“You look beautiful,” he said.
He saw the telltale blush creep up on her cheeks. “Thank you. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She arched a brow in suspicion.
“You two have fun,” Maureen said, shooing them away with both of her hands. “Now go.”
“Bye, Mom,” Brenna said.
They got into his truck and they took off, heading away from the property.
“You’re really not telling me where we’re going.”
“No.”
“Am I dressed appropriately?”
He glanced over at her—okay, he ogled her legs. “You look amazing.”
“Appropriately, Finn.”
“Yes. You’re appropriately dressed.”
She sighed. “I’m very irritated with you right now.”
He smiled, hoping she would enjoy the night he had planned for her.
It took a while to get to the location since it was outside the city and on the other side of town. They had twinkling lights set up and tables all around. There was already a good crowd wandering about when they climbed out of the truck.
“This is a garden center,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“I smell food, too.”
“Yeah.”
She walked over and read the sign just outside, then looked up at him. “Fall Flower Showcase and Sale?”
“Yup.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know about this?”
He shrugged. “I hear things.”
“I didn’t even know about this.”
“I thought you might want to see what they have. Plus there’s wine and dinner, too.”
“Really? How fun.” She grabbed his hand. “Let’s go in.”
Her enthusiasm was infectious. He knew how much Brenna loved gardening, and he’d come across this place the week before when he’d been out buying supplies. He saw the flyer for the dinner and sale and knew this was something she might enjoy, so he’d made sure she was going to be free tonight, then asked her out for dinner. He didn’t tell her what they’d be doing, hoping she didn’t already know about it. Lucky break for him that she didn’t.
They’d decorated the place nicely with everything a gardener would love. There were flowers and plants and fountains, along with rocks and garden decorations, anything else you might want or need to add to your landscape. They’d added white twinkling lights outside, which brightened up the place for tonight. Brenna seemed to soak everything in piece by piece.
“Oh, look at these,” she said, studying some blue flowers. “They’d be perfect for some fall color on the east side of the house.”
He’d already grabbed a rolling cart, so when she pointed to an item that she wanted, he hefted it up and added it.
“We need more peonies and this is the perfect time to plant them. Look at the color of these. And these ranunculus would be amazing.”
He had no idea what any of these were, but he was learning a lot just listening to Brenna talk.
“This will bloom in winter, when there’s less color and we need it most. Some of these we plant in the fall but they won’t come up until spring.”
He nodded, making a mental note to look for all those amazing flowers when they came up in the spring.
After he loaded the last flower she’d added, she turned to him. “Okay, now you pick something. For your place.”
“Me? I don’t know a damn thing about flowers, Brenna.”
“I’ll teach you. But first you wander and tell me if something sparks your interest.”
“Okay, sure.”
He hadn’t intended to pick out anything for himself, though now that Brenna had suggested it, he realized the area outside of his house could use something. As he walked around, he zeroed in on one plant.
“I like this one.”
She nodded. “Yucca is a good choice. It has a nice vertical design with straight shoots of flowers that would be interesting against the backdrop of the house. And it takes full sun. I like it. We could plant it on the south side. Let’s get two.”
“Sure.” He loaded those onto the cart. “We’re done now?”
She laughed. “You need some contrast. Keep looking.”
He did, and found the process doubly entertaining when he was the one doing the choosing. With Brenna’s expert help, he ended up with a couple of daylilies, a crepe myrtle, some evergreen shrubs, and a metal dog-shaped yard ornament that looked almost exactly like Murphy.
“He’ll probably bark at it,” Finn said.
Brenna laughed. “But think of how much fun he’ll have doing that.”
“True.”
Brenna looked down at the overly filled cart. “That’ll do for a start. We’ll plant all of these this weekend.”
“Sounds fun. Now let’s go buy this stuff and then we’ll have some beer and wine.”
They checked out and Finn hauled everything to his truck. Once he got it loaded, he met Brenna at the center of the garden, where the bar had been set up. She handed him a beer and she took her wine from the bartender.
They wandered around and listened to the band play country music.
“This was such a great idea,” she said. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“I’ve been so busy lately, and I needed to buy some plants. They had such a great sale tonight and they had everything I wanted. I didn’t even know about this place.”
“From what I understand they’re somewhat new to the area, so they did this as a way to introduce themselves to the community, drum up some new business.”
Brenna looked around. “Hmm. They really know how to decorate. And their flowers are impeccable. I need to talk to the owner. Hold my wine and find us a seat. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure.
Finn grabbed them a table for two, grateful to be off his feet while he sipped his beer. The band was great, mixing new country with some classic, so the tunes kept him company while Brenna was off planning world domination.
When she came back, she had a satisfied smile on her face.
“Well?” he asked as she took her seat and picked up her glass of wine.