Poisoned Petals by Joyce Lavene, Jim Read Free Book Online Page A

glass windows, chasing shadows and making prisms from the glass frog wind chimes that were hanging from the ceiling. Besides, there was too much to do. New plants had arrived last night and were ready to tag. The bright pink Alice du Pont mandevillas were looking a little dry.
    She set up the computer and the cash register for the beginning of another day. If the sun was shining a little less brightly because Darmus was gone forever, she refused to notice it. When John died, she thought her soul was gone with him. But when she finally came back to life, she promised she would never let it go again until it was actually her time. She had the rest of her life to mourn her old friend. Right now she had to attend to her store.
    Later in the day she was going to see Rosie again, after so many years apart. Well, at least she hoped she was going to see Rosie. She could only go and find out if it was the right person. She wished she had gone to Asheville years ago to find her friend. It was strange that Darmus’s death might finally bring them back together. Sad, too. She was sure Darmus would have liked the idea that she and Rosie might meet again.
    He’d been amazed when he got back from Zimbabwe and found they weren’t friends anymore. Peggy had threatened to strangle him if he even suggested their friendship had ended because of him.
    “I’m surprised you’re still talking to me,” he’d said one day in Charlotte when he’d come to see her soon after she was married. “I thought you might not like me so much anymore.”
    “Because you and Rosie separated? You’re still my friend, Darmus.”
    He’d shrugged, his dark eyes distant. “One never knows how a friend will react to another friend’s agony.”
    Peggy always wondered what he’d meant by that, but John had come home from work in his dark blue uniform and wanted to talk to Darmus, too. She’d never remembered to ask him about his strange comment.
    Selena Rogers, her full-time assistant, came in around ten, just before the lunch crowd. She was a pretty girl. Her shoulder-length blond hair was clipped up on her head, and her slender, dancer’s body was clad in denim shorts and a white T-shirt that barely reached her bellybutton. She stashed her backpack behind the counter and tied on her green Potting Shed apron. “Why are men are so stupid?”
    “All men aren’t stupid.” Peggy finished watering the mandevillas and adjusted a hanging pot of shamrocks. “What’s happened this time?”
    But instead of pouring her heart out to Peggy like she usually did, Selena stared at her boss. “What’s up with that voice? Is this an older woman thing? Does Steve like it?”
    Sam Ollson, Peggy’s landscape manager, arrived pushing a cart of grass seed into the shop from the back storage area. He was a big, muscled man who looked more like a life-guard than a student who wanted to be a surgeon. His blond hair was almost as long as Selena’s, and his smooth, tanned skin was mostly exposed in a green Potting Shed tank top. “If you ever watched anything on TV besides Survivor , or read the newspaper, you’d know Peggy tried to save Darmus Appleby’s life yesterday. He died when his house caught fire. I’m sorry, Peggy. Should you be here?”
    “I’m fine, Sam. Thanks.”
    “A fire?” Selena’s blue eyes were wide. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry. Why don’t you come and sit down in the rocking chair?”
    “I’m fine,” Peggy said again, almost wishing Sam hadn’t come in at that moment.
    “Wow,” Selena whispered. “I know Dr. Appleby was your friend. I wonder who’ll take care of the Community Garden now.”
    “That’s part of Feed America,” Sam answered. “Which if you watched the news or—”
    “Shut up!” Selena put her hands on her ears. “Do you see what I mean, Peggy? All men are stupid!”
    Steve waved to her through the big front window. It was time to go. And just in time. “I’m going to be gone until this