Red Lily

for her or Lily while Roz and Mitch were gone, but he always did. Since he looked so cute fussing in the kitchen, she didn’t try very hard to discourage him.
    Besides, the pancakes were awesome.
    “You’ve been looking a little peaky.” David gave her cheek a pinch; then repeated the gesture on Lily to make her giggle.
    “Haven’t been sleeping much lately. Had a visitor last night.”
    She shook her head when his eyebrows rose, and his mouth curved into a leer. “Not a man—too sad for my bad luck. Amelia.”
    Amusement faded immediately, replaced by concern as he slid into the breakfast nook across from her. “Was there trouble? Are you all right?”
    “She was just sitting in the rocker, singing. And when I told her Lily was fine, that she could go, she did. It was completely benign.”
    “Maybe she’s settled down again. We can hope. Have you been worried about that?” He took a careful study of her face, noted the smudges under the soft blue eyes, the pallor beneath the carefully applied blush on her cheeks. “Is that why you haven’t been sleeping?”
    “Some, I guess. Things were pretty wild around here for a few months. Our gooses were constantly getting bumped. Now this lull. It’s almost creepier.”
    “You’ve got Daddy David right down here.” He reached over to pat her hand, his long, concert pianist’s fingers giving it a little extra rub. “And Roz and Mitch will be back today. The house won’t feel so big and empty.”

    She let out a long breath, relieved. “You felt that way, too. I didn’t want to say, didn’t want you to feel like you weren’t enough company or something. ’Cause you are.”
    “You, too, my treasure. But we’ve gotten spoiled, haven’t we? Had a houseful for a year around here.” He glanced toward the empty seats at the table. “I miss those kids.”
    “Aw, you softie. We still see them, everybody, all the time, but it’s weird, having everything so quiet.”
    As if she understood, Lily launched her sip-cup so that it slapped the center island and thudded on the floor.
    “Atta girl,” David told her.
    “And you know what else?” Hayley rose to retrieve the cup. She was tall and lanky, and much to her disappointment, her breasts had reverted to their pre-pregnancy size. She thought of them as an A-minus cup. “I think I’m getting in some sort of mood. I don’t mean rut, exactly, because I love working at the nursery, and I was just thinking last night—when Lily woke up for the millionth time—how lucky I am to be here, to be able to have all these people in our lives.”
    She spread her arms, let them fall. “But, I don’t know, David, I feel sort of . . . blah.”
    “Need shopping therapy.”
    She grinned and got a washcloth to wipe Lily’s syrupy face. “It is the number-one cure for almost everything. But I think I want a change. Something bigger than new shoes.”
    Deliberately, he widened his eyes, let his jaw go slack. “There’s something bigger?”
    “I think I’m going to cut my hair. Do you think I should cut my hair?”
    “Hmm.” He cocked his head, studied her with his handsome blue eyes. “It’s gorgeous hair, that glossy mahogany. But I absolutely loved it the way you wore it when you first moved here.”

    “Really?”
    “All those different lengths. Tousled, casual, kicky. Sexy.”
    “Well . . .” She ran her hand down it. She’d grown it out, nearly to her shoulders. An easy length to pull back for work or motherhood. And maybe that was just the problem. She’d started taking the easy way because she’d stopped finding the time or making the effort to worry about how she looked.
    She wiped Lily off, freed her from the high chair so she could wander around the kitchen. “Maybe I will then. Maybe.”
    “And toss in the new shoes, sweetie. They never fail.”
    I N HIGH SUMMER business slowed at the garden center. It never trickled down too far at In the Garden, but in July, the heady late winter through spring rush was long over. Wet heat smothered west Tennessee, and only the most avid of gardeners would suffer through it to pump new life into their beds.
    Taking advantage of it, and her mood, Hayley wheedled a salon appointment, and an extra hour off from Stella.
    When she drove back into work after her extended lunch break, it was with a new do, two new pair of shoes, and a much happier attitude.
    Trust David, she decided.
    She loved In the Garden. Most days, she didn’t feel as if she was