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he come out and say that?’
    ‘Men can be funny, and who knows what goes on when they’re away fighting wars.’ She paused. ‘Crap, Toby’s woken up. I’m going to have to go. But I’ll call you tonight and we’ll talk. My gut feeling is if he’s not married, and you think he’s worth fighting for, you fight. If not…’
    ‘I let it go.’ Layla finished Carise’s thought as Toby’s screams grew louder. ‘Okay, talk tonight. Bye.’
    ‘Bye.’
    Layla shoved her phone in her pocket and stomped off along the old service road that used to be the highway, trying to remember if anything Tate had written suggested he was single. She couldn’t remember anything from their email conversation. ‘Mental note to self,’ she muttered, ‘always find out marital status before investing your energies in random men you meet via email.’
    She kicked at a weed, then swung around and headed back towards the ute. Sweat ran down between her shoulder blades as she marched back along the tarmac. She was going to make contact with Tate McAuliffe one more time.
    She’d check he was single, and if he was, she was going to fight.
    ***
    Forty minutes in the air-conditioned comfort of the ute with heavy metal blasting from the speakers had cooled her ire by the time she reached Bonsai Christmas. She was close to feeling reasonable again when she entered the office, until she saw Ian Creswick poring over her delivery schedule. She dropped her bag on the desk and flexed her fingers. ‘Everything okay?’
    ‘Hi Layla. Everything’s fine.’ The puppy dog eyes were back.
    ‘Anything in particular you were looking for there?’
    ‘Um, no. Not really.’
    Why wouldn’t he come out and say it? Her blood boiled. ‘Were you checking my schedule?’
    ‘Your father always let me know if he was going out.’
    The icy cola in her office fridge would have to wait. ‘Ian, we need to talk. Do you have time now?’
    He flushed red, then stuttered, ‘Yes, of course.’
    ‘Good. Sit down.’ Mentally she counted to ten before she continued. ‘Two things.’
    He nodded, big brown puppy dog eyes watching her every move.
    ‘First thing. I know when Dad was alive, he had this dream that one day you and I would end up dating, and maybe married or something.’ Layla rubbed the back of her neck. God this was awkward. ‘You know that’s not going to happen, right?’ It was like beating a puppy with a pipe. ‘We’ve got nothing in common except the trees.’ A puppy that refused to blink. ‘There’s no possibility we’ll have a relationship outside of the work relationship. You have to stop with the shadowing.’ And then shooting it through its non-blinking eyes to make sure it was dead.
    She had to look away. ‘I want to get this clear between us.’
    Ian said nothing. His head was down and he seemed to be inspecting a stain on one of his knees.
    After about thirty seconds Layla plowed on. ‘Second thing. You know the trees were always Dad’s passion. Before he died, I was more involved with the decorations and the value adding. He had the science and I had the art.’
    His head came up and he nodded.
    ‘I’ve revised the business plan. We’re taking Bonsai in a different direction, starting now.’
    He nodded again.
    Layla could see blotches developing on his neck. ‘The Christmas trees remain. I want to diversify with sales for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Halloween. Those are markets we’re not even touching.’
    He shifted in his seat. ‘Live plants?’
    ‘More hand-made gift lines, but companion selling live plants.’
    ‘Why not focus on the Christmas lines? They’re selling.’
    ‘Like I said, the trees were Dad’s babies. We’ve done well from them. If there’s a hailstorm and the nets come down, we’ve got no trees to sell for two to three years. Or fire comes through and wipes out all of our stock and equipment. What then?’
    ‘It’s never happened yet.’
    Layla stifled an