Chapter Four #2
In what seemed like minutes, he was all packed and stood with his luggage at the door.
He wrapped her up in his arms. “I’m going to miss you, and the only thing that will keep me going on this trip is the thought of you in this robe,” he said and kissed her as though it were the last kiss he would ever receive.
He handed her a slip of paper. “Here’s my pilot’s cell phone number. Call him when you’re ready to go.”
Lily missed him already and tried for a smile. “Don’t let anything happen to you.”
To make you change your mind about me.
“I won’t.” After a last quick hard kiss, he grabbed his luggage and headed for the elevator.
She watched him go and prayed that would be true.
~ ~ ~ ~
Late Thursday afternoon, Lily stepped into the new shadehouse and found Rob transplanting Ming auralia cuttings. Nursery production ran seven days a week during the spring planting season, and she knew she could count on finding her friend hard at work.
Rob spotted her immediately. “Oh no. What the hell happened?”
“I brought your Porsche back early,” she said brightly.
“And?”
“And what?” She felt her lip quiver and turned away so Rob wouldn’t see.
“Did he hurt you or force you—”
She started and spun around. “No! Rhett was a perfect gentleman.” She glowered at her friend. “Perfect.”
“Then what happened?”
“It was me. I think I wanted to finally…you know.”
He leaned back against the potting table. “Geez Louise,” he whispered reverently.
“My sentiments exactly.”
“It’s not the money, is it? I’ve heard that can make guys seem handsomer and sexier.”
Lily gave him a Get real! look.
“I meant me.” He poked her in the arm. “I was just kidding.”
She turned away. “Please don’t.”
He grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around. “Hey, I’m all ears. You can tell me anything, Lil. We’re best friends.”
She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “I think I love Rhett.”
That Rob obviously hadn’t expected. He gaped at her for several long moments and didn’t move a muscle.
“Say something,” she said softly.
“It’s only been a few days, sweetheart.”
“I know, and I can’t help it. I feel as though I’ve known Rhett my whole life. We like all the same things and agree on everything. I already can’t imagine my life without him in it, and I’m pretty sure that’s love. That’s what Hank always said anyway.”
“You don’t look happy about this, which means you haven’t told him who you are yet. Have you?”
She averted her gaze.
“Aw geez, Lil! Why the hell not?”
Her gaze snapped back to him. Her temper sparked. “I couldn’t. Okay? The timing was never right, and then Rhett had to take a sudden detour trip to London to fix a business crisis, which is why I’m back so soon.”
“Every day you wait to tell him is going to make the news that much harder for him to hear. And accept.”
“You think I don’t know that!” she cried, feeling tears forming.
He pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry. Don’t be upset. It’ll all work out.”
“If this was a group hug, you forgot me,” Tammy called, stepping into the shadehouse.
Rob and Lily turned, and Lily swiped at the tears trying to escape.
“Honey, what happened?” Tammy surged forward and pulled her away from Rob.
“She’s in love,” Rob said matter-of-factly.
Tammy jerked back to stare at Lily. “Is that true?”
Lily nodded. “I think so.”
Tammy crushed her into a hug. “That’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you. Is he in love too?”
Lily didn’t say anything, and Tammy let her go. “Which he are we talking about by the way?”
Lily shot her a quelling glance.
“Okay, so he didn’t say, I love you. Did he act like it at least? And what the hell are you doing back in town so soon?”
“Emergency business detour to London,” Rob filled in.
“I hate when that happens,” Tammy said dryly and eyed Lily. “So how did he act for the short while you were together?”
“He likes me. A lot, I think. And he’s willing to take things slow.” Lily raised her eyebrows.
“Wow! Most guys wouldn’t,” Tammy said, obviously impressed.
“Hey!” Rob complained.
“You’re not most guys,” Lily pointed out.
“Oh.” Rob went back to sticking Ming auralia cuttings.
“So he’s willing to go slow,” Tammy reiterated. “That’s huge, especially after you let him think you were a socialite in the beginning. I’d say he cares more than a little. Imagine that. Compassionate, sensitive and forgiving. Hallelujah!”
“Tell her, Lil,” Rob said, forcing a cutting into potting soil with two fingers.
“Tell me what?” Tammy asked.
“She hasn’t told him she’s Cinderella yet,” Rob said, straightening the cutting.
“Oh, Lily.”
“Both of you just stop,” Lily complained. “I came here for sympathy, not censure.”
“But why, Lil?” Tammy demanded. “Why didn’t you tell him? And don’t tell me timing either.”
Lily could feel the sting of unwanted tears. “I like him so much, I don’t want to lose him.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Tammy said flatly. “If you wait any longer, that will be a given.”
Lily sighed. “I know.”
“When’s he due back?”
“A few days, I guess. Maybe I should tell him on the phone.”
“No!” Rob and Tammy cried in unison.
Lily tried for a smile. “I’m just kidding.”
Tammy put an arm around her. “Come on, I’ll take you to lunch, and we can figure out how you’re going to tell him.”
They reached the shadehouse door, and Tammy paused. “Hey, hot shot!”
Rob raised his head.
“In all the excitement, I forgot why I walked down here. I just took the first order for your new interiors line, and the brochures aren’t even out yet.
Some wealthy Jupiter socialite sashayed into my office, wanting some mansion plants, and placed the order—a few dozen aralias, Chamaedorea palms, birds of paradise, and Spathiphyllum.
She said it was a housewarming gift for a friend. I’ve got the address in my office.”
“Booyah!” Rob cheered and pumped his fist.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Where the hell are you, Rhett?” Garrett groused. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day. When I called the Waldorf, the front desk said you’d checked out.”
“I’m in London.”
“London? What the hell are you doing there? I called the hangar looking for you, and our aviation service said the jet left New York and flew back to Florida today.”
“I did fly to New York, but the Surrey Golf Resort contract foundered at the last minute on some technicalities involving liability the Brits couldn’t get past, so I flew across the pond to smooth the consortium’s ruffled feathers. A lot has happened in the last few days.”
“Boy, I’ll say. And I can’t believe you blew off Grant Horning at the party like that. What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t,” Rhett said, smiling to himself. “Besides, you were there, and everything worked out all right. I know Horning loved your specialty trees.”
“He sure did, and Grant wants to play, so I promised him a piece of the Savannah Plantation venture too.”
“Piece of cake.”
“Now hold on there. It wasn’t that simple,” Garrett grumbled. “Horning wasn’t happy you took off and never came back. He thought you were just going to retrieve Ms. Foster and return. I tap-danced as long as I could, and then I had to promise him a site trip to Savannah—with the two of us.”
“No problem. Small price to pay.”
Time with Lily was well worth the price.
“What’s got into you, Rhett? This is Garrett you’re talking to, and you can’t fool me. You don’t do site visits anymore. You said so yourself just last week. And you don’t nursemaid high rollers on project sites either. All of a sudden you’re a different person.”
“I am,” he said confidently.
“Different how?” Garrett sounded wary.
“I think I may have found the girl of my dreams.”
Garrett laughed heartily. “You had me going there for a minute, dude.”
“I’m serious. When I was young and poor, I couldn’t get girls to notice me in my K-Mart jeans and tee shirts, and when I made a name for myself, women only wanted me for my money or for my celebrity status. This girl wants me for me. She’s the first one.”
“That’s not true, Rhett,” Garrett argued. “You had plenty of dates when we were in college, and you were poor back then.”
“No, I didn’t. I had first dates you set up for me, but the girls at Princeton were all over you and Cross.
You were too busy with your own dates to notice the lack of interest in your penniless roommate, there on student loans.
So I spent all my spare time studying instead.
I’m not complaining. I got better grades than you did. ”
“That part’s true,” Garrett grudgingly admitted.
“I’m just saying you can’t know what it’s like, Garrett. You’ve always had money. I want a woman who only wants me for who I am, and not what I own. This one does.”
She’s the kind of girl I’d wait forever for, the kind of girl Rhett from Indiantown dreamed of having and never thought he would.
The silence on the phone lasted long enough Rhett checked the readout to be sure he was still connected.
“I’ll be damned.” Garrett let loose a low whistle. “We’re talking about the girl you met at the nursery? Your date at the cocktail party?”
“That’s right. Lily Foster. I took her to New York with me, and when I got the call from our London office, I offered to let her stay and shop on my dime. And you know what she said?”
Garrett chuckled. “Hand over the credit card?”
“No, smart ass. She said she wanted to go home since I wouldn’t be around.”
“Well, damn.”
“I want to get out of here pronto and get back to Jupiter,” he added. “I miss her.”
“Man, you do have it bad. But, Rhett, you just met this girl.”
“So what?” he snapped, then softened his tone. “When you know, you know. I feel like the real me when I’m with her. Plain old Rhett from Indiantown with his dreams, and not Buchanan Worldwide.”
“I have to tell you, I never thought you’d settle down after all the super models and movie stars, and then you always seemed to end up back with Delia. I guess I figured she’d end up being the one.”