Page 45 of The One You Want

Chapter 11

Two days later, I found myself standing in front of Grant’s house, so nervous that I was convinced I’d start puking at anymoment.

I was really going through with this. I was going to ask Grant, one of my only true friends, if he wouldn’t mind spending the next few weeks lying to everyone weknow.

If he wouldn’t mind pretending to be myboyfriend.

God, this was pathetic. What did I think this was, some kind of cheesy chick flick? There was no way he was going to go for it. There was no way I’d even be able to get the words out. I just knew that the second I opened my mouth, all of my normal fears and insecurities would come rushing in and I’d end up red-faced and mortified, choking on thewords.

On the other hand, those fears and insecurities had a tendency to stay hidden when I was around Grant. He was one of the few people in the world who didn’t make me feel nervous just by looking atme.

He’s a good friend,I thought to myself. Was I really going to risk ruining that by pulling him into this stupidplan?

Just when I’d finally decided to forget the whole thing and leave, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a newtext.

When you get to the house, take the walkway back as far as it goes. You can’t miss the greenhouse. I’m in the workshop on theside.

Was that a sign? Getting a text from him right when I was ready to give up? I sighed, pocketing my phone again.There’s no harm in going back there,I told myself. If I chickened out in the end and didn’t manage to bring it up, so beit.

I had texted Grant earlier in the day, asking if he had more of the dried flowers ready for me, and offering to stop by the store in the afternoon to pick them up. He’d responded that he was working in the greenhouse today and I’d experienced a rush of relief—I’d be able to put it off another day. But then he’d followed that text up with an invitation to come out and see his set-up. I’d agreed without thinking, curious to see where he worked when not at the shop. Then I remembered that I had a specific purpose in asking to see him, and my stomach had sank all overagain.

If you would just be a grownup and stand up to your grandparents, you wouldn’t have to go through with this,I reminded myself as I stomped down the gravel path towards the back of his house. But if I did that, there was an awfully good chance they would cut me off. And I couldn’t let that happen before I found a way to supportmyself.

A career. That’s the focus,I reminded myself. If I could just find a good job that I cared about, I could finally risk cutting some of those ties. And it would be a hell of a lot easier to do that if I had Grant’shelp.

I stopped in my tracks when the greenhouse came into view, momentarily distracted from the storm of doubt in my head. It was so much bigger than I had expected it to be, larger even than Grant’s actual house behind me. The glass-enclosed building stood at the side of a good sized field, orderly rows dotted with plants I couldn’t begin to identify stretching as far as I couldsee.

“Wow,” I muttered, feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. This was certainly no hobby occupation for Grant. This was like, a real farm. I wasn’t sure why that surprised me so much. Maybe it was just hard for me to imagine my old craft fair buddy as such a seriousbusinessperson.

Next to the greenhouse stood an ancient looking stone building. I assumed it housed the workshop he had mentioned so I headed in that direction to find the heavy wooden door partway open. I peeked inside to see a long scrubbed pine table absolutely overflowing with greenery and blossoms. Grant stood there in his usual red flannel, his back to me as heworked.

“Didn’t you turn out just lovely,” Grant murmured softly to a pot of yellow mums. “You’ll be perfect for my fall arrangements, won’tyou?”

He was, once again, talking to his flowers. But I was too overwhelmed by the sight in front of me to noticemuch.

Grant’s workshop was like nothing I had ever seen before. One entire wall was made up of a huge stone fireplace that looked as old as the building itself. Grant didn’t seem to use it for fire though—long streams of greenery garland hung across the stone mantle. In the carnivorous fireplace itself, boughs of lavender were hanging upside down to dry. Rows and rows of ribbons of all colors were tacked to the worn yellowstones.

The fireplace was just the beginning. Everywhere I looked I saw something beautiful. All of the room’s surfaces were covered in flowers. Multi-colored dried bouquets hung from racks over the worktable. A tangle of drying vines occupied a corner, ready to be used in wreaths. Long wooden shelves stretched along the far wall, filled with vases—fancy cut crystal, rustic white milk glass, even plain old mason jars, all waiting to be filled by the perfectarrangements.

It smelled likeheaven.

“Wow,” I murmured, staring around in wonder, and Grant gave a little grunt of surprise, turning to see me hovering in thedoorway.

He crossed his arms over that broad chest and lifted his chin. “Yes, I was talking to my flowers. I’m a giant dork, okay? And I don’t even care. So you canwowall youwant.”

I shook my head, too overwhelmed to even joke around. “I wasn’t wowing that. I was wowing thisroom.”

His forehead furrowed as he looked around. “Myworkshop?”

“Yes, your workshop. It’samazing.”

“It’s pretty old,” he said, looking around. “This building was the kitchen for the old farm house. They used to bake the bread out here in the summer so it didn’t heat the entire house. Date’s back to the eighteenhundreds.”

The building itself was pretty cool, but that wasn’t what had my eyes popping out of my head. “Grant, this is like a freaking enchanted forest in here or something! It’s unbelievable. You could tell me this was a fairy’s workshop and I wouldn’t even questionyou.”

He laughed. “Haven’t met any fairies in here yet, but I’ll let youknow.”

“Seriously, Grant.” I took another step into the room, eyes still darting every which way. “This isincredible.”