Home to Eden Read Free

shade and when to spoon-feed the little darlings smelly concoctions of manure and compost and what to do when they get an infestation of really gross bugs."
    Kate grinned. "You think all bugs are gross."
    "Pretty much," Brenda admitted cheerfully.
    "You don't even know enough to make sure Tm not ripping you off."
    "I don't have to know plants to know that," Brenda said. "I know I can trust you. Besides, I don't really care whether you're buying rarius extrabiggus or geriatric orthopedus. In the year and a half you've been managing the nursery, business has gone up almost fifty percent. As a businesswoman, the bottom line is my only concern."
    Kate's grin widened, her blue eyes laughing. "If you're such a tough businesswoman, you would have fired Jim Miller months ago."
    "He's a good worker," Brenda said defensively.
    "He's eighty-nine and can only make it in to work two days out of five."
    "Well, there's nothing wrong with good part-time help."
    "Nothing at all, except when you're paying them to do a full-time job."
    "Mr. Miller drove the school bus when I was in elementary. He's a nice old man."
    "Very nice," Kate agreed, still grinning.
    "And working here helps him retain a sense of self-respect."
    "Absolutely."
    "The customers like him."
    "Yes, they do."
    "If I only paid him for the hours he's able to work, he would never be able to make ends meet on the skimpy little pension he gets from the school district."
    "And the bottom line that you care about so passionately?" Kate inquired gently.
    Brenda glared at her a moment and then laughed. "Screw the bottom line."
    "Not a very good attitude for a businesswoman."
    "That's why I hired you to manage this place."
    Kate shook her head, her smile taking on a rueful edge. The argument had come full circle, and she knew it would be a waste of time to continue it Brenda Duncan was more than just her employer. Over the past two years, since the death of Brenda's husband had left her sole owner of the nursery, the two of them had become good friends. Brenda was sweet and funny, kind and generous to a fault. What she was not was a good businesswoman. It was probably just as well that she'd also inherited a comfortable trust fund from her maternal grandmother and didn't have to worry about squeezing every penny from her late husband's business.
    "I'd just feel better if you knew more about what we're selling," Kate said finally.
    "Maybe you'd feel better but I wouldn't. I know this is going to sound like blasphemy to you, but I think gardening is about as interesting as watching paint dry." She grinned at her friend's exaggerated wince. "You might as well face the facts, Kate. You're never going to make a plant lover out of me. It's not like I bought this place. It was Larry's idea, though why he thought a nursery was going to be his personal road to riches, I don't know. No one gets rich selling plants."
    Kate lowered her head and made some meaningless notes on the clipboard. She had her own theories about that. In the year she'd worked for Larry Duncan, his main occupation had been hitting on every moderately attractive woman who set foot in the nursery. In his spare time, he'd occupied himself with issuing various—often conflicting—orders to the small staff just so they wouldn't lose sight of his importance. She didn't think he'd been interested in profits nearly as much as he had been in setting himself up as king of his own little empire, but she could hardly say as much. Not that it would have come as a surprise to his widow. Brenda had been in the process of filing for divorce when he died.
    Brenda's thoughts must have been going along the same lines because she glanced around at the display of healthy greenery, the customers browsing among the tables of plants and her wide mouth curved in a smile that held more than a touch of malice. "I take a certain satisfaction in knowing that this place is doing so much better now than it did when he was running it. Running this store