by Rachel Hanna
She swore she could see a hint of a smile, like he was proud of himself for catching her in a compromising position. And she didn’t like it one bit.
“Let’s get clear about something. This is now my room, so you need to stay out of here.” She was petite and had to look up to meet his eyes, but she was trying her hardest to seem strong and confident.
“And who decided this was your room?”
“I got here first.”
“I got here when I was twelve.”
“Ladies first,” she said, grasping at straws.
“No, no, no…. You can’t have it both ways. Ladies first and lady in charge.”
“Excuse me? Women can certainly have it both ways. Chivalry isn’t dead in all men.” She walked to her dressing table and started brushing her hair.
“Oh, and you assume I’m not a chivalrous guy?”
“Chivalrous men,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘men’, “don’t try to take a woman’s room away from her. And they don’t ogle naked women without their knowledge or permission.”
“First off, I’m not trying to take your room. It’s my room. And secondly, I saw nothing but bubbles.”
“Well, whatever. I’m not moving.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her arms.
“This room has the biggest bathroom.”
“And do you want to share it with a seven year old boy? Because Lucas will be here in ten days. If you want to spend your days cleaning pee off the bottom of the toilet bowl and picking up wet towels, then…”
“Fine. Whatever. Keep the damn room. I’m tired from my flight. I don’t have time to deal with drama,” he said as he walked out of the room.
“Then don’t start it!” she yelled down the hall before slamming her door. Oh, this was going to be ounces of fun.
* * *
Piper stood in the kitchen cooking her scrambled eggs the next morning wishing that Lola hadn’t thought pushing her and Cameron together was a good idea. She had absolutely zero in common with him, that much was sure.
From his fine tailored suits to his constant blaring of classical music in his bedroom, the guy was just plain irritating. And sadly, he was one of the hottest men she’d ever seen but his personality totally ruined it.
“Got enough for two?” she heard him say from behind her. She turned around to find him standing there wearing a gray sweater and a pair of jeans, looking like he’d just stepped out of a J Crew catalog.
“Seriously?” she asked, thinking carefully about flinging the metal spatula at his head.
“Look, I’m sorry about last night, okay? I was exhausted.” He sat down on a barstool next to the counter.
“Apology accepted,” she said as she scooped all of the eggs onto her plate. “But make your own eggs. I’m no longer anybody’s waitress.”
She walked around the bar and back up the stairs to her room.
* * *
Hector spent most mornings clipping the dead pieces off of every plant in each of the greenhouses, and this morning was no different. It was like meditation for him now, and he enjoyed the quiet.
“Yo, Hector, long time no see, buddy!” Cameron called as he walked into one of the greenhouses. Hector sighed.
“Hello, Cameron. Good to see you,” he said without a smile. Hector rarely smiled in Cameron’s direction. He held a good bit of hostility over the fact that Cameron rarely came home after leaving the orchard. Sure, he’d checked in with Lola here and there, but Hector didn’t think he was a very good grandson.
“Wow. Kind of a cold reaction, amigo.”
“Don’t call me that, Cameron. You know I don’t like that.”
“It means friend,” Cameron said with a laugh.
“Exactly.” Hector turned and started back to his work.
“Okay, I’m confused. What did I do to make us not amig… friends?”
Hector turned and put down his scissors. His face was as hard as stone, not a hint of the smile he showed most people.
“You abandoned your grandmother.”
“Now, that’s not true. Besides, how would you know? You’ve lived here for decades and my grandmother lived in Minnsville.”
“We talked every single day. Your grandmother missed you, and I don’t know why she left you any part of this property. Piper is a lovely woman. She deserves it.”
“Excuse me? You’re saying I don’t deserve to own a part of my family’s property? But some stranger… some dimwitted destitute waitress from a po-dunk diner off some red dirt road deserves it more than me?”
“It was a gravel road,” Piper said from behind him. She was struggling not to cry. She wasn’t going to give this man the satisfaction.
“Piper, I’m sorry you had to hear…” Hector said, starting to walk toward her.
“I’ll be in the other greenhouse working on the plants you showed me yesterday.” She turned and started out the door.
“Let me come with you…” Hector called.
“I’ve got it. Thanks. I’d rather be alone,” she said as she looked back at Cameron.
* * *
Cameron sat in the golf cart on his favorite part of the property. It was a little nook that gave the perfect view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He hadn’t been to that spot in well over ten years, but it was one of the only places on Earth that truly felt like home.
He leaned back and took a long sip of his beer and rested his boot up on the dash. Coming back to the orchard had been bittersweet. He’d missed his grandmother before, but now she wasn’t even on the planet anymore and the thought pained him.
Of course, Hector wouldn’t believe that. To him, Cameron was a deserter, someone who left their grandmother in the dust.
Honestly, Cameron hadn’t meant to stay away so long. He called his grandmother at least once a week and emailed her too. He tried Skyping with her a few times, but she wasn’t exactly the best with technology.
The truth was that his publishing business was floundering, he still hadn’t written the Great American novel and he didn’t want to come home without being able to show her that he’d made it. He was a success. He’d just needed a little more time, but then his grandmother had run out of time.
His eyes watered, so he took another swig of his beer.
And now he had to deal with this woman who he’d just called all kinds of terrible names after apologizing for trying to steal her bedroom out from under her.
What was wrong with him? He sure hadn’t turned out like his grandmother had raised him. Chivalrous. Polite. Respectful.
His whole life, he’d been chasing a ghost. The ghost of his own father. His Dad had been everything to him, although he was close to his mother too. But his father was his hero. He was an accomplished writer and author with awards lining his office bookcase.
And what did Cameron have so far? A reputation in town for being a “problem”, no wife or girlfriend and a business that had all but dried up.
Everything he had chased so far hadn’t been successful. He felt more lost and alone right now than he ever had in his life, and he had exactly zero ideas as to how to fix any of it.
So he took another swig of his beer.
* * *
Piper took a long sniff of one of the roses. The scent was remarkable and unforgettable. She’d never smelled any rose like it, which was a testament to Lola’s ingenuity.
“Miss Piper?” she heard Hector say from behind her. “I know you said you wanted to be alone, but I wanted to check on you.”
She turned around and smiled. “I’m fine. Really.”
“He had no right…”
“He was upset. Look, I get it. This is his family homestead, and I really don’t have a place here.”
“That’s not true. Family isn’t just about blood. Miss Lola loved you very much.”
Piper sat down on a small wooden bench. “I loved her too. She was a wonderful person.”
“That she was.”
“So she told you ab
out me?”
“Many times. She said you were the granddaughter she never had. In fact, she left you some things here, but I’m not supposed to give them to you yet.”
“Really? What kinds of things?” Piper was curious.
“I cannot tell,” he said with a big grin. “She locked them away in a special box. I am to give it to you when I think you’re ready.”
“Ooh…. A mystery box. I love it!” Piper said with a laugh. “Okay, Hector, I have some ideas for marketing. Can you show me where all of the information about the business is stored?”
“Of course. It’s in the office on the main floor. I have it all organized on the computer. Shall we?” he asked.
Piper stood up and locked arms with Hector as they made their way back toward the house.
* * *
It was 2am and Piper’s eyes were getting tired. She’d been up for hours reading everything she could find online about running a business, growing apples, tending to roses, increasing profits… The list seemed endless when it came to things she didn’t no how to do.
She laid her head down on the desk and sighed. As much as she wanted Cameron and Hector to think she had it all together, she felt as lost as she ever had.
Piper had never considered herself to be smart. She did okay in school, but never made the honor roll or got to be in any of the “smart kid” clubs. She got by, just like she’d done in her life so far. Just getting by was exhausting, and now she found herself in that predicament again.
Hector had broken the news to her that the apple festival was in a week, and she had no idea how to prepare for that. It was the largest event in the whole area, and residents waited all year for it.
He told her that about five hundred visitors - some from several counties away - would descend upon the orchard during the one-day event. They picked apples, took hayrides and bought stuff from the small country store on the property. Hector was doing the best he could getting everything ready, as he’d always done, but he needed help. Lots of it.
Turned out a big order for roses had come in from a pretty famous Nashville star. She was getting married the same weekend of the apple festival which meant Hector had way too much on his plate. It was going to take Piper - and probably Cameron - to pull everything off.
The problem was, she wasn’t speaking to Cameron right now. He was a jerk of epic proportions, and she didn’t want to work with him. She really wanted him to get eaten by one of those big pieces of farm equipment she’d seen on her drive in, but the best she had on her property was a golf cart.
Piper stood up and looked at her phone, swiping until she found a picture of Lucas. He was counting on her, and she wasn’t going to let him down. When he came in a little over a week, just after the apple festival, she was going to have the house ready no matter what. He was her focus, and she’d just have to deal with Cameron even if she didn’t like it one bit.
Chapter 6
“I’m sorry, Miss Piper, but there’s no other choice,” Hector said with a sad look on his face.
“Hector, I understand. This is just part of the business of running this place. It’s okay. Really,” she said, smiling as she reached across the kitchen table and rubbed his hand. “And I expected this.”
“You did?” he asked. Hector had come to tell her that she and Cameron would have to organize the apple festival’s final details because he just didn’t have time. She would have to look into the finances soon and see if there was a way to hire an assistant of some kind for Hector. The poor man was running himself ragged.
“Of course. I’m not experienced in business, so I knew all along that Cameron would be my best bet in all of this. Like it or not, this is our place together and we have to make the best of it.”
She stood up and poured herself another cup of coffee after checking to make sure Hector still had enough.
“You think you can work with him?” he asked.
“Yes. We don’t have to be friends. We just have to be business partners,” she said, knowing that was probably even harder than just being friends.
“You’re a good person, Piper. Miss Lola was right about you,” he said with a wink before he walked out the back door.
* * *
Piper sat nervously at the diner. Shockingly, Cameron had texted her and asked her to meet him there to discuss the business. Why they couldn’t discuss it at the orchard was a mystery, but she was happy that he was at least taking an interest in the day to day running of things.
“Hey,” he said softly as he sat down across from her.
“Hey.”
“Listen, let me start off by apologizing for what I said the other day. I was upset…”
“Can we just move on?” she said, leaning her head back.
“I’m trying to be nice.”
“Most people don’t have to try to be nice to me, Cameron. I’m generally thought of as a good person.”
“Fine. Let’s move on then,” he said as he pulled out some files. “I printed some of the financials this morning. Have you had a chance to review these?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’ve had a crash course in business since I got here.”
She thought she saw the hint of a smile. “Good. Then we can move a little quicker. As you know, the apple festival is coming up at the end of the week. Have you looked at the ROI of that?”
“Um… Yeah. Totally,” she said. What in the heck was an ROI?
“I think we might be operating at a deficit when it comes to the self-picking, so we can definitely improve there,” he said, looking down at the spreadsheets. Piper stared at them, but in her mind she was on a beach somewhere. And people were speaking English that she actually understood. “Thankfully, our overall accounts receivable numbers still exceed accounts payable at this point, but our assets aren’t being leveraged fully. Cash flow is at an all time high, but that’s mostly due to the rose business. Now, when we look at depreciation…”
“Stop!” she finally shouted. Other patrons turned around. Piper smiled at them and mouthed “sorry”.
“What’s your problem?” Cameron asked in a loud whisper.
“I have no freaking idea what you’re talking about!”
“But you said…”
“Look, I’m a dummy when it comes to this stuff, okay? I know you already think I’m stupid…”
“I never said that.”
“No, I believe what you said was ‘dimwitted destitute waitress from a po-dunk diner off some red dirt road’. Did I get that right?”
Cameron sighed and shook his head. “I tried to apologize.”
“Well - and keep in mind I’m pretty dimwitted - where I come from, we only take apologies when they’re sincere.”
“And how do you know mine wasn’t?” he asked.
“Because you strike me as a guy who will do just about anything to get what he wants, even if it means apologizing to someone you think is a worthless idiot,” she said, looking back down at the paperwork and trying not to cry. That was one thing that sucked about being female - the urge to burst into tears during any emotional moment.
He was quiet for a moment. “I really am sorry, Piper. This has been a tough few months for me. I’m not acting myself lately, and I said something that was hurtful and not at all what I believe to be true.”
It was the first sincere thing she’d heard from him. He really sounded like he was speaking from his heart for once.
“Apology accepted,” she said softly. “Look, it’s going to take me some time to catch up on all the business and financial lingo, but if there’s one place no one can beat me it’s hard work. So how about you handle this stuff,” she said, sliding the papers across the table, “and I’ll coordinate the real work we need to do?”
Cameron smiled slightly. “The real work, huh?”
Piper laughed. “No offense, but pushing papers around a desk isn’t the hard work. What’s going to be difficult is finishing up the apple festival by ourselves.”
“Wait. What? I thought Hector was handling that?”
“He was. Until we got a huge order for roses during the same time frame. That makes us a lot more money. I understood at least that much from my hours agonizing over those dang spreadsheets.”
“How are we going to do this on such short notice?”
“Well, we’re going to have to work together,” she said with a wink. “So let’s just make a pact, for the good of the business, that we’ll get along and make this the most successful apple festival Blue Ridge Orchard has ever hosted. Deal?” She reached her hand across the table. He smiled - it was crooked and kind of appealing - and shook her hand. He lingered for a moment, his facial expression changing a couple of times, before he let go.
“So what do we need to do first?”
“Bales of hay.”
“Huh?”
“We need to set up the hayrides and decorations at the entrance to the orchard. We need to bring in temporary help to run the hayrides and the cash registers in the store. And I think we need to make some extra treats that we can sell, like maybe some caramel apples. What do you think?”
He looked at her for a long moment and then smiled. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“Okay then,” she said nodding, thankful that he wasn’t pushing back. “I guess we should get started.” She moved to get out of the booth and he laughed.
“Can we eat first?”
Piper giggled. “Oh, yeah. I guess that would make sense.”
The waitress came over to the table and took their orders. She was young and apparently unaware of who Cameron was, but one day Piper would have to ask around about his reputation in the town. Or maybe she would ask him right now.
“So…” she started, as she took a sip of her sweet tea. “Your reputation in this town seems to precede you…”
She tried not to make eye contact so she could seem nonchalant in her line of questioning, but Cameron eyed her carefully, boring a hole into the side of her head with his eyes.
