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It didn&039;t take teeks After two days, Stella decided Hayley was going to be the answer to her personal prayer Here was soy, and enthusiasm who understood and appreciated efficiency in the workplace

She kne to read and generate spreadsheets, understood instructions after one telling, and respected color codes If she was half as good relating to custo systems, she would be a jewel

When it came to plants, she didn&039;t know eraniuht

Stella was already prepared to beg Roz to offer Hayley part-tiot closer

"Hayley?" Stella poked her head in the now efficient and tidy office "Why don&039;t you coot nearly an hour before we open We&039;ll have a lesson on shade plants iN Greenhouse Nuh the H&039;s in perennials I don&039;t knohat half of theht I didn&039;t know sunfloere called Heliawait Helianthus"

"It&039;s more that Helianthus are called sunflowers The perennial ones can be divided in spring, or propagated by seeds - in the spring - or cuttings in late spring Seeds fro brown eye - in late suh the cultivars hybridize freely, they may not co"

"That&039;s okay I greith a teacher I like to learn"

As they passed through the counter area, Hayley glanced out the"Truck just pulled in over by thewhat do y&039;all call them? Pavers," she said before Stella could answer "And,out of that truck Mister tall, dark, and totally built Who&039;s the hunk?"

Struggling not to frown, Stella lifted a shoulder in a shrug "That would be Logan Kitridge, Roz&039;s landscape designer I suppose he does score fairly high on the hunk-o-s my bell" At Stella&039;s expression, Hayley pressed a hand to her belly and laughed "I&039;h And just because I&039; for a man doesn&039;t mean I don&039;t want to look at one Especially when he&039;s yu, isn&039;t he? What is it about tough, broody-looking ives you that tickle down in the belly?"

"I couldn&039;t say What&039;s he doing over there?"

"Looks like he&039;s loading pavers If it wasn&039;t so cool, he&039;d pull off that jacket Bet we&039;d get a real muscle show God, I do love ive you cavities," Stella mumbled "He&039;s not scheduled for pavers He hasn&039;t put in the order for pavers Damn it!"

Hayley&039;s eyebrows shot up as Stella stomped to the door and slammed out Then she pressed her nose to the , prepared to watch the show

"Excuse me?"

"Uh-huh?" Hayley&039;s ansas absent as she tried to get a better look outside Then she popped back froht at it another She turned, put on an innocent s of eye candy

This one wasn&039;t big and broody, but sort of lanky and dreae, but she was quick

"Hey! You et a chance to meet you yet, &039;cause you never seemed to be around wherever I was around Or whenever I&039;m Hayley Cousin Hayley fro here now"

"Yeah Yeah" He couldn&039;t think of anything else Could barely think at all He felt lightning-struck and stupid

"Do you just love working here? I do already There&039;s so , and the custo, that&039;s all Yourme a chance this way"

"Yeah" He winced Could he be any reat" Apparently he could And daood oiven hi?"

"No" She gave hiht you did"

"I need so? What?"

"I don&039;t know" She laid a hand on the fascinating hed, all throaty and free "You&039;re the one who ca Now Later I&039;ve got to get back" Outside, in the air, where he should be able to breathe again

"It was nice lanced back as he retreated and saw she was already back at the

Outside, Stella sped across the parking area She called out twice, and the second ti up steam as she went, she pumped it out the minute she reached the stacks of pavers

"What do you think you&039;re doing?"

"Playing tennis What does it look like I&039; material you haven&039;t ordered, that you haven&039;t been authorized to take"

"Really?" He hauled up another stack "No wonder my backhand is rusty" The truck shuddered as he loaded "Hey"

Much to her amazement, he leaned toward her, sniffed "Different shaa hand at his chin as she stepped back

"I can&039;t help it You&039;re standing right there I have a nose"

"I need the paperwork on this material"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah Fine, fine, fine I&039;ll come in and take care of it after I&039;m loaded"

"You&039;re supposed to take care of it before you load"

He turned, aireen eyes "Red, you&039;re a pain in the ass"

"I&039;er"

He had to slasses to look over theood at it, too Think of it this way The pavers are stored on the way to the building By loading first, then co more efficient"

The smile morphed into a smirk "That&039;d be i, say, a projection of ainst the truck and study her Then he loaded another stack of pavers

"You standing here watchingto your own man-hours"

"You don&039;t coe, I&039;ll hunt you down"

"Don&039;t tempt me"

He took his ti how best to annoy Stella again Her eyes went the color of Texas bluebonnets when she was pissed off But when he stepped in, he saw Hayley

"Hey"

"Hey," she said back and smiled "I&039;m Hayley Phillips A fa here now"

"Logan Nice to meet you Don&039;t let this Yankee scare you" He nodded toward Stella "Where are the sacred forn them in blood?"

"My office"

"Uh-huh" But he lingered rather than following her "When&039;s the baby due?" he asked Hayley

"May"

"Feeling okay?"

"Never better"

"Good This here&039;s a nice outfit, a good place to work most of the time Welcome aboard" He sauntered into Stella&039;s office, where she was already at her computer, with the form on the screen

"I&039;ll type this one up to save time There&039;s a whole stack of them in that folder Take it All you have to do is fill then or initial Drop them off"

"Uh-huh" He looked around the room The desk was cleared off There were no cartons, no books sitting on the floor or stacked on chairs

That was too bad, he thought He&039;d liked the workaday chaos of it

"Where&039;s all the stuff in here?"

"Where it belongs Those pavers were the eighteen-inch round, nuhteen-inch rounds" He picked up the framed photo on her desk and studied the picture of her boys and their dog "Cute"

"Yes, they are Are the pavers for personal use or for a scheduled job?"

"Red, you ever loosen up?"

"No We Yankees never do"

He ran his tongue over his teeth "Ura-h referred to as &039;the Yankee,&039; as though it were a foreign species, or a disease? Half the customers who come in here look me over like I&039; in peace Then I have to tell them I was born here, answer all sorts of questions about why I left, why I&039;m back, who et down to any sort of business I&039;an, not the moon, and the Civil damn War&039;s been over for quite some time"

Yep, just like Texas bluebonnets "That would be the War Between the damn States this side of the Mason-Dixon, honey And looks to h"

"Don&039;t &039;honey&039; "

"You know, Red, I like you better this way"

"Oh, shut up Pavers Personal or professional use?"

"Well, that depends on your point of view" Since there was rooed a hip onto the corner of the desk "They&039;re for a friend I&039; in a ay for her - e I told her I&039;d pick up the ive her a bill from the center"

"We&039;ll consider that personal use and apply your e keys

"How many pavers?"

"Twenty-two"

She tapped again and gave him the price per paver, before discount, after discount

Iot a math nerd trapped in there?"

"Just the wonders of the twenty-first century You&039;d find it quicker than counting on your fingers"

"I don&039;t know I&039;ve got pretty fast fingers" Druaze on her face

"I need three white pine"

"For this sarin flashed, fast and crooked If she wanted to interpret "friend" as "lover," he couldn&039;t see any point in saying the pavers were for Mrs Kingsley, his tenth-grade English teacher "Pine&039;s for a client Roland Guppy Yes, like the fish You&039;ve probably got him somewhere in your vast and mysterious files We did a job for him last fall"

Since there was a coffeeainst the wall, and the pot was half full, he got up, took a , and helped himself

"Make yourself at home," Stella said dryly

"Thanks As it happens, I recommended white pine for a windbreak He heo for it He called me at home yesterday I said I&039;d pick them up and work him in"

"We need a different form"

He sampled the coffee Not bad "Somehow I knew that"

"Are the pavers all you&039;re taking for personal use?"

"Probably For today"

She hit Print, then brought up another form "That&039;s three white pine What size?"

"We got soht-foot ones"

"Balled and burlapped?"

"Yeah"

Tap, tap, tap, he thought, onder, and there you go Wo and tapered, with that glossy polish on them, the delicate pink of the inside of a rose petal

She wore no rings

"Anything else?"

He patted his pockets, eventually came up with a scrap of paper "That&039;s what I told him I could put them in for"

She added the labor, totaled, then printed out three copies while he drank her coffee "Sign or initial," she told him "One copy for my files, one for yours, one for the client"

"Gotcha"

When he picked up the pen, Stella waved a hand "Oh, wait, let et that knife Which vein did you plan to open?"

"Cute" He lifted his chin toward the door "So&039;s she"

"Hayley? Yeah, she is And entirely too young for you"

"I wouldn&039;t say entirely Though I do prefer woain

"We&039;ll just say more, and stay alive"

"Wise"

"Your boys getting a hard time in school?"

"Excusewhat you said before Yankee"

"Oh A little, maybe, but for thethat they&039;re from up north, lived near one of the Great Lakes Both their teachers pulled up a map to shohere they came from"

Her face softened as she spoke of it "Thanks for asking"

"I like your kids"

He signed the forroaned - watching him carelessly fold his and stuff them in his pocket

"Next time could you wait until you&039;re out of the office to do that? It hurts me"

"No proble on, or maybe it was the way she&039;d softened up and sht wonder what possessed him, but for now, he ith impulse "Ever been to Graceland?"

"No I&039; his eyes, he looked toward the door "Legally, you can&039;t say that around here You could face fine and i"

"I didn&039;t read that in the Memphian handbook"

"Fine print So, I&039;ll take you When&039;s your day off?"

"I It depends You&039;ll take me to Graceland?"

"You can&039;t settle in down here until you&039;ve experienced Graceland Pick a day, I&039;ll work around it"

"I&039;into the date arena I&039;, between associates" He set the e on her desk "Think about it, let me know"

She had too much to do to think about it She couldn&039;t just pop off to Graceland And if she could, and had soe desire to do so, she certainly wouldn&039;t pop off to Graceland with Logan

The fact that she&039;d adht, bis build - didn&039;t mean she liked him It didn&039;t mean she wanted to spend her very valuable off-time in his co about it, orwhy he&039;d asked her Maybe it was soe initiation for the Yankee You take her to Graceland, then abandon her in a forest of Elvis paraphernalia and see if she can find her way out

Oron her was an easier away around her new syste with her

Except he hadn&039;t see on her Exactly It had seemed more friendly, off the cuff, or impulsive And he&039;d asked about her children There was no quicker way to cut through her annoyance, any shield, any defense than a sincere interest in her boys

And if he was just being friendly, it seemed only polite, and sensible, to be friendly back

What did people wear to Graceland, anyway?