LITMIR.BIZ

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not Jay’s house.

      Her phone vibrated as she clambered into the golf cart, and she hoped her plans wouldn’t be derailed by an emergency at the facility that would force her back into the car.

      But the name on the display surprised her. “Good morning, Karan. What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?”

      “Your guess,” Karan replied. “Saw Charles off to surgery and was wide-awake. Figured I’d give you a call since you’re the only one I know awake at this hour besides my doctor husband.”

      Susanna held the phone to her ear and backed out of the shed slowly. “You’re in time for a journey through the arbors to The Arbors.”

      “Maybe I’m not as awake as I thought—”

      “Remember those acres and acres of flowers I mentioned? I’m taking the golf cart to work so I can see them.”

      “I hope you don’t wilt like a flower. Isn’t that what you Southern belles do?”

      “I don’t think I’ve been here long enough to qualify as a girl raised in the South.”

      “Pshaw. You’ve been a G.R.I.T. from the minute you crossed the Mason-Dixon Line. A Girl Relocated to the South.”

      “Tee-hee.”

      “You sound awfully chipper this morning,” Karan said. “May I assume work’s going well and you’re getting some sleep?”

      One out of two wasn’t bad, and some sleep was relative. “Can’t complain. I’m finally going to see Jay’s house. It should be right off this path.”

      “I thought you were supposed to assess the place.”

      “Not on the top of my to-do list. That report won’t be due until the acquisition.”

      “You sound confident. Things must be going well.”

      Susanna held on tight as the cart bucked over a protruding tree root. “We’ve hit a few bumps, but nothing we haven’t been able to work through.”

      Yet. They hadn’t tackled the profit-and-loss statements, either. Jay insisted on full disclosure so he could gauge the corporate effects on The Arbors, and she was using every ounce of her financial expertise to figure out how wide the disconnect was between his services and payroll and Northstar’s parameters. Juggling was the key, which put sleepless hours to good use.

      “We’re still in the honeymoon phase,” Susanna admitted. “Jay’s walking me through the way things work at The Arbors so we haven’t done a lot of procedural projections. There’s time.”

      “You think that’s the best way to handle—”

      “Ohmigosh, Karan. I think this is it,” Susanna blurted when a low brick wall appeared through a sudden break in the trees, a vision of manicured civilization in the forest.

      “The plantation?”

      “Yes. This has to be it. We’ve got formal landscaping. Tiered bushes and ornamental grasses and flowering vines. It is. Here’s the entry.”

      There was no gate, only an opening marked by stone urns, both stained by rust from the irrigation water. The flagstone walk bore similar stains and wound into another world.

      Jay’s world.

      “Ohmigosh.” Susanna whispered reverently into the quiet morning. “This must be the backyard. There’s a huge lawn with those big oak trees you see in movies. Generations old like the arbors. Jay told me his great-grandmother planted them.”

      “See the house yet?”

      “House doesn’t even begin to describe it, Karan. Seriously. Can you say ‘antebellum plantation’?”

      “Tara?”

      “Actually, no.” Susanna laughed. “Except for the ambience of another era. The house isn’t even white. Just the eaves.”

      Those eaves towered above two floors with massive white columns that outlined a wraparound gallery. The house had been constructed of blond brick, and the walls contrasted with the black shutters that framed every floor-to-ceiling window. And there were a lot more windows than the three that graced the porch of her cottage.

      She couldn’t even begin to fathom what might drive someone away from The Arbors, and she knew the curiosity might kill her.

      “You know, Karan, my cottage is very similar in design. I’ll bet that was intentional. A miniplantation.”

      “Brooke should like that. She’s always loved dollhouses.”

      As Karan would know since she’d indulged that particular fancy since Brooke was old enough to be trusted not to gnaw on the tiny furnishings of the ridiculously expensive dollhouses Karan gifted her with.

      “Fingers crossed. I really want the kids to consider wherever I live as home base. At least until they settle down.”

      “As long as you’re there it will be home base.”

      Susanna appreciated the reassurance. The most important thing was being together. “I think I can see the driveway. I’ll bet if I took a left at the fork instead of the right that brings me to the cottage, I’d wind up here.”

      “I can’t believe this is the first time you’re seeing the house. With as much as you say ‘Jay this’ and ‘Jay that,’ I can’t believe he hasn’t invited you over for a Bundt cake or pecan divinity or whatever Southerners do to welcome neighbors.”

      “It’s not like that, Karan. I told you. But I’m really dying to know what could possibly possess him to sell this place. It’s a total mystery.”

      “Ask him.”

      “I can’t ask him something personal like that.”

      “Why not? Seems a logical question to me given the fact you’re taking over his job.”

      “Because I can’t.”

      There was a beat of silence on the other end before Karan said, “You’re working awfully hard to delineate boundaries between professional and personal. What’s up with that?”

      “I don’t know what you mean.” Susanna only knew she’d better get a move on. She didn’t want to get caught gawking at Jay’s house like a tourist.

      “I’m talking about how many times you’ve mentioned getting personal with this man. I hear it every time we talk. You’re curious about him, Suze.”

      “Of course I’m curious. Why doesn’t he simply parcel off the land, sell The Arbors and keep his family home?”

      “Why don’t you ask him? Oh, wait. That’s personal. Are you interested in Jay? I mean interested, interested.”

      “Stop it. That isn’t funny.” Neither was the heat rushing into her cheeks at the mere mention of being interested in Jay. “I’ll have a hand in deciding the fate of the man’s house.” And wherever Jay was headed must be incredible considering what he’d be leaving behind. “That’s all, Karan.”

      “Mmm-hmm.”

      “I can’t even believe you. Some best friend.”

      “What can’t you believe—that I know you so well? What kind of best friend would I be if I let you lie to yourself?”

      Susanna slowed the golf cart to a stop, pulled the phone away from her ear and scowled at it, a thrill of annoyance overshadowing the excitement of a moment ago. “That’s unfair.”

      “Are you sure?”

      Susanna didn’t answer because that simple question had a complicated answer. Karan wasn’t entirely wrong. Susanna couldn’t think about being interested in another man, not Jay or anyone. The very thought made her uncomfortable deep inside, not so much guilty as...unable.

      She

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