Chapter Eight #3
“Give it up, Garrett. We don’t suit,” Lily said, and pulled flats of Salvia off the cart to hand to Rob who had crawled back up in the truck. “This can’t be fixed.”
“Yes, it can,” he insisted, “and who the hell is Dylan James?”
“Who?” Lily asked.
“Dylan James,” Garrett repeated. “Rhett’s secretary said he came in complaining profusely about a Dylan James, and when I showed up later, he ordered me to get a background check on the guy and gave it a priority one.
Said he had a connection to Bloom & Grow.
Except we can’t find anything on any Dylan James who would have had contact with this nursery. ”
“I never mentioned a Dylan James,” Lily said, frowning.
Rob laughed so hard he bent in half. “You didn’t, Lil, but I did. Don’t you remember? When I came and got you out of the inspection, I told you there was a call from Dylan James that I knew you wouldn’t want to miss.”
“Who is he?” Garrett asked impatiently.
Rob stopped laughing long enough to shrug. “I made him up.”
“And Rhett got jealous.” Garrett grinned. “See? My plan is working perfectly.”
“So you just came over this morning to gloat?” Lily asked, her lips twitching.
“Nope, I came to see Tammy.” He winked. “I’ve got more plants to buy.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Hours later, Tammy strode down the aisle between tables in the greenhouse.
Lily spotted her and tapped Rob’s shoulder.
The two were consolidating cuttings to make more propagation space.
Lily caught the telltale beep of their large delivery truck backing up to the shipping doors as Tammy reached their side.
“What’s going on?” she wanted to know, as Rob pushed the finished flat of Aralia cuttings to the end of the table.
“Garrett was here earlier and placed a huge interiors order for one of their office buildings,” Tammy said, beaming. “I swear that man and his orders could support Bloom & Grow all by himself. He wants the plants tomorrow.”
“Do we have the stock Garrett wants?” Rob asked.
“Every last plant.”
“You’re kidding. How did we get so lucky?”
“They’re the plants I brought back from Buchanan’s mansion. I told Garrett I wouldn’t credit him for the plants that ended up in the pool, and he said he would take care of it.”
“Plants ended up in the pool?” Lily gaped at her. “Rhett was even madder than I thought.”
Tammy grimaced. “Not all of them, just a half-dozen Chamaedorea palms. I wasn’t going to tell you and upset you all over again. Buchanan evidently continued his tirade after you and Jason left.”
“I’m not upset,” Lily said indignantly. “I’m mad. That’s a horrible thing to do to those poor plants. And childish too. All because he was angry with me.”
“Good girl,” Tammy said, “get mad and stay mad. Mad’s good. Garrett wants me to send the bill for the whole shipment to his attention at BDC since Delia wouldn’t pay us after Rhett refused the plants. Garrett promised he’d find a home for the plants, and he did.”
“Garrett may have redeemed himself, but Buchanan’s still a jerk,” Rob muttered and pulled another flat of cuttings close. “Lily and I will be through in a few minutes, and we can start sleeving and loading the truck.”
Lily nodded her assent and chewed on her bottom lip.
“What’s wrong?” Tammy asked.
“Garrett’s buying the same plants back and putting them in one of Rhett’s office buildings. Won’t that just set Rhett off again?”
Tammy’s brows went up. “So he’s back to Rhett again and not Buchanan?”
Lily responded with a glare.
Tammy crossed her arms. “Garrett says Rhett was a jackass for sending the plants back in the first place since the stock was perfectly good. Garrett saw all the plants when he did the cleanup at the mansion and says it will serve Rhett right if the plants end up with a BDC home. Garrett said he makes all the plant decisions, so Rhett will just have to butt out.”
“Tough talk from a guy who works for Buchanan,” Rob interjected grumpily.
“Garrett’s also his best friend,” Lily added.
“He says Rhett won’t even know where the plants came from,” Tammy said, “and he won’t recognize them.”
“Tomorrow’s a huge shipping day. Tammy has to stay here, and she’ll need Jason,” Rob said to Lily. “That means you’ll have to make the delivery to BDC with me. You up for that or do we delay the delivery?”
“No, we need to get the stock delivered when Garrett wants them,” Tammy said. “I want to stay on his good side, so he keeps ordering plants. Lily can make the delivery.”
Lily eyed her warily. “Exactly which office building gets the new plants?”
Tammy stared back like a deer caught in truck headlights.
“Tammy?”
“Um, BDC headquarters in Palm Beach.”
“Oh no! No way!” Lily marched for the door. “No way am I delivering plants to Buchanan’s private office building.”
Rob grabbed her before she got away. “Come on, Lily, we can do it.”
“You can’t expect me to deliver those plants to Buchanan’s office!” Lily exclaimed, aghast.
Rob frowned at Tammy. “Maybe she’s right. This could be a bad idea.”
“Buchanan won’t even be there, I bet,” Tammy argued.
“But what if he is?” Rob asked. “That will upset Lily, and I don’t want him scaring her.”
“It won’t upset me,” Lily cried indignantly. “And I’m not scared of him.”
Not much anyway.
She gnawed on her bottom lip as she raced through all the possible outcomes of a delivery trip to BDC. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, she would be almost unrecognizable . . . she hoped. Garrett could run interference, and besides, she wouldn’t be alone. She would have Rob with her.
So what if Buchanan saw her? He’d already said what he had to say back at his mansion.
Besides, he would just ignore her. Except he hadn’t ignored her on Saturday night.
Her heart had raced every time she caught him stealing a furtive glance, right up until she had watched him stalk out early with the witch Delia, who had the gall to send Lily that nasty smug smile on her way out.
Watching Buchanan leave with his old girlfriend had hurt.
A lot. Enough that Lily had forced it from her mind until she got home where she could cry in peace.
She had wondered if the jerk brought Delia on purpose—just to hurt Lily—until she remembered Garrett saying he didn’t know if Rhett would be attending.
And Buchanan certainly hadn’t known Lily would be there.
That fact alone was what had changed her mind about going to the gala in the first place.
Time to face the truth. Buchanan had wasted no time casting Lily aside and running back to Delia, and the thought of Delia winning, with her arrogant better-than-everyone attitude, made Lily mad. Real mad.
“Fine! I’ll make the delivery with you,” she blurted. “If Buchanan doesn’t like it, tough. He can take it up with Garrett. I don’t intend to speak to Rhett anyway.”
She grimaced, realizing she had used his first name again, and stuck her tongue out when Tammy laughed.
“Garrett bought the plants,” Lily added, “and it’s him I’ll deal with. I’ll go get the stacks of sleeves and be right back, Rob.”
She turned on her heel and trotted for the greenhouse door.
Watching Lily’s retreating figure, Tammy pulled out her cell phone and dialed. When the person on the other end answered, she said, “We’re all set. Worked like a charm. I’ll have her there at ten. Meet her out front.” She hung up and pocketed the phone.
Rob stuck an arm out when she turned to leave. “Wait just a minute. What are you up to, Tammy?”
“Nothing to worry your pretty little head over,” she said and gave him a smile. “I’m watching out for Lily.”
His brows pulled together. “You’d better. I don’t want Lily hurt.”
“Neither do I, Rob. Neither do I.”