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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ROZ

Clutching the cooler bag, I approached the pub. Faint music and chatter drifted out from the open windows on the warm spring breeze. The sun was sinking behind the mountains, a soft pink-and-blue haze filling the sky.

As I pushed the door open, the music and voices grew louder. The cozy pub was packed full of people. If Red Tractor Farm’s taproom was half as popular as this place, we’d stay in the black.

I looked around until my gaze landed on Olivia sitting at a circular table near the back of the pub. She laughed, her head thrown back and her eyes flashing. She was wearing a t-shirt tonight, a gray V-neck with a flower and something written on it. Blake was beside her, one arm around a blond woman who was gesticulating wildly. That must be Jenny. On Jenny’s other side was a brunette with shoulder-length wavy hair and glasses, sitting close to another woman with light-brown hair cut even shorter than mine. And then there was Dana.

I beelined toward the bar where I ordered a non-alcoholic beer from a friendly bartender. I wanted tonight to go well. I wasn’t sure why I cared so much, but I wanted Olivia’s friends to like me. Holding my own at trivia would be a plus. It was clearly why I’d been invited in the first place. Matt’s words from earlier in the week echoed in my head. People around here are used to a more personable approach.

The bartender slid the beer across to me and I tapped the card reader with my phone. Clutching my drink, I plastered a smile on my face and walked over to the table. No one noticed me, so I pulled out the spare stool next to Olivia. It scraped loudly on the old oak floor. Five pairs of eyes turned to me.

I cleared my throat. “Hello. I’m Roz.”

They went around the table, introducing themselves.Did I sense a slight hesitation in their body language? Perhaps I was just overthinking things after Matt’s feedback.

“That table over there are the ones to beat,” Blake murmured, nodding her head toward a table in the corner. “The Gran Masters.”

I followed her gaze and blinked. Four sweet-looking elderly ladies were our main competition? Well, this should be easy.

“This is for you.” I shoved the bag into Olivia’s hands.

Her eyes widened.

“It’s a thank-you for showing me around on Sunday.” Why did my voice sound so gruff?

Olivia opened the bag and peered in, her brow furrowing.

“I learned from your mistake and covered it in cooler blocks. But it’s quark. Extremely well refrigerated quark.” As the words left my mouth, I second-guessed them. Was it weird to bring someone a tub full of quark to a pub trivia night?

An expression I couldn’t place flickered across her face before she broke into a smile. “Oh, that’s too kind of you. So, you’ve recovered from your temporary dairy intolerance?” Olivia’s tone was teasing, but I could have sworn there was a hint of wariness in her eyes.

“It seems that way.” I wasn’t about to tell Olivia that I hadn’t been able to consume any dairy since our excursion and had nearly thrown up going back to the dairy to buy the quark today.My gaze dropped to Olivia’s t-shirt. At the bottom of the V-neck, a hint of the delicate skin between the curves of her breasts caught my eyes. I forced my gaze farther down to the writing scrawled on her shirt in cursive: That’s ranunculus! A red flower, presumably a ranunculus, bloomed next to the words, over the arc of her left breast. I held back a chuckle, yanking my eyes away before anyone thought I was ogling her chest. I should really give her the t-shirt back. It was sitting neatly folded in my drawer next to my bed.

“So, Roz, how are you finding life as a farmer?” George asked, placing her beer on the table. “It must be a big change from being a consultant in the city.”

My thigh pressed against Olivia’s as I turned to George. She jerked her leg away.

“It’s been…” My impulse was to say it was going great, but Matt’s voice in my head made me reconsider. “It’s been a steep learning curve.”

George tilted her head. Come on, Roz. Elaborate. While I was looking at George, I was deeply aware of Olivia’s presence next to me, of her chest gently rising and falling as she breathed, of her slightly sweet floral scent. I wiped my slightly clammy palms on my pants. Focus.

“I’m good at the business side, at the numbers, at strategy, at looking for efficiencies”—in my periphery, Olivia shot Dana a look and rolled her eyes—“but I’m not familiar with the day-to-day running of a farm, so I’m having to rely heavily on my staff. Thankfully, they’re all very good at what they do.” I looked at Dana and gave her a little nod before turning to Jenny. “Thanks again for sending Olivia that email about the event spaces, by the way. It was incredibly helpful.” There. I leaned back in my chair. Matt would be proud at how personable I was being. I’d admitted a weakness, showered my employees with praise and thanked Jenny. You couldn’t get more personable than that.

“No problem.” Jenny smiled. “Let me know if you have any other questions. I’m excited that we might get another venue.”

I glanced at Olivia, who was sipping from her wine glass. Was I imagining it, or had she shifted her chair slightly away from mine? “I also need to thank you for sending through the sustainability sections of the business plan.” So personable.

“Was it okay?” Olivia asked.

“It was really good.” Surprisingly good.

Olivia’s face brightened. “I’m glad. All the practice I got doing business plans in my twenties finally paid off.”

Blake gazed around our table. “It looks like Dan’s getting ready to start. Does anyone need to do some last-minute brushing up on their topics before we put our phones away?”

George groaned. “I can’t read another word about baseball. Dan better ask a question about it.”

Hannah laughed, wrapping her arm around George and squeezing. “And I’m now an expert on the NHL. I should probably take up writing hockey romances.”

George elbowed her gently. “You have to finish your current series first. I need to know what happens!”

I surprised myself with a chuckle. Why wasn’t I finding their PDA off-putting? It was almost… cute. I glanced over at Olivia, who was studying her wine glass with great interest.

“Okay everyone! We’re starting now,” a man announced. “Please take your seats.”

Blake grabbed a pen and paper from the middle of the table.

“For those who don’t know me, I’m Dan, and I’ll be your host tonight. Now remember, no phones are allowed while we’re playing. Is everyone ready?” He looked around the packed pub and a cheer broke out. “Excellent. The first question is: what happened in 1929 on the day that became known as Black Tuesday?”

My heart jumped. I leaned in. “That’s easy. The stock market crashed.”

As Blake scribbled down the answer, Olivia brushed her fingertips over the black coaster in front of her, following its contours. Her nails were neatly cut and there was a long thin red scratch across the back of her hand. Had she hurt herself at work? Scratches were probably an occupational hazard for florists, given all those unpleasant thorns and twigs they had to handle.

“Question two. What is the hair-like material on an ear of corn called?”

“Silk!” Dana and Olivia hissed in unison. They high-fived each other, laughing. Olivia’s eyes crinkled, her white teeth gleaming between her pink lips. Her face, framed with glossy brown hair, was so expressive. My breath caught, and I realized I was grinning as well. I’d also completely zoned out of the trivia questions.

“Question five. What is the Gini coefficient most often used to measure?” Dan scanned the groups of people huddled over their tables.

“Oh god,” George said. “I don’t have a clue.”

“Income inequality,” I muttered, earning myself a smile from Blake.

By the time the third round was over and Blake handed our answer sheet in, I was buzzing.

“I have a good feeling about this,” Jenny announced, rubbing her hands.

Blake elbowed her. “Hey! Don’t jinx us!” She turned to look at The Gran Masters, who were now digging into a bowl of fries. “The grannies are looking confident as well.”

George had just finished telling us about a Major League Baseball manager who was ejected from a game and tried to sneak back in wearing a fake mustache and borrowed clothes when the music was turned down and Dan cleared his throat. “We have a tie for first place tonight.” I bit my lip. Could we be one of the winning teams? I was surprised how invested I was in our success. “There’s only one prize, so we’ll go to a tie-breaker round between The Whisk Takers and The Gran Masters.” Our table cheered. Dan continued. “So we’re not here all night, whichever team gets the first question wrong or fails to write an answer within one minute of the question being asked, will lose. I’ll be checking The Whisk Takers answers in real time and my trusty bartender Zach will be monitoring The Gran Masters.” Zach put down a pint glass he was drying with a dish towel and stepped out from behind the bar.

Blake gripped the pen, looking around the table. “Okay. We can do this, folks.”

“I wish I’d convinced Mom to stay a few more days in Florida,” George groaned, gazing at a smartly dressed woman with a gray bob at The Gran Masters table. “She definitely got that one we missed about Bhutan.”

I peered at George. “That’s your mom?”

George nodded. “She’s been making use of the discount I give her at Novel Gossip and reading a lot of non-fiction books lately. All of a sudden, she’s become a wealth of knowledge on a whole lot of useless facts that are only good for trivia.”

Olivia laughed. “You need to stop giving her that discount!”

George’s mom looked harmless enough. She caught me looking at her and shot me a death stare. I quickly averted my eyes. Or not.

“Are you all ready?” Dan roared, positioning himself behind Blake so he could see our answers.

We nodded.

“Who or what is rumored to have started the Great Chicago Fire?”

“I’m pretty sure it was a cow,” Hannah whispered, leaning in with her elbows on the table.

Humph . Sounded like exactly the sort of thing a cow would do.

Blake wrote it down and Dan nodded in confirmation. So far, so good.

Sensing Olivia staring at me, I shifted my gaze. It landed on her just in time to see her eyes dart to Blake. My gaze lingered on her face in profile, traveling over the brown arch of her eyebrow closest to me and down the smooth bridge of her nose to her pink lips. I blinked. Don’t let yourself get distracted again.

“Next question!” Dan boomed. “Which later-assassinated president was a sitting member of the House of Representatives immediately prior to being elected president?”

Our table was silent. Sweat pricked my armpits as my mind raced. I think I know the answer to this.. .

“I think it was Garfield,” Dana said, gripping her pint glass.

I frowned. “I don’t think it was Garfield. Lincoln, JFK and McKinley were assassinated as well. I’m pretty sure it was McKinley.”

Blake’s gaze darted around the table. “Anyone else? I don’t have a clue.”

Everyone shook their head.

“Shit.” Blake’s pen hovered above the paper.

“You’ve got twenty seconds left,” Dan said.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember the book I’d read on American presidents a few years ago. My confidence grew. “I’m almost certain it was McKinley.”

A vein pulsed on Blake’s forehead. “Okay.” She shot an apologetic look at Dana and wrote down McKinley. On The Gran Masters’ table, George’s mom also scribbled down an answer.

Dan peered over Blake’s shoulder and then glanced at Zach who nodded. “We have a winner!” he yelled. My heart jumped with excitement. Had we— “The Gran Masters win again, for the fifteenth week in a row!”

Shit .

As a cheer rose from The Gran Masters’ table, Blake’s face dropped, and Dana pressed her lips together.

I slumped back in my chair, my chest deflating. “Damn. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry. It’s just a game.” Olivia squeezed my thigh, leaving it tingling and then snatched her hand away as if it had burned her. I stared down at her hand. What was going on with her tonight?

“There’s always next week,” Hannah added. “We wouldn’t have even gotten to the tie breaker if it wasn’t for you.”

“You’re both required attendees from now on,” Blake announced, looking between Dana and me. “Who wants another drink? Now that we don’t need to keep our minds sharp, I’m going to grab another beer.”

I shook my head, absentmindedly running my fingers over a seam in the table. I needed to keep my mind clear for my presentation to Fred tomorrow morning, which reminded me… I glanced at Olivia. She was staring at my fingers, an odd look on her face.

“Hey, is there any chance you’d be able to come to the meeting with Fred tomorrow morning? Just in case he asks anything about the sustainability sections?” Fred would hopefully make his decision shortly after—or even during—the meeting, so I needed it to go perfectly, especially in light of all the bills that had been piling up recently.

Olivia’s head jerked up. Her cheeks were pink, accentuating the long, dark lashes that framed her warm brown eyes. My chest twinged.

“Sure, I can do that.” She glanced over at the old grandfather clock in the corner of the bar. “I should probably head home. Need to get some sleep to make sure I’m on the ball for tomorrow.” She grabbed her bag and stood up. “Good night, guys! Great work tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow, Roz.”

She all but sprinted out the door.

My gut pinched. Why was she behaving so strangely? I hadn’t realized how much I enjoyed Olivia’s open, warm personality until it disappeared.

Perhaps tomorrow I’d find out.