“No. I haven’t seen her around. Is she staying with Joe or Hilary?”

“No. She doesn’t get along with Hilary and Joe’s only just moved out to the farm south of me.”

“Strange.”

“I know,” I mumbled, but my attention was elsewhere. I pulled up the number for the Nip and Clip Salon.

“Just a minute,” I told Jonah before putting the call through.

“Hello, Beulah?” I said when the owner answered. “I’d like to make an appointment for Neely Kate Colson this afternoon to get colored streaks in her hair.”

“That poor girl,” Beulah said, then tsked. “How’s she doin’?”

“She’s hangin’ in there. Do you have an opening this afternoon?”

“I can squeeze her in at two. Will that work?”

“We’ll be there.” I hung up and looked up the shocked minister, which I found ironic since he obviously had regular appointments to get his own highlights touched up. “What? She’s mentioned several times that she wants them and I’ve done my best to talk her out of them. But why not? If Neely Kate wants to dye her hair purple with yellow polka dots, I’m gonna be there to help her pick out the right shade.”

He smiled. “Neely Kate’s lucky to have you as a friend.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. The last two weeks I felt like I’d failed her miserably.

But that was about to change.

Chapter Two

After my chat with Jonah, I couldn’t concentrate on the design program, so I left Muffy with Bruce Wayne and headed over to the nursery.

Violet was talking to a customer when I walked in the store, but she pointed me toward a card table she’d set up in the back. I stopped short of it, my stomach a bundle of nerves. The folding chair reminded me too much of the day after Thanksgiving when Violet and Joe had ganged up on me to tell me Joe had saved our business. Violet had mismanaged our nursery so badly that we were about to lose it all, especially after a big bank deposit had been stolen from me in a bank robbery. I’d gotten the money back in time—although in the process I’d dug the first shovelful of a very deep pit I was now in with Skeeter Malcolm, king of the Fenton County crime world, in my attempts to get it back. But it had been all for naught. Joe had helped Violet and me prepare the nursery for its first opening, and Violet had played on Joe’s previous involvement with the business, not to mention his hopes to win me back, to secure his help. Joe had paid off our entire bank loan and there was no way to pay him back. I was stuck with my ex-boyfriend as my business partner.

That very same day Hilary Wilder, Joe’s ex-girlfriend many times over, had waltzed in to announce she was pregnant with Joe’s baby. Nearly two months later, I’d gotten over the fact that Joe had put money into our business without my permission, but I still hadn’t gotten over Hilary’s bombshell. Maybe it was because when we were together he’d sworn to me time and time again he was done with her…yet he’d run right out my door and into her arms. I knew that wasn’t entirely true—he’d waited several weeks—but it made me question everything we’d shared.

It didn’t matter anyway. Now I was with Mason. And what Joe needed most now was love and support from friends. I shook off the old memories and hurts.

The bell on the door dinged as the customer left.

“How many people did you interview?” I asked, looking over the folders on the table.

Violet walked over to me. “Three. All were great applicants on paper, but the interviews really helped.”

I watched Violet closely, looking for any sign that she resented my insistence on providing my input. Thankfully, I found none. “Do you have a favorite?”

She opened one of the folders. “I do, actually. Anna Miller. She’s in her early thirties and she just moved to Henryetta. She has retail experience.”

I looked at her work history on her application. “She moved to Henryetta? This town is like Alcatraz—everyone one wants out, not in, and it’s pretty much inescapable.” I shook my head. “Does she have family here?”

“No, and when I asked her why she’d moved here, she was evasive.”

I glanced up at my sister. “Maybe she’s just a private person.”

“Could be…”

“You think there’s more there?”

“I don’t know, but I’d still like to hire her. She’s a sweet girl and I like her enthusiasm. The other two applicants didn’t seem to want it as much.”

I slid the folder back to her. “And she knows it’s only part-time to start?”

“Yeah, although she’s hoping to work full-time soon.”

“If you like her, then you should hire her. She’ll probably be great.”

Violet gathered the folders together. “That was easy. I thought you’d ask a lot more questions.”

“I’m not trying to make things difficult for you. I just think it’s best if I’m a little more hands-on for now.”

She stood and headed to the counter. “I understand.” But her tone suggested otherwise.

My head tingled again, and though the last thing I wanted right now was to be sucked into a vision, I tried not to resist it. I’d learned from experience it was pointless.

I was in the shop, humming.

A pretty African-American woman emerged from the back room, a soft smile warming up her deep brown eyes. She wore a Gardner Sisters Nursery apron over a burgundy shirt and jeans. “I think we’re all ready for Valentine’s Day.”