Blue Dahlia (In the Garden 1)

"What you do is you take the kids to the Reunion for ribs," Logan told her. "You can walk over to Beale from there, take in the show. But before you eat, you go by the Peabody so they can see the ducks. Kids gotta see the ducks. "

"My father's taken them. "

"That might keep him out of the slammer. "

"Whew. " It was easier than she'd thought it would be, and she felt foolish knowing she'd prepared several avenues for small talk. "Except for the time you moved north, you've always lived in the Memphis area?"

"That's right. "

"It's strange for me, knowing I was born here, but having no real memory of it. I like it here, and I like to think - overlooking the lack of ribs to date - that there's a connection for me here. Of course, I haven't been through a summer yet - that I can remember - but I like it. I love working for Roz. "

"She's a jewel. "

Because she heard the affection in his tone, she shifted toward him a bit. "She thinks the same of you. In fact, initially, I thought the two of you were . . . "

His grin spread. "No kidding?"

"She's beautiful and clever, and you've got a lot in common. You've got a history. "

"All true. Probably the history makes anything like that weird. But thanks. "

"I admire her so much. I like her, too, but I have such admiration for everything she's accomplished. Single-handedly. Raising her family, maintaining her home, building a business from the ground up. And all the while doing it her own way, calling her own shots. "

"Is that what you want?"

"I don't want my own business. I thought about it a couple of years ago. But that sort of leap with no parachute and two kids?" She shook her head. "Roz is gutsier than I am. Besides, I realized it wasn't what I really wanted. I like working for someone else, sort of troubleshooting and coming in with a creative and efficient plan for improvement or expansion. Managing is what I do best. "

She waited a beat. "No sarcastic comments to that?"

"Only on the inside. That way I can save them up until you tick me off again. "

"I can hardly wait. In any case, it's like, I enjoy planting a garden from scratch - that blank

slate. But more, I like taking one that's not planned very well, or needs some shaping up, and turning it around. "

She paused, frowned. "Funny, I just remembered. I had a dream about a garden a few nights ago. A really strange dream with . . . I don't know, something spooky about it. I can't quite get it back, but there was something . . . this huge, gorgeous blue dahlia. Dahlias are a particular favorite of mine, and blue's my favorite color. Still, it shouldn't have been there, didn't belong there. I hadn't planted it. But there it was. Strange. "

"What did you do with it? The dahlia?"

"Can't remember. Luke woke me up, so my garden and the exotic dahlia went poof. " And the room, she thought, the room had been so cold. "He wasn't feeling well, a little tummy distress. "

"He okay now?"

"Yeah. " Another point for his side, Stella thought. "He's fine, thanks. "

"How about the tooth?"

Uh-oh, second point. The man remembered her baby'd had a loose tooth. "Sold to the Tooth Fairy for a crisp dollar bill. Second one's about to wiggle out. He's got the cutest little lisp going on right now. "

"His big brother teach him how to spit through the hole yet?"

She grimaced. "Not to my knowledge. "

"What you don't know. . . I bet it's still there - the magic dahlia - blooming in dreamland. "

"That's a nice thought. " Kill it. God, where did that come from? she wondered, fighting off a shudder.

"It was pretty spectacular, as I recall. "