by Karis Walsh
And now she had to hand over her accounts, as promised. She went over to the drawer and got out the paperwork she had been working on when Paige arrived. She had printed everything out instead of taking the easier route and emailing Paige the files because she had wanted to redact her more personal expenses. A large part of the salary she gave herself went to providing support for her mom, and she didn’t want Paige to see it. She would probably argue that Kassidy should ask her dad for help, even though, based on their divorce decree, his legal obligation had ended with child support. Her mom had some government assistance, but she needed the help Kassidy could provide.
Kassidy took a deep breath, prepared to fight Paige over this, and stepped outside again. Paige was lounging back in her chair, soaking up the stray glimmers of sunlight, and Kassidy paused a moment to watch her. She had seemed like she hadn’t belonged yesterday, even though she had been wearing some of the farm’s mud on her tailored business clothes, but now she looked at home here. She had one arm draped over the chair and she was gently rubbing Dante’s ears. They looked as if they had stopped for a break after doing some farm chores.
Kassidy shook her head. It was an illusion. Paige might fit in as a temporary guest, but never as a permanent resident. Kassidy tossed the stack of paper on the table with enough of a smack to startle Paige into an upright position.
“Here you go,” she said.
Paige picked up the stack and started shuffling through the pages with an unreadable expression on her face. Kassidy launched into her explanation.
“I have some expenses that are private. I need to have them itemized because I get tax breaks, but they’re non-negotiable, and frankly, none of your business. I would have deleted them altogether, but then the totals wouldn’t have made sense. If you refuse to work with me over this, then…”
Kassidy stopped talking when she realized Paige was laughing.
“There are redactions. This is awesome.” Paige held up a sheet of paper with thick black lines streaked across it, as if Kassidy didn’t know what she was talking about.
“You’re not angry?”
Paige wiped her eyes, still chuckling. “I love it. The top-secret dossier of the lavender farm. Trust me, I don’t want to know what’s really written here. I’m sure the reality will never be as funny as the expenses I’m going to imagine.”
Kassidy tried to stop herself, but she had to join in Paige’s laughter. “I didn’t want you to find out about the lavender smuggling operation I have going.”
“I suppose you’ve genetically modified the plant clones to bloom with tiny spy cameras, and you’re using them to infiltrate foreign governments?”
“I plan to put a lavender plant on the desk of every top official by the end of the year.” Kassidy grinned in relief, happy to avoid the confrontation she had been expecting.
Paige shuffled the papers together and tapped the side of her nose. “Your secret’s safe with me. Just watch out for double agents.”
“Where do you think I got the plants hanging in my drying shed?”
“This made my day,” Paige said. She got up and bopped Kassidy gently on the head with the papers. She was still laughing when she got in her car and drove away. Kassidy sat at the table for quite some time, worrying about how much Paige’s visit had brightened her day, too.
Chapter Eight
Kassidy sat at her rolltop desk, with Kipper sprawled across her lap, and clicked through a selection of fonts before choosing one with just the right amount of flourish and elegance. She was fully embracing Paige’s advice and designing mock-ups of labels for every product she could find with her lavender in it. Each one prominently displayed the name of the farm or company that had produced it, of course, but now the plain lavender was replaced with the full name of her own farm. She would leave the final design options to her clients, but at least she now had some samples to bring when she talked to them about the new marketing scheme.
She felt a sense of pride as she scanned through the images she had created. Mainly because everyone would now associate these products with her farm, and she was very proud of the quality of herb she grew here. Whoever rubbed lavender goat’s milk lotion on their dry hands or lit a lavender beeswax candle would now know who was responsible for the calming, beautiful scent they were experiencing.
She was also a little bit proud of herself for embracing this change to her business model without too much of an effort. She liked her life to be steady and predictable because she had never known that type of comfort as a child. Now, her world was…pleasant. Tidy and even-keeled, barring the occasional lapse of judgment when she introduced new variables, like Audrey, into her life. Paige’s arrival had threatened even more upheaval, but Kassidy’s worries had been unfounded. Paige’s suggestion had turned out to be an easy one to follow, and Kassidy was wholeheartedly following through with it.
Kassidy added her farm’s website address to the sample labels. She had been meaning to update the site for some time now. Had it been weeks or months since she had added new content? She couldn’t remember. She was tempted to work on it now because she had a feeling it would be Paige’s next suggestion. Kassidy stopped herself before she logged on as administrator. If she made it more current and appealing now, then Paige might be tempted to look further for changes Kassidy should make. Might as was well leave her a nice, meaty, out-of-date bone to chew on. She would demand that Kassidy fix it, and—since she had been planning to anyway—Kassidy could smugly give in and follow Paige’s instructions. Everyone was a winner. Paige wouldn’t feel as if her time and expertise had been wasted when Kassidy listened to her advice. And Kassidy would escape from the experience with a new marketing tool and a website on which to market. Since none of the changes had anything to do with the actual running of the farm and lavender growing, Kassidy was a double winner.
Kassidy leaned back in her chair and scratched Kipper’s chin until his whole body was vibrating with his raspy purr. Now that she had the Business Consultant Paige situation under control, she could allow herself to sort of miss Paige the person. She had spent the days since Paige went back to the city noticing things that would have made Paige laugh. It had become almost a habit for her to spot an amusing situation or hear a funny story and file it away mentally for the next weekend. She probably would never relate all of them to Paige, and they weren’t as humorous when she revisited them later and out of context, but the game was fun for her. She was smiling more than usual, and some of her friends had even commented on her changed outlook. Each time, Kassidy just said something vague about it being spring, but she knew the real reason for her smiles. She would be relieved when Paige was finished in McMinnville and went home, since some of those smiles were the secretive, lost in a fantasy about Paige naked types, but she hoped she would never lose the more innocent ones that came from finding pleasure in the world around her.
Managing to turn her thoughts back to her business, Kassidy finished the labels and printed them out. She had filled each of the rolltop’s cubbies with a small wooden tray decoupaged with floral-patterned wallpaper samples, and she pulled one out of its slot and neatly stacked the labels inside. She closed her laptop and rolled the top of the desk down, separating the station where she did her paperwork from the rest of the room. Finally satisfied that everything was back in its place, Kassidy scooted Kipper off her lap and went into the kitchen to make lunch.
She mentally reviewed her day while she gathered ingredients for a sandwich. Plant cuttings in the east field. Check. Fix the clogged drip line near the drying shed. Check. Make labels. Check.
She laid thick slices of gouda and roasted turkey on a ciabatta roll and slathered it with too much mayonnaise. She made up for the bad calories by adding a couple extra tomato slices and some crispy lettuce leaves. After lunch, she needed to clean and stack the pots from the cuttings and play around with a new idea she’d found online for a dried flower craft.
She was just about to sit at the kitc
hen table when she spotted a minivan coming up the drive. Ugh. People. During the tourist season, she usually kept a barrier across the entrance to her farm with a sign stating she was not open to the public. Her customers and friends knew enough to move the cones and come up to the house, and some intrusive tourists did the same thing. This early in the spring, though, she had thought she was safe from drop-in visitors and her driveway was unguarded.
She plopped into her chair and sat perfectly still, hoping the people would turn around and leave since there was no indication that the farm was prepared for anyone to stop by. There were no signs about parking or pricing, no farm host to greet them. Undeterred by the lack of welcome, the family started climbing out of the van. Kassidy groaned as she watched two adults and three children get out. And now they were hauling a grandmotherly type out of the back seat. What was it, a clown car?
Resigned, Kassidy got up and put her sandwich in the fridge with a sigh. She had been up since dawn and she was really hungry. She forced a smile onto her face and went outside to shoo the people away.
“What a beautiful farm.” The woman came over to greet her as soon as she came out the door. “We’re the Wilsons.”
Kassidy noticed with dismay that the three kids had dispersed like dandelion fluff and were now running through the rows of lavender. She realized too late that the woman had given all their first names, as if Kassidy would possibly need to know them.
“I’m Kassidy,” she said, filling the void when the woman stopped talking and looked at her expectantly.
“Are you the owner? What a wonderful place to live. It’s so peaceful.”
Mrs. Wilson didn’t seem concerned about the way the little Wilsons’ shouts were destroying that peace.
Kassidy kept smiling even though the expression felt more forced by the second. “Yes, it’s usually very quiet,” she said. Mrs. Wilson smiled and nodded.
“I’m more of a wholesaler and not really set up as a tourist stop,” Kassidy said. She made a waving gesture toward the car, as if conducting a marching band, but the Wilsons apparently were unable to recognize hints.
“Oh, we don’t mind. We just came down for the day from Vancouver. Do we just pick our own, then?”
Kassidy’s smile vanished at the thought of them tearing up her plants. Funny how cute it had seemed when Dante had done it, yet how terrifying it was to think of this family running rampant among her babies. “God, no. I mean, no.” She frantically tried to come up with an alternative. She could give them the address of a nearby nursery, but she had a feeling they wouldn’t leave willingly. She needed to give them something, make them happy somehow, and then get them to leave.
Mr. Wilson came up with Boy Wilson in tow. “Do you have a bathroom?”
Jesus. Kassidy opened and closed her mouth a few times in panic, gulping for air while she tried to come up with a way to keep them out of her house and her bathroom. Her mind was almost spinning too frantically to remember the small restroom in the shed, and she clutched her chest with her hand in relief when she thought about it.
“Yes. In here.” She walked over to the small shed next to the driveway. She had meant to clean it out and turn it into a garden retreat, or possibly a guest cottage for a visiting twin, but she hadn’t done anything with the interior yet. The outside had been painted in yellow with cream trim to match the exterior of her house and the drying shed, but the inside space was filled with farm clutter. She stepped around some large enameled containers and a broken birdbath, picking up a stray hoe and propping it against the wall. She opened the small door in the back, hoping there weren’t too many spiders inside. Unless, of course, the presence of spiders would encourage a hastier departure.
Once the child was shut inside, she turned her attention back to the rest of the family. She was thinking more clearly now. She was ready to tackle the Wilsons Have Invaded My Home Catastrophe.
She started by softening her abrupt dismissal of the question about picking lavender. “The plants aren’t blooming yet, so there isn’t anything to pick, but I have some dried lavender you can use for crafts or for decorations. They’re really pretty. I’ll get some for you.”
She jogged to the drying shed and gathered an armload of lavender sheaves. She spun around and nearly dropped them when she realized the family had followed her.
“What nice benches,” Mrs. Wilson said. “Here, Mother, come sit over here. Girls, which of these crafts do you want to make?”
Okay, this was happening. Kassidy latched onto the only positive she could find in the situation—Paige. She would tell her this story, embellishing in places, even though it was horrible enough not to need much exaggeration. She could picture Paige laughing hysterically, commiserating with Kassidy’s dismay at the antics of the invading family of Wilsons. The anticipation of sharing this with her almost made it bearable.
Boy Wilson and his father joined them, and the two older kids started play fighting, pretending some lavender wands Kassidy had made were spears. She stepped in between them and dropped the lavender bundles back on the table, passing them out to the family.
“What would you like to make?” she asked the older girl, who was still holding the wand as a weapon. “Those are nice to hang in your closet or put in a drawer with clothes. They’ll make everything smell like lavender. Or you could make a wreath or a swag like this one to hang on your wall.”
She went to another table and returned with a box full of ribbons, twine, and lacy bags for sachets, doling out the items until she had everyone working on a project. Surprisingly, the kids settled in without a fuss and listened to her instructions as she moved around the table, helping them tie knots and weave ribbons. The scent of lavender filled the barn, released as fingers crushed the flowers and broke the stems.
Once the Wilsons had their creations in hand, they seemed willing to let her herd them back to their vehicle. At first, she refused to take any money since this wasn’t really part of her business, but Mr. Wilson seemed prepared to argue with her indefinitely. She finally agreed on twenty dollars for the lot, mostly to get them to leave. It was well below market price, but it seemed to satisfy the family. Besides, she had a feeling Paige wouldn’t be happy about her giving away lavender. She didn’t have to tell Paige how much she was paid—it would probably be enough that she at least took a little money for her time.
The family piled back into the van, calling out thank-yous and threats to tell all their friends about Kassidy’s farm. She smiled and waved, determined to have a metal gate installed before any of those friends could find her place. She closed her garden shed and returned to the house to hurry through her lunch before getting back to her routine chores. She’d had enough crafting for the day, though, and spent some time instead weeding between plants, where the landscape fabric didn’t reach.
* * *
Kassidy put her makeshift barrier of cones in front of the entrance to her farm later in the evening when she went out. She wanted to pick up something to bring home for dinner from one of the downtown pubs, and she decided to stop at Bête Noir on the way. The tasting room was closed for the night, but she could see Jessica wiping down the bar in the back, and she tapped gently on the glass.
Jessica smiled and waved when she saw Kassidy and hurried over to let her in. She kissed her on the cheek and closed the door behind them.
“You’re right on time,” she said. “Drew and I were just about to sit down and have a glass of wine.”
“I don’t want to intrude,” Kassidy said, especially sensitive to the thought of barging in on her friends’ private time after having the Wilsons interrupt her lunch today. She handed Jessica a pastry box and put her hand on the doorknob. “I just wanted to bring this for you and thank you for the party last week. I’m sorry I left without saying good-bye.”
“We were worried about you. I didn’t know what had happened to make you rush out.” Jessica opened the box, releasing a sweet scent of honey and lavender. “Is this baklava? It s
mells divine. Sorry, I’m still worried and want to know you’re okay, but I desperately need to eat this right now.”
She grabbed Kassidy’s arm and pulled her back to a small seating area behind a display of wine bottles. Drew came out of the back room with a broom and dustpan, but he set them down and came over to greet her.
“Drew, we need a wine that goes with baklava,” Jessica said. “Work your magic.”
“Let me taste it first.” He snagged a piece and chewed slowly before snapping his fingers. “Mm. Delicious. I know just the bottle.”
Jessica shook her head. “He would have known without tasting it. He just wanted to get an extra piece.” She offered the box to Kassidy, and she took a small piece because she wanted to try it with whatever Drew selected. She had already eaten more than enough today when she had made the dessert, trimming the ends to make them even and conveniently getting to eat all the discarded parts. The combination of walnuts, pistachios, local honey, and her own lavender water was decadent and irresistible. She only made this confection when she needed to give someone a gift, because if left on her own in the house with it, she’d have eaten much more than the edges.
“Now, tell me why you left in such a hurry the other night. I saw you talking to that gorgeous friend of Sarai’s. Did she say something to make you go away?”
Kassidy made a noncommittal noise. “I guess I was overwhelmed by the crowds,” she said, sharing at least a partial truth without needing to go into detail about her sensitivity to Paige’s innocent comment. “I spent too much time in hibernation this winter and felt like I needed some air.”
