Page 2 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

“I’m the non-famous brother of a well-known preacher whose church is on a riverboat. Yes, that’s me.” Lorenzo laughed.

Evan wanted to say that he felt like he was sometimes unnoticed in his older brother’s shadow, but he decided it wasn’t relevant in the present conversation. Besides, it would sound like he’d be complaining about Connor, his only brother whom he looked up to.

“Your one hundred wreaths and two hundred poinsettias are ready.” He made a circle in the air with his stylus. “You might need to whip around and back up to the entrance of the greenhouse so it’ll be easier to load the racks. We have five racks of twenty wreaths each.”

Evan nearly clipped the hedges along the driveway, but made it to the green house door without bumping the truck into it. In spite of having a CDL, he hadn’t driven a delivery truck in years. Most of the time, he drove a two-seater Ferrari SF90.

He cut the engine and got out of the vehicle to the sound of a woman laughing in the greenhouse. It wasn’t a crazy laugh but it was a hearty laugh, like someone had just heard a funny joke and didn’t hold back.

He smiled when he heard the laughter. It warmed his heart to hear something so uninhibited. He wanted to find out who it was.

How could he be drawn to the laughter?

But first, he had to unlock the back door of the delivery truck. Just then he saw Lorenzo jogging to the greenhouse door. Unable to hold back his curiosity, Evan followed him.

Just inside the door, between rows of potted poinsettias, was a stack of boxes on a trolley. Lorenzo walked toward it, and so did Evan.

There, between the wreaths and the poinsettias, a woman was lying down on the floor, laughing.

One elbow covered her face. The other arm was splayed on the side, near a cracked phone.

She wore a green Christmastown apron over a knitted sweater that had too many colors in it.

Stonewashed jeans and multi-colored socks completed her outfit. One clog was off her feet.

“Are you okay, Rosie?” Lorenzo rushed to her side. “Did you collapse from exhaustion?”

“I tripped and fell. That’s all.” Her eyes were closed. “I’m a little bit embarrassed, but I don’t feel like getting up.”

“Okay. You want me to get you a pillow?” Lorenzo didn’t even bat an eyelid.

“No need. Just let me lie down for a minute.” One arm still over her face, she pointed to the trolley with her other hand. “Those are the last of them. The rest are by the door.”

“Got it. No worries.” Lorenzo pushed the trolley toward Evan. He gave Evan some instructions, then added, “All the fresh wreaths are in the boxes. When the decorators are done with the resort project, please bring them back here to be reused. We try not to waste.”

They made quick work of loading the wreaths, which were not heavy at all.

“What’s going on?” Evan asked, wondering why the woman would be so exhausted that she was lying on the greenhouse floor in the middle of the day.

“Sorry I forgot to introduce you. Rosie Hamilton—on the floor back there—is our tree farm manager and resident plant biologist,” Lorenzo explained.

“Someone messed up in the order department and didn’t place the order for these hundred wreaths and two hundred poinsettias. We only found out two days ago.”

“Yikes.”

“I know, right? We can’t turn away our biggest clients, especially when the mistake was ours. So Rosie and I stayed up two nights in a row to make these wreaths and repot the poinsettias in these pretty containers.”

“You mean you and Rosie hadn’t slept for two days and you worked through Thanksgiving?” That would be something he’d have to report to Cyrus as a part of his undercover observations.

“Yeah. Everyone else had two days off, so it was just us. My wife, Tabitha, brought us Thanksgiving dinner. She even drove Rosie’s mom here so she didn’t spend Thanksgiving alone with Rosie at work.”

So Rosie lived with her mom.

Lorenzo lowered his voice. “Rosie’s mom is a Stage 4 cancer survivor. She’s still a bit weak, but she insisted on baking an apple pie from scratch. We had a lovely Thanksgiving in the break room.”

Stage 4 cancer?

Evan felt sorry for Rosie. She probably had to go through a lot as her mother’s daughter.

If he were in charge, Evan would’ve made sure nobody worked on Thanksgiving day. Evan wondered if Cyrus and Amy knew about what happened at the tree farm.

“Rosie’s mom is a great cook and baker, even though it was hard work for her with her arthritic fingers.

Anyway, they both wanted to volunteer to help with the wreaths, but there was a certain way we do our signature wreaths at Christmastown, so I told Tabitha to just feed us and we’d be fine.

Rosie did not want her mother to do anything either, so my wife drove Sonya home after our Thanksgiving dinner. ”

Lorenzo sounded like a data bank.

“Did you get any sleep at all?” Evan asked.

“I napped briefly on a cot that Tabitha brought for me. But Rosie didn’t sleep at all for two days.” Lorenzo leaned toward Evan. “Someone in the order department hates Rosie and wants to make life miserable for her.”

“For real?” Wasn’t Christmas supposed to be a merry time of the year? Evan thought it was ironic for a Christmas-centric company to have intraoffice bickering.

“Best I can come up with.”

“If she overworks like this, wouldn’t she burn out?” Evan asked.

“It’s only in November and December. The rest of the year is not like this.”

“Good to know.”

Lorenzo shrugged. “She’s single, no kids. She lives with her mom.”

Single? No kids? Why was Lorenzo telling him that?

“So it’s all work and all caregiving for her. Maybe work fills in the blanks. I don’t know. For me, work does fill in the blanks. Tabitha works retail, and it gets super busy this time of the year. We have no free days, Tabitha and I.”

“I could have helped. I’m a floater,” Evan said.

“Then where were you the last two nights when we needed you?” Lorenzo joked.

Evan wondered if Rosie or Lorenzo would report the incident. “Why can’t the client wait until Monday?”

“Moss Tybee has an event tomorrow night, see?” Lorenzo handed him a few more boxes to load into the truck. “The ballrooms and hallways and lobbies must be decorated by tonight. Four crews are there now, but they are missing these wreaths and poinsettias.”

“Wait a second. How long ago was it scheduled?”

“Way back in September. However, for some reason, the order did not include any wreaths or poinsettias. We at the tree farm just assumed they didn’t want them this year.

We only found out by accident. The resort director called Rosie the day before Thanksgiving to remind her about the ball tomorrow night.

In their conversation, Rosie found out that parts of the order were missing.

” Lorenzo sighed. “The resort wants a special kind of wreath that only Rosie could make. She needs a week to get them done. She had two days.”

“I’m assuming you all are getting overtime pay.”

Lorenzo nodded.

“At least it’s done now, but Rosie is lying down on the floor. She’s beyond exhausted. I told her to go home, but she wants to be here until all these wreaths and plants are delivered to Moss Tybee. Then she can personally say she saw the delivery van drive off.”

“Can she get the weekend off?” Evan followed Lorenzo back to get the next trolley.

“We don’t work on weekends, but she will be attending the ball tomorrow night.

She said she might still skip it. Her mom was her plus-one, but Sonya would rather stay at home and watch TV.

Then on Sunday, Rosie teaches third-grade Sunday school at her church.

No rest for the weary. We’re fully booked all week. ”

Evan glanced over to where Rosie was still lying down on the floor. Why didn’t she get up? He wanted to go over there to check if she was still alive. For some reason, he was curious about her and concerned about her well-being.

Beyond the area was a set of automatic double doors. They opened and Bellina walked in noisily. Her face was harsh, and she was yapping away on the phone. Walking toward Rosie on the floor, did Bellina see that bundle of super colorful sweater? Couldn’t miss it, could she?

Bellina walked fast in her winter boots, didn’t bother to avoid Rosie, and kicked her in the?—

Rosie shifted at the last minute, and Bellina’s boot narrowly avoided her head. The swift kick to Rosie’s shoulder seemed timed and deliberate, and Evan saw it all.

He dropped the boxes in his arms and ran toward Rosie, who was trying to get up now.

“Oh, I didn’t see you on the floor—of all places, Rosie.” Bellina the Belligerent put away her phone. “Are you all right?”

Her question sounded so fake that Evan’s blood boiled. Gently, he helped Rosie to her feet.

“Thank you.” She brushed dirt from her apron and jeans, looked up, and smiled.

Evan saw the prettiest gray eyes he had ever seen. He thought they had to be slightly blue, but under the lights, they were indeed a rare gray. Those eyes were filled with an invitation to something. To enjoy life, perhaps?

He could feel the edges of his lips move and his cheeks stretch, and he grinned.

She was about five inches shorter than he was, but when she looked up at him, the ceiling lights shone down on her gray eyes, making them sparkle.

She was still smiling. “You must be a new worker.”

“Evan Cavanaugh.” He stretched out his hand for a handshake. “Today’s my first day at work.”

He made a quick check. She didn’t wear any rings on her fingers.

She gave him a fist bump instead. “Rosie Hamilton. Sorry, I don’t shake hands. Germs and all.”

“But you were lying down on the greenhouse floor for a good while. Doesn’t it have dirt and germs too?” Evan caught himself, but it was too late.

“I know. I contradict myself sometimes.” She chuckled. There was a delight in her eyes, a hit of amusement at the moment.

He stared. Couldn’t help himself.

He had never met someone who smiled with their eyes.

“Something wrong?” Rosie asked.