He looked up and tilted the screen away from me. “Dealing with the usual Fenton County mayhem.”

I crossed my arms. “Uh-huh,” I said. “Does this have anything to do with last night?”

Mason closed his laptop lid and scooted back his chair. “What do you have planned for this morning?”

I considered calling him out on changing the subject, but I knew it would be pointless. Instead, I gave him a saucy grin. “Oh, you know. Creating the usual Fenton County mayhem.”

“Why am I not surprised?” He laughed and stood up. “How about I take you out to breakfast if you don’t have to get to the office right away? We’ll make it date.”

“Really?” I asked, sounding more hopeful than I’d intended.

His smile fell slightly. “I’m doing a poor job as your boyfriend if you’re this excited over eating at the Big Biscuit.”

“Are you kidding? Have you had their blueberry pancakes?”

“I’ve had yours, and they’re delicious.” He stuffed his laptop into a satchel. “They’ll be hard to beat.”

I laughed. “You’re a quick learner, Mason Deveraux.”

He placed a hand at the small of my back and guided me to the coat tree by the front door. “I have a teacher who motivated me last night by making me beg for my dinner. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s true.” He glanced down at Muffy, who pranced excitedly at my feet. “You’re going to have to leave her here today?”

“I know she’s used to coming with me now, but she’ll be okay by herself.”

I let her loose, and we locked the front door.

“Do you want to ride into town together?” Mason asked.

“No, I’m helping your momma this afternoon, so we need to take separate cars,” I said. “Plus, I told Violet I’d pick up Ashley so she could help. She’s been missing me.”

Mason opened my truck door and smiled down at me. “Mom will love having Ashley there.”

I climbed up into the driver’s seat. “In hindsight, I suppose I should have asked her first.”

“I’m sure she’ll be happy about it. I’ll see you at the restaurant.”

I checked my phone a half dozen times on the fifteen-minute drive, surprised I hadn’t heard from Skeeter yet. But no news was good news.

We ordered breakfast and were waiting for our food when Mason leaned his forearm on the table. “I know we didn’t have time to talk about this last night, but the papers for the nursery are ready to be signed.” He paused, searching my face. “I know your mind’s made up, but as your attorney, I feel the need to reiterate that you do not have to include Joe Simmons or Violet in the ownership.”

I sighed. “Thank you for understanding.”

“It’s your business, Rose, but once you sign these papers, it’s going to be a whole hell of a lot harder to dissolve.”

“Kind of like getting married.” I smiled at him. “It’s easy to say I do, but ten times harder to say I don’t.”

He hesitated. “Yes. Exactly.”

“I’m not gonna change my mind, Mason. Especially after you added the clauses stating that Joe can’t sell his share to anyone but me or Violet, and I can buy him out by paying off the money he put in after a year if I decide it’s not working.”

He took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Yesterday afternoon I emailed Joe and told him the papers would be ready today. I offered to send them to the sheriff’s department so he could sign and return them at his leisure, but he insisted that he wouldn’t sign them unless you were there with him.” He didn’t look too happy about it.

“Well, we are going to be partners,” I said. “There are some things we need to discuss about restocking the nursery.”

“When are you going to see him?” he asked.

“I have a light schedule today. I guess I’ll call him after breakfast and see when he has time.”

The waitress brought our food, and I poured syrup over my pancakes. “Neely Kate told me that Hilary’s moved to Henryetta. She saw her at the doctor’s office.”

Mason’s mouth pursed. “Did she move in with Joe?”

“No. Neely Kate said she’s renting a house close to the town square. And Violet said Joe found a new place outside of city limits.”

“I know.”

I glanced up in surprise.

He shrugged. “He’s moving into the farmhouse on the property south of ours.”

It took me a moment to recover. “The farm where they found poor Mr. Sullivan’s body? I didn’t know it was for sale.”

“It’s not.” He cut up a piece of his French toast, his gaze fixed on the plate. “The owners were renting out the farmhouse, but after the loan manager’s body was found there, no one wanted it. So Joe got it for a steal.”

“How did you know?” I asked, incredulous.

“The Fenton County Courthouse. It’s one of the most gossipy places I’ve ever worked.” His eyes lifted to mine. “The real question is how you didn’t know. If something like that escaped Neely Kate, the world has turned upside down.”

I scowled. I suspected it was a matter of Neely Kate not sharing what she knew, rather than her actually not knowing it. I wasn’t sure I liked the thought of Joe being so close to me, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out Violet had helped instigate it. Especially since she’d been pretty direct in telling me she’d rather see me with Joe than with Mason. “I didn’t know, Mason. I swear.”