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had he managed to get tangled up this bad? He turned the other way and nearly fell on his butt. “Crap. Serena!”
    “Lainey, you aren’t bugging me, love. I like talking to you, but if you’re sure everything is fine, I should get back to the realtor.”
    “Yeah, yeah. I—I—yeah, I’ll um…crap.”
    “Laine, is something wrong?”
    Laine heaved a sigh. He was going to sound like a goober telling Dev what he’d done. How did he get himself into these situations?
    Serena’s laughter interrupted any explanation he might offer.
    Laine frowned. “Stop laughing and help me, Serena.” Maybe if he shimmied out… Now, how had he managed to get the darn thing in a knot?
    “Lainey?”
    “Uh, I sort of got hung up in the phone cord.”
    “You, uh, don’t have a cordless?”
    “No, we have one of the old wall phones with the long cord in the back of the shop. I was sort of, er, twirling.” Laine flinched.
    “Twirling?” Dev whispered, humor evident in his tone. To give Dev credit, he held it in as long as he could—which was about five seconds—then he started cackling.
    Laine groaned. “It’s really not that funny, Dev.”
    “Yes it is funny. I’m never going to be bored am I, babe?”

Chapter Five
    After putting a bid on the office building, Dev headed back to Flower Lane. He hadn’t had lunch and it was only two o’clock. Maybe he could talk Laine into leaving early and grabbing a bite to eat. Perhaps he could even take Laine to see the land, so they could make a bid on that too…if Laine liked it that was.
    Halfway there Dev’s phone rang. The caller ID read, Cole’s Cell. “Hey, buddy, what’s up?”
    “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Was Cole laughing?
    “Try me?”
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    “I told Caroline that you found your mate, so we took the first flight out of DFW we could find—”
    “Whoa, wait a minute. Are you telling me you’re in Asheville?”
    “Yup. We caught a plane into Charlotte this morning then caught a flight to Asheville. We rented a car and—”
    Great. “Why?”
    “Why what? So that we’d have a way to get around—”
    Dev suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He knew Cole was being obtuse on purpose. “Not that. Why are you coming to Asheville in the first place?”
    “Because Caroline and I want to meet your mate.”
    Dev couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. “Okay, where are you?”
    “On the side of the road.”
    “Are you stranded? If you call the car rental, they should come and get you and give you another car.”
    Oh no. “Uh, you didn’t wreck did you?”
    “No, no.”
    “Okay, why are you on the side of the road?”
    Cole sighed. “Caroline was eating an ice-cream cone.”
    Dev couldn’t even imagine where this was going. “And?”
    “And she decided it was too cold to eat ice cream.”
    He still wasn’t seeing a problem that would have Cole stranded on the side of the road. “Did she drop the ice-cream cone on the map?”
    “No, she threw it out the window.”
    “And?” Dev asked.
    “And it hit a police car.”
    Dev’s mouth fell open, then he started laughing so hard he nearly dropped his phone. He had to stop outside Laine’s shop and compose himself. Good Lord. My life would make a great sitcom. “Okay, listen. Once you guys get situated in a hotel or a bed and breakfast or whatever, give me a call. I’m taking Laine and his grandmother out to dinner tonight, the two of you might as well join us. Then tomorrow, I’ll take you to see the office building and we can make appointments with the realtor to see the plots of land. I’m thinking about putting a bid on a two acre lot, just outside of town, if Laine likes it.”
    “Okay, we can do that. Did you meet with any of the plumbers or central air and heat companies yet?
    You know we are going to have to find some good ones to contract out with.”
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    Hadn’t he given Cole his itinerary? “Not yet, I have four meetings tomorrow and I also have a possible contract. The real-estate office I’m working with wants to do some major remodeling. They have four offices in this area.”
    “Cool.”
    “Yeah, cool. I’m at Laine’s shop, so I’m hanging up on you. Try to keep Caroline out of jail and call me later.”
    Dev’s good humor lasted until he opened the door to Flower Lane. He stopped dead