Page 3 of Be-Leaf in Love

There’s movement to my right as a few curious faces peek out at us. Gently taking Violet’s arm, I guide her back into my office and shut the door.

“Listen. I don’t know why, but I trust you. Jerry, my office manager, has been telling me to take more of an interest in the staff. We’ve had higher than usual employee turnover in the past few years, and he’s nervous. He wants to hire a designer to ‘re-envision the space’…whatever the hell that means. But it would be incredibly intrusive, which we just do not have time for right now.”

“A green wall would take some time to plan. Then we’d have to collect all the plants.” Violet’s eyes are so bright. She’s genuinely excited about this idea. “The actual installation would probably only take a day, though. We could do it on a weekend, even. Then we’d have someone come in weekly to water and check on everything.”

“And you’re positive people like this sort of thing?”

She nods eagerly. “I can show you some research about how plants add life to spaces and increase employee satisfaction.”

“It will make the company seem more approachable? As in, softer and friendlier? Jerry was yapping about that, too.”

Violet laughs again, and this time I join her, chuckling deeply. “It actually pained you to say that, didn’t it?” she giggles. “I can tell this is clearly a bit woo-woo for you, Mr. No-Nonsense. But I can pretty much guarantee that adding a load of plants will bring fresh energy into the space. It’s a lot easier than tearing down walls, or repainting and recarpeting.”

I stride to my desk to grab a business card. When I turn back, her eyes snap up quickly. Wait… Was she checking out my ass? I hope so.

Note to self: Work harder at the gym, in case she checks me out again.

I hand her the card. “Could you please call me, and we’ll set up a time for you to come in with outlines and an estimate?” Sure, her idea might work for my employee retention problem. But more importantly, I just need an excuse to be near her again while I figure out whether it’s appropriate to ask her out.

“Sure. Thanks!” Violet goes back into the hallway, pulling out her phone to take photos of the wall. “Oh, do you happen to know how tall the ceilings are?”

“No.”

She looks around quickly. “Okay, how tall are you?”

“Six foot three.”

Suddenly I’m being shoved unceremoniously up against the wall. Violet steps back quickly, taking more photos. “I’ll use your height as a reference for the estimate. Our team will come in to measure more exactly if you decide to proceed.”

I clear my throat, not wanting her to leave. But I’m already way behind on the calls I need to make this morning. “Good. Thank you. Keep me posted.”

I step toward my office, then turn back to watch Violet walk away down the hallway. There’s a spring to her step. She’s happy. Genuinely excited about this project. And… those hips.Damn.

I’ve never been rattled like this. Never been thrown off my game. It’s simply not in my nature.

The second I am sitting at my desk, Jerry sticks his head in. “New corporate photos? She didn’t look like our usual photographer.”

“Very funny. That was our new greenery expert. We have some ideas on how to… How did you put it last week? ‘Infuse the entire company with new energy’?”

He blinks in shock. “Seriously?”

“Yep. I’ll fill you in later.” I snap my laptop open to cue him to leave, but my eyes are unfocused as they gaze at the screen.

Violet. A gorgeous dream-girl with hips I need to grip in my hands. Perfect pouty lips I need to kiss. And a sparkling, whimsical personality that I need to understand.

I amdefinitelyasking her out the next time I see her.

3

VIOLET

My family are all so busy with work that I don’t have a chance to talk to them until the next day at breakfast. The four of us live together right above the store; it used to be two large apartments, but when Mom bought the building, she turned it into a huge communal living space.

Mom sips her coffee while trying to put on a brave face as she goes through the mail – which, as always, is a pile of bills.

“I might have a new account for us,” I announce.

Mom is the first to snap her head in my direction, followed by my older sisters, Jasmine and Iris.

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