Secrets of the Tulip Sisters

Kelly introduced Griffith and Helen, then kept her eye on her non-boyfriend to see how he would react to the sensual power that was her sister.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking her hand. “You used to date my brother, didn’t you?”

Kelly relaxed. There was no obvious tension in his body and his tongue wasn’t hanging out, so hey, a win for her.

“Some in high school, then later in college.” Olivia sounded disinterested at best. “Who’s that guy?”

“Sven,” Helen said with a grin. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

“I’ll say. Yours?”

“The man ruffles my hair when he hugs me, so no. As far as I know, he’s completely single.” She looked at Kelly. “Unless you know something I don’t.”

Kelly knew that her friend was making sure she didn’t mind if her sister made a play for her ex, which was lovely and supportive.

“He’s not seeing anyone,” Kelly told her sister. “It’s a small town. We all know when someone sneezes, let alone dates.”

Olivia nodded slowly. “I’m going to have to go introduce myself. Just to be neighborly.”

“Is that what we’re calling it these days?”

Olivia grinned. “In mixed company, yes.” She made a beeline for Sven.

“She’s not awful,” Helen whispered after she was out of earshot. “You must be relieved.”

“I am. But the sister thing is strange.”

Sally walked to the podium on the stage. “It’s seven o’clock, everyone. Let’s get the meeting started.”

Helen and Kelly started toward the chairs. Griffith joined them and sat next to her. Olivia settled on the other side of Helen, then shocked the hell out of Kelly by pulling a small notebook out of her purse.

Kelly leaned across Helen. “What’s that?”

“I did some research this afternoon. Demographics on the town and the surrounding counties, that sort of thing. It would help a lot if we were on the sound. Waterfront communities always brings in a crowd.”

“Not something we can easily change,” Helen said.

“I know.” Olivia sighed. “Unless there was a really big earthquake and the western part of the county fell into the sound. But that’s probably not something I should wish for.”

“Death and destruction,” Griffith whispered in Kelly’s ear. “I’d go see the movie.”

“You’re such a guy.”

“You wouldn’t want me any other way.”

*

Despite the tall blond Viking god sitting at the edge of her peripheral vision, Olivia paid attention to the woman leading the meeting. Ryan might have been part of her returning home game plan but she knew he was someone she could manage. Sven, on the other hand, was an unknown. The last thing she needed was a messy affair mucking up her summer. But if the opportunity presented itself, she might be willing to change her mind, just not tonight.

After a slightly rambling introduction, Sally had gotten to the point of the meeting. Getting more tourists in town.

“Maybe some kind of summer festival,” one person suggested. “The old Johnson farm is growing potatoes.”

“No one wants to take pictures of potatoes,” Sally said. “Pumpkins are attractive. Is anyone growing pumpkins?”

“I have a couple of vines in my garden.”

“I doubt that’s going to attract many people.”

“What about opening up the tulip fields to tourists?” Olivia asked.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“Excuse me?” Kelly asked. “Open it up for what?”

“Planting. Bulbs are planted in the fall. We could invite people to come plant.”

“I don’t think so. I don’t want a bunch of people who have no idea what they’re doing anywhere near my farm.”

“I’m talking about a couple of acres near the road. You wouldn’t miss them at all. People would make the trip for a big planting party. It would give them ownership. They could sign up for a newsletter and get updates on how their bulbs are doing. Then they’d for sure want to come back in the spring.”

“She’s right,” someone called. “It could be fun.”

“Not for me,” Kelly grumbled. “This is how I make my living, people.”

“It’s a couple of acres,” Olivia repeated. “Seattle is about an hour away. The population of the metro area is nearly four million people and they all ignore us except when the tulips are blooming. We need to change that. I’ve been researching what other small towns are doing to attract tourists and their dollars, and the list is impressive. We have to work with what we have to be more appealing.”

She motioned to the space around them. “This craft mall, for example. It has potential but it needs to be updated. I walked through it today and the flow isn’t user friendly. There were booths I couldn’t get to without looking at a map and backtracking three times.”

“I told you,” an older man said. “It’s not set up right.”

“The bigger problem is the roof,” someone in the back yelled. “No point in putting lipstick on a pig. If we don’t get a new roof soon, we won’t have a craft mall.”

The room went silent. Sally sighed. “Yes, the roof. You’re right. That is the bigger problem.”

“What about a bake sale?” a woman offered. “Or a car wash?”

Olivia raised her hand. “How much is the new roof?”

“Thirty thousand, give or take.”

“You’re not going to get there on cupcakes.”

Sally raised her eyebrows. “You have a better idea?”

Olivia felt everyone turning to stare at her. She knew what they were thinking. She was an outsider—she didn’t belong. The only reason they were listening was that she was Kelly’s sister.

“An auction,” she said confidently. “A big evening with a nice dinner. A silent auction during cocktails and a live auction during dinner.”

“We don’t have the money to pay for that,” the old man grumbled.

“Get a couple of sponsors and price the tickets at seventy-five dollars each and you don’t have to.”

“Seventy-five dollars?” the old man asked, his tone outraged. “Who pays that for dinner?”

“A lot of people. I’m not talking burgers and fries.” Olivia smiled at Helen. “No offense.”

“None taken. I actually like the idea of an auction. We haven’t done anything like that before. There are people with money around here. They don’t want to be bothered with a lot of donation requests, but I’ll bet we could get them to come to an auction. It would be a matter of offering the right items.”

The unexpected support gave Olivia courage. “I’ve done this sort of thing before for a women’s shelter, and it was very successful. Helen’s right. It’s about getting the right kind of donations to draw a big crowd.”

“You could donate one of your tiny homes,” Kelly murmured to Griffith.

“It would be cheaper to just pay for the roof.” He looked at Olivia. “I’ll donate a custom design and a five-thousand-dollar gift certificate.”

Several people gasped.

Olivia had a feeling she looked as shocked as Kelly.

“Thank you,” she managed to answer.

“I’ll donate the garden for the house,” Viking-god Sven said loudly. “And a thousand dollars’ worth of plants for someone else.”