“Well,” Vivi said, after she finished and dabbed the corner of her mouth, “let’s get down to business, shall we?” She turned to Avery. “You’ve got a notebook and pen? We’ll need that.”
Avery had both. When didn’t she?
Vivi folded her hands on the table. “So, it appears we’ve got ourselves a lavender farm, and a new home, and new friends all around us. We couldn’t have asked for more.” She smiled. “And yet, each of us has found more.”
Chey knew what Vivi meant, and she and Hannah and Avery shared a smile. “It appears that way, yes,” Chey said happily.
“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I don’t plan to lose this farm, or any of you, or to leave Blue Hollow Falls.” She lifted a hand to stall their reply. “That said, I also don’t plan to lose Grant, now that he has so miraculously ended up in my life once again.” She held each of their gazes in turn. “I assume you feel much the same about our home?” Her smile deepened. “And your men?”
Chey grinned. “I think we can safely say yes to both.”
Hannah and Avery both raised their hands. “Aye,” Hannah said.
“Good. We’re partners in this,” Vivi went on, “and we’re family, both in and outside Lavender Blue.” She reached out her hands, bracelets jingling against the table.
Avery and Chey each took one of Vivi’s outstretched hands, then reached their free hands to Hannah, who clasped them both.
“So, I want us to come up with a plan that allows us to continue doing what we love here. We just got started,” she added with a bright smile. “And I can’t tell you how excited I am to see how things go this season.” She squeezed Chey’s and Avery’s hands. “A plan that also allows us to figure out a way to be with the men in our lives.” She looked at Hannah and Avery. “Now, I know the two of you have been making that work for a while now. Hannah, you’re the most settled of the four of us, and Will is in the Falls full time, so it’s been a wonderfully smooth transition for you.”
Hannah’s smile was soft and full of such genuine happiness, it made Chey’s heart fill right up. No one deserved that joy more than she did. “It has, yes. Remarkably so.”
Vivi turned to Avery. “I know you and Ben have done much the same, seeing as our farm and his aren’t so far apart. But I know he wants to travel and continue doing his work with his prosthetics development, and you want to be able to join him, at least from time to time.”
“I do, but not at the expense of the fearsome foursome.”
Vivi lifted their joined hands. “That’s what I aim to do, dear. Figure out a way where we all get what we want with as little compromise as possible. I don’t want your joy, or mine, to come at the expense of something or someone else.”
Chey nodded. “I love where you are going with this, Vivi, but with Wyatt, it’s not just the occasional corporate trip or research symposium. His whole life is on the road.”
“Doesn’t he have a farm in Wales? I think I heard him mention it at the picnic grounds when someone asked.”
Chey nodded. “He does, yes.”
“Seeing as his work takes him all over the world, couldn’t he swap a farm in Wales as home base for a farm here in Virginia? Or keep both?”
“He hasn’t stayed at his farm in Wales for more than four days at a stretch since he bought it years ago. This summer was to be his first long term stay, and that was just for two months.” She smiled. “And look how that worked out.”
“But he’s staying here, right?” Hannah asked. “For the summer? I mean, that part hasn’t changed?”
Chey shook her head. “No, that’s still the plan. He’s slated to be here until August, which is going to come way too fast.” She looked at the three of them. “Dom gave him the list of final options for their next mission, or case, or whatever you want to call it. So, things will start to swing into motion soon; then it’s just a matter of time before he heads out.”
“Have you talked about it?” Avery said. “Do you know what he wants? He seems to really like it here, and I don’t mean superficial like, but sincere like. He’s already one of us, Chey, with everything that happened, with the lake and the lodge.” She smiled. “He found his space here even faster than we did, and I thought we did pretty well.”
“I know, right?” Chey said with a dry tone. “And we have talked about it. I know he wants this, and me, and us.” She was well aware she hadn’t responded to his declaration of love with one of her own, but she didn’t want her first time saying those words to be a “yeah, so do I” declaration. What he’d said to her had been reverent and beautiful. And funny, sweet, the perfect mix of old Wyatt and new. She wanted her moment to make him feel equally cherished. “He also wants the life he has now, and seeing him in action, watching some of the videos of the things he and Dom and the team have accomplished, I can’t imagine him walking away from any part of that. And even if he did, then walk away to what? Helping us on the farm?”
“Would he consider doing fewer of them a year?” Hannah asked. “Strike a balance of some kind? Maybe there are things he could do in between to raise awareness in some other way?”
“Would you want to go with him?” Avery asked. “Some of the time?”
Chey let go of their hands and picked up her coffee mug. “I know it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, like, every single time.” She paused, then said, “I would have been perfectly fine never doing things like he does. I don’t have that kind of bucket list. But I also know how it has made me feel to watch him here, doing what he does—and for that?” She nodded vigorously. “I would love to be with him, truly with him, to witness everything firsthand and share it all with him.”
“Well,” Vivi said, “this has been very illuminating.” She smiled, and there was something private about it, something she was clearly thrilled with.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Chey said. “What about you? Grant lives across the country.”
“Yes, darling, but he has his own plane. Several helicopters, too. Now, I realize he’s not on a farm down the road like Ben, or close to town like Will and Jake, but he can be quite mobile if he sees fit.” She beamed. “And I believe he will.”
“Yes, well, he seems to have no problem whisking to Valley View and taking you to New York for lunch. I guess we just have to expand our minds to understand that kind of life.”
Avery propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. “Do you want to go west? Hang out on his real estate out there?”
Vivi nodded. “He has real estate, as you call it, all over the world. And yes, I’d love to see all of his properties.” Her smile was fond. “I do have a bucket list.”
They all laughed with her. “You should check off every item,” Chey said.
“Well, that’s the plan, but it won’t happen fast. For two retired people, we’re both very busy. He’s serious about the work he’s doing to promote green energy and environmentally sound new development. It keeps him busy as the farm keeps me busy. He travels a great deal and I’m afraid I’d find that dreadfully boring. I think we can strike a balance between our high season here and his work travel. And focus our work time so we can travel for pleasure, be out west, as well as be here together.”