Page 10 of It's Not PMS, It's You
Brandon gasped, as if I had committed the biggest sin in the history of mankind. “I can’t believe you just did that. Are you crazy? She’s going to kill you.”
I chuckled. “Relax. She has a problem with the roses and I’m sure I know what’s going on. See how the leaves are brown and appear scorched?”
Brandon leaned in and inspected the leaf, nodding. “Yeah.”
“She’s over-fertilizing them and if she keeps it up, she’ll kill them all. Lucky for her, I have just the thing that’ll help.”
“Ask first before you do anything.”
“It’s no big deal. These roses have been neglected. I’ll give them something to revive them. Believe me, Ruth will thank me.”
“I don’t know . . .”
Brandon was worrying about nothing.
Ruth was too busy being a workaholic to take care of her own roses.
How sad was that?
If I sat back and did nothing, the high stress and ammonia on the plants would kill them and there was no way I was going to let that happen.
I was going to save the roses.
How could Ruth have a problem with that?
Chapter Three
RUTH
Inside the Phoenix Convention Center, I checked in at the registration booth to get my conference badge and hung the lanyard around my neck.
I made a beeline for the welcome reception in the atrium lobby, weaving in and out of the conference attendees, on a mission to put someone in his place.
Most men were intimidated by a strong, confident woman.
That was their problem, not mine.
And it was definitely going to be Stewart Peters’ problem in a couple of minutes.
I spotted Teddy Markston near the bar with a vodka tonic in his hand, as usual. Stewart was right next to him, a cocky grin on his face like he had just found out his penis was two inches long instead of one.
Teddy’s eyes lit up when he spotted me. “Ruth.” He stepped past Stewart to shake my hand enthusiastically. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
“I hadn’t planned on it, but I wanted to chat with you, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course. I wanted to talk with you as well. I was going to call, but it’s always better to talk about these things in person.” He gestured to Stewart. “You two know each other, if I recall correctly.”
We both nodded, but then Stewart gave me the stink eye when Teddy wasn’t looking.
I glared right back, then included a few poisonous darts and a kick to the nuts.
“Please excuse us for a moment, Stewart.” Teddy gestured to an open spot away from the attendees.
I stepped in that direction and stopped near the wall. “What’s going on?”
“Well, you know how fast things can change in our industry.” Teddy nervously glanced over at Stewart and then back to me, which wasn’t a good sign. “I appreciate all the time, hard work, and research you put into your offer, but unfortunately we have to go in a different direction.”
I glanced over at Stewart’s grin that seemed to be wider, then got my eyes back on Teddy. “What changed? I thought we had a deal and were just waiting to take care of the paperwork.”
