Page 41 of Miss Humbug
Rob was the only person I’d told about the arrangement since he knew most of it from the night at Checkers. And he’d grilled me about what I’d been doing with Marlowe lately.
“If we win, that’s our deal. She sells us the land.” I sounded defensive and I knew it.
“Ifyou win. And if you get a bank loan. And if she follows through on her promise.”
“Why don’t you think she’ll follow through?” I was definitely defensive now.
He took a swig of his drink. “Are you kidding me? Marlowe Holly? Her entire history with you is turning you down or running off.”
“That’s not true. Not even a little.” I’d never found the courage to ask her out for her to turn me down. Nope—just pined after her like a lovesick schoolboy. Now, a lovesick grown boy.
The desk phone rang. I ignored it. “Marlowe didn’t run off. She went to college.”
“And never came back. You gonna get that?” Rob nodded toward the phone.
“You get it.”
“Fine.” He grabbed the phone. “Yeah. Uh huh. I know. Told him as much. I will. Okay. See ya.” He hung up. “That was Dad. He said close up at six today, not seven.”
“Absolutely not. We’ll lose money.”
“Have you looked at the data? We don’t sell much past six. The lot by the highway does but not the farm.”
The data.Who was this brother of mine suddenly caring about data? “Are you and Dad having conversations about the farm without me? I told you I’ve got a plan.”
“You don’t listen. I do.”
I held myself back from lunging at him. Big brother energy gone wild. “Did Dad actually say he wants to sell?” That would be a total one-eighty from anything he’d said before.
“Honestly, my guess is he’s hanging onto the business for you.”
“Or, you know, because it’s the business he and Mom built, and it’s their paycheck. Maybe that reason.”
Rob had the nerve to roll his eyes. “Dad could have sold years ago and taken a job with the Tanaka’s garden center.”
“Working for someone else?” I snorted. “Hardly.”
He shook his head. “Dad’s been hanging on so he won’t disappoint you.”
“He’s against every idea I come up with to improve business. Why would he hang on, but insist on not changing anything?” The man was more stubborn than a mule with its feet sunk in concrete. “None of this selling the business makes sense.”
“I never said he made sense.” Rob shrugged. “He’s been looking at his options. Sell the farm and retire. Live the good life. Go on a cruise.”
My head spun. Dad never cared about vacations or cruises. His idea of a good time was the county fair. More daring, a county fair across the border in Wisconsin.
Rob picked a fresh pair of work gloves from a bin on a low cabinet. “You can do anything you want. Anything. Anywhere. Do you want that anything to be a tree farm in the only town you’ve ever lived in?”
He patted me on the back, and I could practically feel his pity shedding on me. He left the office, closing the door gently behind him.
I liked Crystal Cove. I liked running into familiar faces around town. I knew what to expect from just about everything since not a whole lot changed. That made it easier to face what did need to change. Like our farm. I wanted the business to keep going, to keep our family history going forward.
I sat at the table off the office kitchen and let my mind wander. The first trail my thoughts picked up involved the one person never too far from my mind. And how I needed her more than ever.
Chapter 15
Marlowe
I checked with Ethan first before coming out to the farm. With his dad injured, Ethan likely altered his work schedule. While I didn’t want to be in the way, I also didn’t want to ignore him. He needed to know I could do more of the holiday activity planning on my own.
