Chapter 2

"So what got you so interested in horticulture?" Griffen asked Deanne.

The two of them sat across from each other in a casual restaurant. This was their first date, and Deanne had arranged it instead of Griffen doing it, since it had been her requirement that he go on a date with her to get her to agree to at least take a tour of the estates gardens. They were heading out to the estate on the weekend, which was still a couple of days away.

"As a kid, I just always liked to be outside and have my hands in the soil. When I was young, like five or less, I liked to play in the dirt a lot more than my siblings did. I just found out I had a knack with plants," Deanne explained.

She's been able to make plants grow Deanne remembered, and her mother had seen her do so on several occasions had realized that her daughter had the ability to make plants grow at of rapid pace. This type of magic was called Agrokinesis. She could even revive things that were half dead and make them flourish, which meant her ability was strong

By the time she was a teenager, Deanne had known that she would go to college and study horticulture. She had gotten her degree and had promptly opened her first emporium after graduation. She'd opened half a dozen emporiums since and had other people running them, as they were in different cities.

"By the time I went to college, I knew I would study horticulture and once I got my degree, I opened my first emporium. That is my story in a nutshell," Deanne explained.

"That's quite the picturesque story, though I'm sure there's a lot more to it," Griffen said.

"There is, but that's the basics," Deanne said. "So what's your story since I've told you mine? What do you do for a living for instance?"

"I'm an engineer actually," Griffen explained. "My sister is a real estate agent."

"So do you work for the city or do you work for some company?" Deanne asked. "Or do you own your own business?"

"I work for a company actually and they certainly pay me well, though certainly not well enough to where I could start up my own company," Griffen answered.

"Of course, not that would probably take a loan from a bank unless you have someone in your family that is wealthy enough to help you start up your own business," Deanne said. "No company is going to pay their employees well enough to threaten their bottom line and besides, they wouldn't want the competition, if someone who worked for them decided to abandon ship and strike off on their own."

"That is definitely a bedrock certainty," Griffen snorted in agreement. "Companies, such as the ones I work for, have enough competition without adding more."

"Competition is good though, as it forces those companies to improve on the work they do if they want to stay in business," Deanne suggested.

"You would think that wouldn't you, but it's not always true," Griffen shot back. "A lot of companies, no matter what business they're in manage not to air their dirty laundry. I won't say that there aren't rumors floating around about some companies shoddy work. That people in fields like constructions aren't aware of those companies reputations at least when it comes to companies like architectural or construction companies. A lot of construction companies in particular like to cut corners and use shoddy materials, so they can skim money off the top."

"Yeah, I know and I think it's sad that so many people use cheaper materials just so they can skim off the top and therefore, buildings or other constructions don't last as long as they should. Not to mention the very real danger of a building falling in on someone or a lot of someone's because of those construction companies using cheaper materials," Deanne said shaking her head. "Humans can be so greedy that is just sad when that greediness comes back to hurt others, sometimes a lot of others."

"True, but it's simply the way of the world," Griffen said.

"So what about you? You are an engineer so that means you design things like buildings or bridges. Have you ever cut corners deliberately or been bribed in order to save you employers money?" Deanne asked.

"Not me," Griffen answered honestly, shaking his head in denial not seeming unoffended that Deanne had asked. "That doesn't mean I don't know some engineers that have deliberately cut corners or been bribed to do so. I would quit if somebody tried to bribe me to cut corners just to save some money and as for deliberately I would never, do that."

"It's nice to find an honest man in such a business that you are in," Deanne told him sincerely. "I hope I didn't offend you with my questions, but I've known plenty of people that have cut corners before and it never turns out well for innocent people."

"People often rail against the injustices of what happened to them, which could be anything like somebody did shoddy work on their house and so there are numerous problems, which could cost a ton of money to fix, because of whoever did the job cut corners," Griffen offered.

"And the fact that they can't do anything about it, because they don't have the money for lawyers in order to sue whoever is involved and in a lot of cases, the proof of what somebody is doing that is criminal and can affect a lot of people," Deanne agreed.

"I know such things happen all the time in this day and age, but that doesn't mean I agree with cutting corners just so the foreman or whoever can skim some money off the top," Griffen said. "As for me, I just do my job and really try not to pay attention to all the crap that goes on, because I can't really do anything about it, not without losing my position. I'm not in a position to do anything about the corruption I know goes on. Sometimes that's hard though depending, especially if a part or all of a building collapses and kills a lot of people like children."

"So you turn to blind eye or try to anyway, but I'm sure some building collapsing gives you nightmares," Deanne said.

"If I hear about something like that, and also, hear it killed a bunch of children, especially yes, it can and does give me nightmares. The only thing that relieves my conscious is that I wasn't involved in any of those building projects. That's the only upside," Griffen said.

"Believe me, I understand your position, as you have to have a job in order to pay bills and your boss is capable of blackballing you from getting another job in the same profession again if you do turn them in for corruption," Deanne said.

"I don't know that my bosses are involved in anything shady," Griffen said. "It could just be one or more of their workers. The foreman for a construction project, for example. Let's just say I've heard rumors of shady practices where I work, but that doesn't mean my boss is involved."

"You don't want to know," Deanne suggested and Griffen nodded in agreement as he ate his dinner.

He was really enjoying this date that he had basically been blackmailed into since Deanne had made it a condition of even going to look at the garden of the estate that he and his sister had inherited.

Still, he could respect a woman that went after what she wanted and refused to back down until he agreed. It wasn't like Deanne had done anything illegal by making him agree to a date, as part of her conditions. Deanne had a called it incentive, not blackmail and Griffen thought that was accurate, as it hadn't been blackmail in the legal sense.

"That's accurate," Griffen said. "If I truly knew things for certain instead of just hearing rumors, my conscious would prick me until I either reported them to the authorities or I quit in order not to get involved in the company's shady practices. I am no one's conscious as people are free to make their own decisions, even if they're often the wrong ones."

"I can't really blame you for just going with the flow, for not wanting to get involved. You're no rebel or one to rock the boat and won't act until you're forced to by your conscious," Deanne said.

The two changed the subject and talked about other things for the rest of their date before Griffen took Deanne home.

~~~Deanne and Griffen~~~

When Griffen told his sister Mira that Deanne had agreed to look over the estates garden, Mira was happy. Then Griffen told her the conditions that Deanne had put down in order to do so and Mira burst out laughing just like Griffen had expected her to.

"So you agreed to go out with her just to get her to tour the garden," Mira said and Griffen nodded.

"She didn't promise to take the job, as she said she has a business to run, but since she's the owner I don't know why she can't let her assistant manager handle things for awhile."

"Because she takes pride in being not only the owner, but also the manager," Mira told him. "Apparently, horticulture is a profession she loves so got her degree and if you love the business you're in then it's hardly work."

"I understand that, but that doesn't mean she can't take off until she gets the garden of the estate sorted out," Griffen said. "She could at least recommend some people for us to hire to help her out, because we both know she won't be able to handle everything alone, but we wanted her as the head of the team."

"I know we wanted her for this project, but we can't force her to take the job Griff," Mira told him. "She has her priorities and other responsibilities and we both understand that. Hopefully, you intrigued her enough that she'll take the job as head of the team."

"But there's no guarantee she will," Griffen said and Mira nodded.

"So are you going to go out on another date with her?" Mira asked.

"Yes, because I really enjoyed myself and so did she," Griffen answered. "I have to admit, I really like her at least from what I know of her so far. I only hope it is the right decision because she could leave us hanging if we have a bad break up."

"Quit dwelling on the bad things that can happen and probably won't," Mira told him firmly. "Yes, you could have a bad break up, but if she likes you enough to make it a condition of even coming to see the garden at all, since you only met that one time then I don't see that happening, except in your imagination. You must have really made a positive impression on her just from your short meeting."

"I suppose so," Griffen admitted. "We set up an appointment for Saturday and she's agreed to let me bring her to see the garden. We can then show her around."

"That's very good," Mira said. "She'll be able to tell us how many people she needs to get the garden into shape and estimate how long it's going to take."

"It's going to take several months at least," Griffen said. "That's a long time for her to be away from her business. You know, she told me that she doesn't usually take on projects like this, as she's happy just running her business. She also told me that she doesn't care about the money involved as she owns several of the same businesses in different cities in the US."

"So she wasn't enticed because of the future paycheck," Mira said and Griffen shook his head.

"No, she wasn't, as she claimed she didn't care about that and I could tell she meant it," Griffen said. "You know, it's a good thing, that our uncles estate also came with a large bank account, because I doubt we could afford to get everything into shape otherwise, even though I know you make a lot of money as a real estate agent."

"True," Mira admitted. "The money that came with the estate, even split between us is enough to last both of us for the rest of our lives.

"True," Griffen agreed. "We've never been big spenders like some people and even if we were, there's still plenty of money that came with the estate for any children if we ever have them."

"The only problem with having so much money is that people want to marry you because you're wealthy just to get a large chunk of your portfolio," Mira said.

"That's only if people know it though and we're not ones to brag about our financial affairs. It's not like we advertised that we inherited our great uncle's estate, so came into a large inheritance," Griffen said, and Mira finally agreed.

"I'm looking forward to meeting this Deanne Rossi," Mira said.

"You'll like her, that I can say for certain. She's really nice and very accommodating, even if she did blackmail me into going out on a date with her in order to come out to the Wilton estate," Griffen said.

"You're only saying it was blackmail, because she kind of coerced you to going out on a date with her in order to accept even taking a tour of the gardens of the estate to at least give us some ideas of what to do to return them to their former state," Mira snickered. "It's really not blackmail in the legal sense of the word because she's not robbing you of any of your money or demanding to be paid to keep some kind of secret."

"Maybe not, but it's still blackmail in a sense," Griffen insisted. "At the least, it's manipulation to get what she wants."

"It's rather harmless as manipulations go," Mira told her brother. "Unless she starts demanding a lot more than she is at present then it's just a beautiful woman that likes a guy enough that she's willing to make it a condition of coming to see the garden to see if she'll take the job of helping to get it back into shape. She could've demanded a lot more, and we likely would've given it to her, depending on the nature of those demands."

"Truth," Griffen agreed without arguing because his sister was very right. "It just surprised me you know? Surprised that she made a date a condition of even coming to tour the garden. I never expected that to be one of her demands or I guess you could say requests."

"You expected her to demand a lot of money for her time," Mira guessed and Griffen nodded.

"I did and you know the reason that's what I expected. Anybody else, would've demanded they be paid, just for wasting a day coming out to see the site in another town, even if it's only a couple of hours from here," Griffen said.

"And she didn't demand any of those things," Mira said, and Griffen shook his head. "All she asked for was a date with you, which is why you were so astonished."

"Yeah, I expected to have to pay her a large fee and was prepared for that," Griffen admitted. "She even paid for the meal on our date, since she was the one that asked me out. She told me that she would pay the bill because she was the one that asked me for a date."

"It's not all that unusual for the women to pay when on a date in this day and age or to ask out a man instead of the other way around," Mira said.

"It might not be unusual, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't prick my pride," Griffen said, and Mira chuckled at him. "I tried to insist that I pay, but Deanne was having none of it and told me not to worry about it."

"You'll just have to suck it up brother, dear, as women have their pride too," Mira told him chuckling at her brother's words. "She's the one that asked you out so that means she'd already planned to pay instead of manipulating you to where you asked her out. I don't know why it matters who pays so long as you both enjoy yourself."

"I guess it doesn't," Griffen grumbled slumping down in the chair he was sitting in as he talked to his sister in the opposite seat at the kitchen table in Mira's apartment. "And yes, I really did enjoy myself, as I told you before and so did she."

"That's all that matters then," Mira said and Griffen couldn't help but agree.

~~~Deanne and Griffen~~~