Definitely.
A text came in from Leah right after I started my car.
Leah: Don’t forget about book club tomorrow.
I’d briefly texted with Leah this week about how Jace was fairing with the kids and yes, she reminded me about book club. What I hadn’t done yet, was come up with a plausible excuse to miss it. Maybe if I didn’t answer her texts for the next twenty-four hours, I could feign an illness.
Leah: Stop thinking of ways to get out of this. Meet me at my house at noon. We can drive to Rose’s together.
Polly: I haven’t read the book yet.
Leah: Liar. And even if you hadn’t, no one would care.
Polly: Are you sure your friends are ok with me coming along? I don’t want to intrude.
Leah: Yes, I already told them you were coming.
Leah: Bring wine.
Seeing no way out of this, I sent a resigned text in response.
Polly: Fine. Have a good night.
I was able to detach from my worries about tomorrow as I listened to my audiobook on the way home. I loved books with quirky side characters. This one had a quirky grandmother who made dick flower pictures out of diamond art. Picturing my father coming home and finding a large gemstone dick flower canvas in the library made me laugh aloud, the smile staying on my face for the rest of my drive home.
An unfamiliar truck in my driveway had me gripping the wheel in panic, then relaxing as I recalled Jace sending me a text asking if his friend Sam could come over today.
“Mommy!” Ryla yelled, running through the open garage door, looking to have spent the entire day outside. Specks of dirt were in her hair and dark, muddy streaks were painted across her clothes and cheeks.
“You’re home!” Ryla cried, slamming into me and wrapping her arms around my waist, muddy clothes and all.
“Come see what we did! We’re in the backyard and it’s a secret!” I tried to keep up with Ryla, but my heels kept sinking into the grass. After finally taking them off, I walked around the house to the backyard and immediately came to a halt.
Heat prickled my skin. Jace wore a white, dirt-streaked muscle tee. His biceps bulged as he lifted something; I had no idea what. I was too distracted by the topknot holding half of Jace’s curly hair back, the bottom half of his hair clinging to his neck.
My mouth opened and closed like a fish. I had no idea I had a thing for muddy, sweaty men with long hair. But between the sweat and dirt and popping muscles I somehow made a mental note to ask Leah if she was aware of any books with a hot farmer trope.
“Zap!” A loud noise sounded from behind me, making me spin. A large square wire box that I hadn’t ever seen before hung from a pole. Slowly, I turned around in a full circle to survey the rest of the backyard.
It’d been completely transformed.
Gone were the flowering plants and baskets. Instead, I saw a half dozen raised garden beds containing what looked like marigolds and herbs, plus some other plants I couldn’t identify. Tiki torches were lit and scattered along the perimeter of the yard, citronella candles were burning and scattered every five feet, and there was another large wire box hanging up on the far side of the pool.
Looking up and seeing me, Jace halted, his expression immediately shuttering.
“What’s going on?” I called out to him. He seemed to take a steadying breath, then walk slowly toward me. Movement drew my attention as his friend Sam appeared from behind a group of trees in the far back corner of the yard, in the direction where an old shed sat on the property.
“Polly, you’ve met my friend Sam, right?” Jace gestured to Sam once we all met near the bottom of the stone patio stairs.
“Yes. We’ve met. Hello, again,” I said flatly to Sam, remembering being out here with those absurd baby goats.
“It’s so nice to see you again, Pol—” Sam glanced at Jace, who for some reason, was giving him a hard glare—“Ms. Alberton. I’m so sorry, again, for the mix-up about the clown and the petting zoo. I sincerely apologize and will be refunding you back your money as we discussed,” Sam said, reiterating the promise he’d made over an email earlier this week.
“Thank you.” I turned my attention to Jace, who continued to look more nervous than I’d ever seen him. “What’s going on?”
“We’re killing bees!” Ryla whooped from beside me, jumping up and down.
“What?” I asked, whipping my head to Jace.
