Three Down the Aisle by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

bandwagon about her father’s unique talents. “People pay him to make their gardens grow. He’s teaching me.”
    “And do you have your own garden?” Melanie asked her.
    Jessie nodded. “I will this summer. It’s gonna have squashes and tomatoes and beans for the bunnies.”
    Melanie chuckled. “I thought people ate beans.”
    “They do, but bunnies like them better than I do, so I’m growing them just for the bunnies. I got it all planned out. We’re gonna buy seeds today. I get to pick ’em out.” She peered intently at Melanie. “What are you gonna plant in your garden?”
    “I’m not sure,” Melanie admitted. “Your dad’s going to help me figure that out.”
    “You probably need to grow some beans, too,” Jessie advised her. “There’s lots and lots of bunnies and I can’t feed ’em all.”
    Melanie chuckled. “I’ll think about that.”
    “I think we’re going to concentrate on flowers for Melanie’s garden today,” Mike chimed in. He glanced at her. “And maybe think about an herb garden.”
    Melanie envisioned how happy an herb garden wouldmake Maggie. “Definitely,” she said. “Though I don’t recall my grandmother having one.”
    “You don’t have to recreate what she had exactly,” Mike said. “Gardens evolve over time. Personally, I like a combination of the beautiful and the practical, but not everybody cares about growing their own food or herbs, not when there are farmer’s markets all over this area offering fresh produce.”
    “I wouldn’t mind growing tomatoes,” Melanie said, thinking of how fabulous it would be to pick one for dinner and slice it to serve with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil, also from her own garden. Never mind that she was unlikely to be here when the time came to harvest the tomatoes.
    Mike gave her a lingering look. “There you go,” he teased. “You’re beginning to envision the possibilities.”
    “How long does it take for a tomato plant to produce its first ripe tomato?” she asked.
    “Sixty days or so, depending on the variety and the weather,” he replied.
    “Too long,” she said, unable to contain a sigh of regret.
    “Maybe you’ll decide to stick around.”
    She shook her head. “Impossible.”
    “You have a job to get back to?”
    “No.”
    “A boyfriend?”
    “No.”
    “Then what’s to stop you from staying till you pick your first homegrown tomato?”
    “I don’t have an endless supply of money,” she told him frankly. “Sooner or later I’ll have to go back to Boston and find another job.”
    “Find one here,” he said. “There’s lots of seasonalwork, if you don’t want something permanent. Hell, Brenda’s always complaining that she can’t find good summer help for the restaurant.”
    Melanie laughed. “Yes, I imagine she’d be absolutely delighted to hire me, since we got off to such a great start.”
    “I could put in a word for you,” he offered.
    “Thanks, but if I should happen to decide to stick around, I’m capable of finding my own job. And having you intercede for me with Brenda would only add fuel to the resentment she already feels toward me.”
    “You have a point,” he agreed. “What field were you in before?”
    “My degree’s in marketing, but I took a job as a receptionist when I got out of college.”
    He shot her a disbelieving look. “How long ago was that?”
    “Not that long ago,” she said defensively. “I worked my way through college—waiting tables, as a matter of fact—so I’ve only been out a couple of years.”
    “You have a degree in marketing, but you’ve been working as a receptionist? Are entry-level jobs in marketing that tough to find?”
    “Actually this one was supposed to lead to a promotion, but it didn’t work out that way,” she said, unable to keep a defensive note out of her voice. She could hear how ridiculous it sounded that she’d wasted so much time waiting for the right chance to come along, instead of making it happen.
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