by Karis Walsh
Kassidy got up and shut the wide doors to the cottage. As much as she wanted to hang out in here and make it her retreat, with only Paige, nakedness, and summer heat to keep her company, she had work to do. Naked Paige could come with her, though, in Kassidy’s imagination. She was never far from Kassidy’s mind.
Chapter Seventeen
Paige stood in front of the tiny bathroom mirror and pulled her hair back, fastening it with a plain bronze clip. She set her comb back on the small shelf Kassidy had hung on the wall for guests to use and fixed the collar of her pressed white shirt. She was amazed by the way Kassidy had transformed the guest cottage, including the miniature bathroom. Kassidy had installed a new pedestal sink and a toilet and had painted the walls in a light shade of lavender. A few matching towels and some guest soaps were about all that she could fit in this room and still expect a person to get inside, too, but the effect was clean and pleasant.
The main room was where Kassidy had really put her eye for design to its best use. Paige wanted to sublet the place and have it waiting for her whenever she needed to leave the city. Although, as long as she was planning to drive to McMinnville, she’d much rather stay in the main house with Kassidy and not out here, only steps away from her front door. Last night had been the first time Paige had spent the night in a place where Kassidy’s bedroom was within walking distance, and her fantasies about traversing the distance had kept her awake long after midnight.
She slipped her feet into a pair of polished black flats and picked up the bound copies of her final proposal. She had changed the wording of her usual contract before sending it to Kassidy when they had transferred the responsibility for Paige’s fees from Kenneth to her. Instead of remaining on call during an extended transition period, Paige’s job as business consultant for Lavender Lane Farm ended the moment her presentation did. Tonight, she’d be sleeping on the farm as a guest, and not in a professional capacity.
Maybe she’d take that midnight stroll after all.
She picked up a gift bag and an ice chest that was just big enough to hold a six-pack of pop and went over to Kassidy’s porch, leaving the cottage doors open behind her because Dante was settled on the couch and didn’t look prepared to move anytime soon. She sat at the table where she had first pitched her idea for branding labels on lavender products. She figured it was as close to a conference room as Kassidy ever wanted to get.
“I hope you have beer in that cooler. I have a feeling I’m going to need one,” Kassidy said, coming out of her back door and settling into her chair. “Or two, or three, depending on what words come out of your mouth during this presentation.”
Paige laughed. “Not beer, although you just gave me another great idea. There are bars in Portland dedicated to using fancy botanicals and local ingredients in the cocktails they make. You should come up with some fancy drink concepts and pitch them to the bar managers, like a Lavender Lane Farmopolitan or a Lavender Lane Farmartini. Check with the local microbreweries, too, because they usually offer small batch seasonal beers.”
“How about a Lavender Lane Farmimosa?” Kassidy suggested.
“Now you’re getting in the spirit.” Paige already had the microbrew idea in her proposal, so she flipped through until she found the right page and put a small check mark next to the bullet point. She added a note about the cocktail bars, too.
“As long as all your suggestions include alcohol, we’re going to have an easy time of it today.”
Paige flipped open the minicooler and took out an old-fashioned glass bottle.
“Milk?” asked Kassidy. “Definitely losing interest here.”
“This is an addendum to the proposal and not vital in any way, but I think you should get goats.”
“To help with the harvest? I’d like the extra help, but I think they might eat all the profits.”
Paige ignored the sarcasm. She had a feeling she was going to need to do that a lot during this presentation. “For fun.”
“Fun for me? Or the goats?”
Paige waved off Kassidy’s skeptical tone. “Fun for your visitors. I’ve been noticing that a lot of the local farms have goats, as sort of a petting zoo kind of attraction for kids. Dante loved the one they had at our bed and breakfast. What do you think of serving lavender flavored goat’s milk for breakfast?”
“Do you really want to know what I think, or was that a rhetorical question?”
Paige sighed and opened the bag next to her and took out two small wineglasses she had got while on one of her tastings. She had thought the glasses would add an elegant touch to the sampling, but she started to have serious doubts as she poured the thick liquid into them. She had lost some of Kassidy’s already questionable confidence in her as a consultant. She couldn’t let her own doubts show, but she really did want to make sure it was supposed to look this way before she drank it.
“Shouldn’t he have pasteurized it or whatever you do to milk to make it less…” She was going to say mucus-like but thought Kassidy might see her hesitation about drinking the stuff as a sign of weakness. “Less viscous?”
Kassidy covered her mouth to hide her snort of laughter. “You need to research exactly what pasteurization is. Let me guess, you usually buy skim milk from the grocery store, not whole milk directly from a farm.”
Paige nodded.
“Oh, this is going to be good.”
Paige was concerned by how happy Kassidy looked at the thought of her tasting the goat’s milk, but she pressed on with her speech. “Anyway, back to business. I read that goat’s milk takes on the flavor of whatever they eat, so I asked the guy who makes the lavender hand lotion to feed some lavender to a goat and give us a sample of the milk.”
“And this is the result?” Kassidy sniffed at her glass and made a face.
“Well, not exactly. He said the goat wouldn’t eat it, so he infused the lavender in the milk instead. But don’t worry. I used the kind you cook with, not the kind you give him for soap. And why don’t you save some of the eye rolling for the rest of my presentation. You don’t want to wear yourself out before we even open the folder.”
“You first. This was your idea.”
Paige raised the glass in a mock salute, hoping Kassidy didn’t realize that the gesture was meant more to stall for time than anything else.
“Are you composing a five-page toast in your mind, or are you trying to get out of drinking this stuff?”
Paige took a deep breath and held it as she took a sip. She very carefully set the glass on the table, putting all her concentration into not throwing up.
“I’m always willing to admit when I’m wrong,” she said when she thought it was safe to open her mouth and speak again. “This is one of those times. Actually, I think this is the most wrong I’ve ever been.”
Kassidy laughed happily. “Darn. Now I have to taste it, too, just to find out how bad it is. I’ll bet Ralph told you it wouldn’t be good.”
“Maybe,” Paige said, watching as Kassidy sampled the milk and grimaced. “So let’s get on with the real presentation.”
“This was just the warm-up act? I’m afraid to find out what the main event is going to be.”
Paige moved the glasses and milk bottle to the far side of the table. Usually, she’d give her clients their copy of the proposal and go through it step-by-step with them reading along, but she decided to keep both copies in front of her for now. She figured Kassidy would read ahead if she had her own, arguing over Paige’s ideas before she had a chance to get to them in order. Besides, Kassidy had brought some paper and a pen with her, in case she needed to take notes about how awful Paige’s suggestions were.
“I’ve identified three general areas in which you’re not taking full advantage of the farm’s potential. We’ve already discussed several aspects of them over the past two weeks, such as branding products and opening the farm to the public, and now I want to cover the three themes in more detail.”
Paige felt herself seamlessly slipping in
to presentation mode. The setting might be pastoral, but from her clothes to the sound of her voice, she was boardroom ready. She hoped that her professional attitude—now that the horrid milk tasting was over—would help Kassidy see the benefits of listening to her and trying some new things.
“Let’s cover making the farm more accessible, first.” Might as well get the most contentious issue over with as soon as possible. Paige turned to the right page in her proposal, although she didn’t need to look at her bullet points to remind herself of what she had written. She had absorbed Kassidy’s farm, and the directions Kassidy needed to take were clear in Paige’s mind, as if she could see two farms at once. The way it was now, and the thriving business it had the potential to be.
“We’ve talked about why it’s important to invite tourists here, and you’ve agreed with my assessment,” Paige stated with conviction. Kassidy gave her a sort of nod, sort of shrug that leaned toward noncommittal. “A store and U-pick area on the farm, a booth at next year’s street fair, at least a trial period for renting out the cottage. Most important, a friendly face for the tourists to associate with the farm.”
Kassidy sighed. “Yes, I’ll do those things. I already said I would.”
“Fine, but you need to do more. Right now, you’re unenthusiastic about this. Once I’m no longer pushing you to make crafts or talk to people, I worry you’re going to revert to a…let’s say passive state. You’ll take down your driveway barricade and be nice to the people who happen to drive by and stumble in, but you won’t make an effort to attract them to the farm as a planned destination.”
“What do you know?” Kassidy’s surly tone told Paige she was correct, as if she’d needed proof.
“You need to actively look for ways to interact with the public. The farm should have a presence at farmers markets and festivals, but you need to go a step further. You could have an open house or lavender festival on the farm and invite local businesses to come here. Make it an annual event. I also have a detailed marketing plan for the store, website, and the guest cottage, but you can read through those later.”
“I guess I don’t hate the idea of my own lavender festival,” Kassidy said with an elaborate shrug, but Paige wasn’t fooled by her casual attitude. She could already see Kassidy’s expression change as plans started coming to mind, and she wasn’t surprised when Kassidy surreptitiously jotted down some notes.
“The second area I want you to address relates to farm products. Getting your name on everything made with your lavender is a good first step, but you should also think about developing some products that are proprietary to the farm. It makes more sense financially, of course, but I also see it as a way to develop the first step in my plan more fully. Develop a brand and a loyal following. Open your farm to the public and give them plenty of things to buy while they’re here.”
“My own products…” Kassidy said, tapping her lip with her pen. “I like it. Do you mean crafts, or did you have other things in mind?”
Paige lost her professional self for a moment as her attention was drawn to Kassidy’s mouth by her fidgeting movement. She made an effort to remember how to think and speak, and eventually remembered the types of products she had meant to recommend.
After experiencing Kassidy’s reaction to the flavored goat’s milk plan, Paige had a feeling her next suggestion would be met with equal disdain, but she had to say it. It was written in the proposal Kassidy would eventually read, anyway. “I had originally planned to mention putting beehives on the property and selling lavender honey. You’d need to coordinate the honey harvest with the times when the lavender is in full bloom. You could probably work with a local bee farmer to have them bring a hive here and take care of it, if you weren’t interested in doing it yourself.”
“I’ve had lavender honey before, and it’s delicious. I could handle bees.” Kassidy wrote notes as she mumbled. “Let’s see, the small barn behind the greenhouse would make a good workspace for extracting and bottling. I’d need to get a suit, and a smoker. And bees.” She looked at Paige again. “Okay, what’s next?”
Paige held up her hand. “Wait. You acted like I was ridiculous for suggesting you get some cute little goats, but you’re fine with a swarm of insects?”
“Yes. Honeybees are important, and I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this before. That’s what I’m paying you for, though, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.” Paige realized she was arguing against Kassidy’s acceptance of her idea, and she decided to stop. Somewhere along the way, Kassidy had gotten excited about the possibilities Paige had seen in the farm from day one. She had stopped looking for limits and was open to what was possible. Paige felt a responding tingle of excitement inside her belly. The feeling wasn’t one she usually got during a presentation, even if her clients were thrilled with her plans for change. At this point, she tended to emotionally withdraw from the project, if anything, and she wasn’t sure why she felt different in Kassidy’s case. Maybe because she had a dream stirring inside about being a part of some of these changes. Standing alongside Kassidy and cheering her on. Close enough to touch, to smell, to taste her…
“Your perfume,” Paige said, abruptly returning to her presentation. “It’s lavender, isn’t it? Do you make it or buy it?”
Kassidy sniffed her wrist, as if she’d forgotten how good she smelled. Paige never forgot. This aspect of the proposal was both a real suggestion and a personal indulgence. Paige wanted to either find out the name of what Kassidy used or have Kassidy make it and give Paige a bottle. She planned to sprinkle it liberally through her apartment, starting with the pillows on her bed, as if the scent would conjure Kassidy into her bedroom.
“I make it myself. I have a home distilling machine, so I can make small batches. It’s a blend of five lavenders, sweet pea, and a few other herbs. It was just okay until I added a tiny amount of mint. That neutralized some of the heavy floral notes and freshened it up.”
“Patent it. Bottle it. Whatever you need to do. You’ll sell out every year.” As much as Paige preferred the thought of the scent being uniquely Kassidy’s, she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to help her make money.
“Perfume…” Kassidy flipped her paper over and wrote more notes. “What else?”
“Well, it’s my fault for bringing this next one up right after I mentioned perfume, so feel free to share your snide comments. As if you ever needed approval for that. So, I loved your chicken hors d’oeuvres. And whenever your name came up when I was talking to locals, they would always mention some amazing dish you’d brought to a party, or the cookies you sent to the school bake sale that sold out in the first half hour. I think you should write a cookbook.”
Kassidy looked as if she’d been about to protest if the plan was for her to bake cookies all day, but she stopped with her mouth partway open. Then closed it.
Paige wasn’t sure if she was excited or appalled by the recommendation, so she kept selling it. “I’m picturing a full-color hardback, with pictures from around the farm and of all the food. You can add information about lavender in between recipes.”
“Oh,” Kassidy said quietly. “Yes, I can imagine writing a book like that.”
“I have no doubt about it.” Paige would have preferred to give Kassidy some time to explore this new possibility in her mind, but she pressed on. Her third area of concentration would be needed to make the first two work.
“The last item on my list is more of an attitude than a project,” she said, closing the proposal and resting her hands on it. “You hesitate too much when it comes to the farm, taking steps that are too cautious and small. Like the lavender for crafts. Your sales have been strong, but instead of expanding into the market, you’ve taken baby steps for three years by selling some dried flowers to the local craft store and adding a few dozen plants each year. Think bigger. You have two acres of unplanted fields on the farm, and you have an untapped market in Portland where there are dozens of florists and upscale
grocery stores and craft fairs. And the empty greenhouse with your two tables of pots? It should be full. What you don’t plant in your fields, you can sell to nurseries as a wholesale product.”
Paige leaned forward. “There’s too much empty space, Kassidy. Fill this place with plants and people and products. Treat this like a high-end, diversified artisanal venture and not like it’s a hobby farm.”
Kassidy was stunned into silence by Paige’s vehement tone. She was beginning to understand what made Paige so good at her job. She seemed to have developed a personal stake in the farm, and she spoke as if she was determined to convince Kassidy about how great it could be.
“You’d be a great motivational speaker,” she said, finally able to express what she was thinking. “I felt like standing up and cheering after that speech, even though most of it was about what I’m doing wrong.”
“I’m not trying to—”
Kassidy stopped her by putting her hand on Paige’s arm. “I’m not complaining. You’re being honest, and as much as I want to, I can’t argue with what you’re saying.” She pushed at Paige’s arm playfully before releasing her contact. “I’m overwhelmed right now, partly because I can’t wait to get started on some of the ideas, but also because I dread others. I guess I’ve always been worried that if I turn the farm into something bigger and more productive, I’ll lose the best parts of it.”
Paige nodded. “I understand. You’ve created a peaceful haven here, and this proposal will change that in some ways. But I want you to be able to afford to live here as long as you want, selling when and if you choose.” She handed Kassidy one of the proposals. “You can start with the projects that electrify you, as long as you don’t ignore for too long the ones that will be more challenging, yet still beneficial for the farm.”
