spades, wheelbarrows, coiled hoses and a wall display of dangerous-looking pruning shears.
“I can help you find them but don’t ask me which one is best for your job,” she warned him.
“I can probably figure out that part,” he answered.
“That makes one of us, then.”
He grinned and went to the wall to better study the implements of destruction. After studying his options, he pulled down a long pair of shears with orange handles.
“I think these should do,” he answered.
“For the honeysuckle or for Rich?”
“Both, if I’m lucky.” Cooper grinned at her and Olivia felt hot and breathless suddenly.
Oh, cut it out, she snapped at herself.
“Excuse me,” a voice cut in. “Do you work here? I have a question and can’t find anyone else.”
She cleared her throat and faced a man who looked to be in his sixties, wearing a Western-cut shirt, suspenders and Levi’s rolled up at least twice. “Sort of, sir. I just started. How can I help you?”
“I need to buy a chain saw but you have so many. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
She could totally relate. “Can you tell me how you expect to use it most?”
“Oh, you know. The usual thing. General use. Clearing away tree branches. Maybe cutting up firewood here and there.”
Okay. That didn’t help her at all. She had no idea how to guide the man to the right purchase. Fortunately, Cooper stepped in to her rescue.
“I don’t work here, but I do know quite a bit about chain saws.”
“You’re the new fire chief, aren’t you?”
He nodded and held out the hand not holding the pruning shears. “Cooper Vance.”
“Walter. Walter Trevino. I knew your aunt and uncle some,” the man said. “Good people.”
Something sad flickered in Cooper’s gaze. “They were great.”
They were the ones who had taken in his sister after his and Melody’s mother had died. Olivia remembered the uncle had died about ten years ago and his aunt Helen had remarried and moved to the San Diego area, leaving the house to Melody.
“I still miss seeing old Frank working in his yard. He loved that place. It’s nice to have your sister and her little ones in the neighborhood. Shame about the divorce, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Cooper said, his voice clipped. “Let’s see if we can find a good chain-saw fit for you.”
For the next ten minutes, Cooper and Mr. Trevino—whom she recognized now as a man who once owned an insurance agency in town—looked through the available inventory until they settled on one that would meet his needs.
“Thanks for all your help, Chief,” he said after loading down with chain oil and a gas can to fill it with.
“Glad to help.” Cooper smiled and she felt slightly breathless again, trying hard not to notice how the sunlight filtering through the greenhouse room seemed to gleam in his hair.
“I can’t ring you up since I don’t have cashier credentials yet, but I’ll see if I can find someone to help,” Olivia said to both men.
She led the way back into the main greenhouse, where Doug was working the cash register now, helping a young woman who looked to be buying only gardening gloves.
“You first.” Cooper gestured to the other man, who got into line behind the young woman.
When the fire chief turned to face her, Olivia fought that stupid reaction again. “Thanks for your help,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. “As you can tell, I’m a bit out of my comfort zone here.”
“You’re trying. That’s the important thing.”
She made a face. “I don’t exactly have much choice. Juliet will be laid up for a while.”
“Poor thing. She’s not going to be happy on the sidelines.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. My mom thinks she has to do everything by herself and has a really hard time letting other people help her.”
“Don’t make the same mistake,” Cooper suggested.
His words hit a little too close to home. She possibly might have inherited her mother’s independent streak, at least in most areas of her life. “That shouldn’t be a problem for me, at least while I’m working here.”
She ought to have a better idea of how things worked at the garden center. At least where things were. She had worked here during high school, after all. Of course, that had been more than a decade ago, and even back then, she had been going through the motions, only doing what her mother told her to.
Juliet had never wanted to give her responsibility over anything, even the