Chapter Three
The drive to his place seemed to take forever. Finally he pulled up to a gate off the highway. A big sign attached to the fence read EME Floral and Landscaping.
“E-M-E?” Mattie asked.
“Say it like ‘emmie.’ Means a couple things. Elaine, Emeline. My mom’s name was Moira.”
“Oh.”
West drove down the long, winding private road, stopping to wave at a few people standing outside a double row of trailers. “I rent to my workers,” he said, pointing at the trailers. “Occasionally if something’s open, to anybody that needs a place. During the slow seasons the rent keeps EME afloat.”
“Cool.” She had a feeling the slow seasons occurred most of the year.
“Want to see the rest of the place?”
She couldn’t refuse when she heard the boyish pride in his voice. “Sure.”
As he navigated slowly over a maze of bumpy, deeply-rutted dirt roads, he pointed out each feature of his business. “Over there is the fernery. It’s pretty small, mostly because I can’t afford to hire enough people to work it. This is the retail/wholesale nursery. It does pretty well and I use everything I grow out here in my landscaping and lawn maintenance business. See all those big piles of mulch, rock, and sand? I sell all that stuff, too. The mulch and stone is pretty much a steady business.”
“Emeline makes it out like you’re barely making it.” In fact, the few conversations she’d had with her sister involved her whining about how poor West was, and how he couldn’t ever afford to do, like, anything, and she was always, like, the one paying the bill and whatever.
West shrugged as he pulled up to a square concrete building, then backed up until he was within range of a big bright blue trailer that Mattie assumed was full of lawn stuff. “There are times during the year when I don’t do so hot. The bigger outfits have their years of experience and all behind them. Me, I’ve only been around a few years. I have my steady clients, but my business is mostly word-of- mouth. My lawn maintenance honestly does the best, and my SBA advisor has always said I should focus on it instead of all this.”
“Why do you then?”
West got out of the truck and went around to the back of it. Mattie watched him hitch the trailer up. “Mostly because the nursery and all was my dad’s dream. I can’t stand the thought of letting it die.”
“There’s a difference between letting something die of failure, and letting it die a noble death,” Mattie said.
“I can’t let it go. It has potential. It’s just a matter of finding the right wholesalers.”
He checked the contents of the trailer, then gestured for Mattie to follow him into the concrete building. “Look over there and grab a few pairs of the gloves and those big trimmers off the peg-board there.”
The weight of the hedge clippers surprised Mattie, and she nearly dropped them as she was lifting them off the hook. West’s strong arm shot over her shoulder and grabbed them a second before she knocked herself silly.
“Careful, there.”
Standing so close, she could smell his musky, warm cologne and his Whopper-breath. She could feel his body heat, even in the stifling little shed.
“Listen,” he said softly, not moving. “I’m an asshole. I’m sorry about some of the things I said to you earlier.”
“It’s okay,” she replied, half-dizzy from his closeness. Something about this man attracted her like a bug to a Bug-Zapper. The closer she got, the more intense the burn. “I understand people have tried to take advantage of the McKendricks. I’m not one of them. I’m pretty much alone in the world, and it would be nice to know I have family, somewhere.”
He gave her an odd look before taking the trimmers from her. He her back out of the shed. Locking the door, he instructed her to put the gloves in the trailer.
She did as he asked. He hefted an edger to his shoulder. The muscles flexed in his arms, his chest.
“You okay?” he asked, grinning.
Mattie felt blood flush her cheeks. She was so nervous she couldn’t get the passenger door open. West stepped up behind her when she couldn’t get it and did it for her, brushing against her, flustering her to the point that her hands shook.
A man hasn’t affected me like this in ages. Actually, ever. To her, a man being attracted to her usually meant she was in the wrong place, and it would end badly.
Mattie clambered awkwardly into the truck and took a big, cooling gulp of her soda. Parts of her that had been in a life-long hibernation were roaring to life, and it wasn’t the most comfortable feeling.
The worst part of it was the man that was affecting her so intensely was her sister’s boyfriend. This ain’t going to end well.
Especially since he had flirted right back.