I smiled and took another sip of my coffee, already smelling the sweet aroma of fried onion rings coming from the kitchen. “So, you do this every day?”
Ashlyn reached over the bar, grabbed her own cup and filled it from the fresh pot Susan had set on the warmer on the counter. “What? The flowers?”
“Yeah.”
“Pretty much,” she said, taking a sip and ruffling her hair out of her eyes. The blonde locks fell around her face beautifully, making her eyes pop. “Chuck pays for them in bulk, as long as I keep them fresh every morning. I know he does it just to support me. He and my daddy were best friends. Not a lot of call for fresh flowers in Ludwig.”
“He told me you grow them all.”
“I do,” she nodded, licking her lips. I watched her pink tongue dart in and out. “I built a greenhouse behind my place. Grow them all there.”
“You built it?”
Ashlyn laughed. “Well, paid to get built.”
“Ah, I thought you were an odd looking handy man,” I laughed.
She held up here hands and wiggled her fingers at me. There was an acre of dirt under her chipped fingernails. “Are you saying I can’t get my hands dirty?”
“Oh no, just that you seem to be a girl of many talents,” I said with a grin. “So, how big is your greenhouse? How hot do you keep it?” I wondered if she’d get the hidden meaning of my words.
“It’s big enough,” she replied with a coy smile. “And pretty hot.”
“Maybe you should expand your territory. Maybe deliver out of town to get more customers.”
“More business advice, Mr. Sabbatical?” she asked, leaning on her chin on her hand. “I thought you were taking a break.”
I can really get to like this girl.
“Just saying,” I shrugged. “I have a hard time turning off my brain sometimes.” Even though the blood was rushing to another part of my body as I gazed into her eyes.
“I have that same problem sometimes,” she said, chuckling. “You sound like you want to turn my greenhouse into a bona fide flower factory.”
I took a sip of coffee and let my shoulders go up and down. “I think a small business can become a big business with the right planning and guidance. Just how big is this greenhouse of yours?”
She looked at me for a beat, biting her lower lip as her eyes searched mine. “How about this, since you’re so eager with the advice? We finish our meal, and I’ll take you to it to see for yourself. I’ll even bring you back to the motel, just because I’m nice.”
“Good old Ludwig charm?” I asked.
She winked at me. “You have no idea.”
* * *
Ashly grossly underplayed the size of her little greenhouse.
We finished our meal (the burger wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but it was edible) and Ashlyn drove us to her house in an old truck that made mine seem brand new. There had been a few sounds under the hood I had never heard before, and the damn thing shook and rattled in a way that made me think it was going to explode at any minute.
Spending time alone with Ashlyn, though, was worth the risk.
Ashlyn lived in a large Victorian that fit in perfectly with the surrounding area. I could almost imagine a small family living there, going about their day, with acres of farmland behind it. It was picturesque, and I knew almost at once that the skies would be clear as a bell during the night, with stars scattered across it in constellations you could almost connect with your fingers.
The greenhouse was almost as big as the main house, set up a dozen yards away and to the back, connected with all sorts of pumps, pipes and wires. It would have looked like a house out of a Frankenstein movie if it weren’t for the luscious green heaven inside.
Ashlyn let us in through the locked door, and I was instantly cradled in the mix of scents emitted from all the plants around me. Flowers bloomed everywhere, shrubs folded in over each other, and in some areas, vines had crawled all the way to the ceiling and had formed a carpet of colored flowers between its green. It felt like I had stepped out of Texas and into the woodlands of New England. The whole thing took my breath away.
“Jesus,” I whispered.
“Not bad, huh?” Ashlyn said from behind me.