremes of passion or any other emotion. That was part of what had drawn her to Audrey in the first place.

  Paige was something different altogether. She had already messed with Kassidy’s ordered life, and they hadn’t even been formally introduced until moments ago. When other people had expressed surprise about lavender’s culinary uses, she had always taken the opportunity to explain about the different cultivars and their characteristics. But Paige made one snarky comment last night, and Kassidy had rushed out the door as soon as her back was turned. Once she was outside in the cold night, she had realized how easy it would have been to laugh at Paige’s comment, introduce herself, and talk about her beloved lavender plants. By the time she had come to her senses, though, she felt too silly to go back inside. She had been on her own too long before the party, and maybe she had been looking for a chance to escape.

  She wasn’t about to admit it to Paige, but the idea of a date had been on her mind, as well, during their conversation at the party. Paige had been funny and sexy and easy to talk to. Despite her initial desire to flee when Paige approached her, Kassidy had been attracted to her and relaxed in her presence. Combine those reactions, and they were enough to scare Kassidy right out of the party.

  But Paige had followed her home. Kassidy walked over to the ingredients she had been assembling when she’d heard Dante’s frantic scratching at the front door. She had hopefully sounded relaxed and unfazed when she spoke with Sarai about Paige, but she had felt turmoil inside. She wasn’t ready to date, especially not someone who made her feel too many emotions at once, but she had ignored her internal warnings and had prepared a nicer meal than the frozen pizza she had been planning to microwave for herself, just because she heard that a stranger was coming over to her house.

  Kassidy rolled some fresh dough into two rough ovals and topped them with a garlicky kale pesto before putting them into the preheated oven. This really wasn’t much more effort than using a microwave, she decided, as she put some greens in a bowl and topped them with candied hazelnuts, chunks of strawberries, and a little crumbled feta. She certainly wasn’t putting out more effort than she would for any other guest in her home. The meal had nothing to do with the way Paige’s eyes crinkled with laughter at the slightest provocation, or the pleased expression she had worn when Kipper jumped on her lap. Kassidy was merely being a good host.

  She poured extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a little sugar in a cruet and shook it harder than was really necessary, pausing to wipe some splatters off her counter before adding dried mustard and poppy seeds. She shook it more carefully this time and poured the dressing over the spring greens.

  The scent of fresh bread and herbs greeted her when she opened the oven door and removed the flatbreads. She drizzled them with some more of the olive oil, then arranged everything on two plates. She would have to spend a long time restoring her living room to a state of cleanliness and her emotions to a state of peace once Paige and Dante left. She might as well fortify herself with some good food and wine before she got to work.

  Chapter Four

  Kassidy put the plates of food on a small
table in the alcove off the living room. It was too chilly to eat in the garden, and she wanted to keep an eye on the animals in case they started to brawl. Although, after getting his fur ruffled at Dante’s abrupt entrance earlier, Kipper seemed to have accepted the dog’s presence with the confidence of a cat that knew he could win a battle if necessary.

  Paige scooted the cat off her lap and got up, hurrying over to help. Kassidy opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses while she watched Paige arrange plates and napkins on the table. If Sarai hadn’t called to let her know Paige was coming, Kassidy probably wouldn’t have recognized her right away since she looked so different than she had last night. Instead of casual jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, she was wearing expensive-looking black dress slacks and a neatly pressed white shirt—patchily white now, after her adventures in Kassidy’s lavender fields. The soft curls Kassidy had briefly let herself imagine touching last night were slicked back and held hostage by a metallic clip. She looked dressed for a boardroom meeting rather than a trip to a country farm.

  “This looks delicious,” Paige said. “I hope you didn’t go to any trouble.”

  “Not at all,” Kassidy said with a dismissive gesture. “I was making food for myself anyway.” She neglected to mention exactly what kind of food she had planned to make. She had just bumped her dinner meal to lunch instead. The microwave pizza would be waiting for her tonight.