It alsosmelledamazing, even without the roses. Evander wasn’t any kind of landscaper, so he didn’t know what all the different plants were around the patio, but the scent was woodsy and citrusy and of course floral, but not overwhelmingly so.
The chairs were also insanely comfortable. Evander was taking advantage of that fact when the sliding glass door opened. Bunny walked out, closed it behind her, and sat opposite him.
That look in her eye…he’d been waiting for someone to finally broach it. So Evander beat her to the punch. “You’re here to ask about Ozzy?”
“Well duh.” She gestured lackadaisically toward the house. “Aras said he saw the two of you last night and you looked…happy. And dressed up. You had a date?’
“Yeah. There’s an actual Czech restaurant here.” Not the best he’d ever had, but hardly bad.
Bunny nodded. “So…is this permanent?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? “Hard to say with us, isn’t it?” Ev had really been trying to avoid diving too deeply into those sorts of problems, but he had to consider them eventually.If someone was going to bring them up… “Have we ever been permanent?”
Bunny shrugged. “It’s not like the universe is out there dictating who gets to stay together and who doesn’t. Peopledecidewho they want to be with. Then you just keep making that decision over and over again.” She chuckled. “Times I would have killed Marv, but Idecidedto stick by him instead. And he always did the same for me. That’s why we’re still together.”
When she laid it out like that, it seemed so simple. Too simple for him to have missed it. A light sparked in Evander’s middle and he smiled at her. “Thanks, Bunny.” He sighed. “I’m going to do what I can to make this permanent.” Saying it out loud made him feel a little childish, a little naive. He didn’t care. He liked how he felt when he and Ozzy were together, when everything was working. So if he sounded childish, that was a small price to pay.
Melanie’s parents would be out for the big reveal the next day, so it was a bit of a mad scramble. Evander had finished up basically all the design work inside, so he was just being used as a body to haul stuff, clean stuff, and generally get everything right. Even after all these years, it amazed Evander just how much happened at the last minute on these jobs. The entire back yard was in constant bustle, and somehow Jake wasstillputting some last pieces together. A spice rack that would hang inside one of the kitchen cabinets, a small table to go out front that would hold a potted plant, a last minute bathroom shelf, which Evander took full responsibility for. It was just assembly—the wood had been cut and painted and stained—but it all added to the fever pitch.
So did Ozzy barking out orders for the yard. They had lots of little things that needed to be checked and checked again, so there was a near continual string of people running up to Ozzy and then scurrying off to do something else.
As Ev hauled another bag of trash out—anything that needed tossing had to get tossed before three, when they had the container scheduled for pickup—he spotted the backup plants. The ones Ozzy wanted to use if they couldn’t get the rose bushes. He still wasn’t planting them, but as far as Evander knew, he didn’t have another plan.
Ev didn’t fully understandwhyhe was so hung up on them. Yes, Melanie’s dad had put a lot of work into those roses. Yes, they would be great in that space, both for color and for aroma. But he was basically out of time to get anything moving on that front.
Evander felt a familiar, critical tendency rise up. He could remark on how it didn’t make sense…or he coulddecideto be supportive and help him out. With a smile, he did in fact make that decision. What he was going to do, what hecoulddo, Evander didn’t have any idea. But he headed for someone who just might be able to guide him.
Eliza was actually in the fray along with everyone else, hauling empty paint cans out to the trash. He waved and she strode over. “What can I do for you? Please tell me there’s not a tragedy at the last minute.”
“Not that I’m aware of.” He scratched the back of his head. “So, I wanted to ask about transplanting some roses. How we could maybe get that done.”
“Roses?”
Evander nodded and, although he was sure she knew the basic outlines, gave her the rundown for the whole thing. As he did, it sort of incidentally came up that he and Ozzy were trying thewhole boyfriend thing again, which got a big smile from her that reminded him she was a fan of their VideoHead channel.
Once he laid it all out, she nodded. “I’m all ears if you have suggestions, but I don’t know what we can do at the last minute.”
Evander had taken the time he was explaining everything to roll it over in his mind, and although he wasn’t certain how good a chance they had of pulling it off, he could at least make a suggestion. “We’ll need a little talk with Melanie, and probably need to rent a box truck tomorrow, but I might have something.”
Chapter forty-three
Ozzy
Mason clapped his hands.“I can’t believe we’ve never done a surprise reveal like this before.”
“I can.” Ozzy had been instructed to take the lead with Mason, so the two of them were waiting out front for Melanie’s parents to show up. “It’s a pain in the ass trying to work around the surprise. It’s a pain in the ass being held to someone else’s schedule. Oh, and it’s a pain in the ass to havenoidea if they’re even going to want to move in, or if they’re even going to like anything we did.”
“Wow. Here I thought getting back into a relationship would have bought you at least a couple days of good mood.”
Ozzy looked across at him. “Thisisme in a good mood.” Which was a flat out lie, but he was pretty sure they both knew Ozzy could have beenmuchmore unpleasant. He was absolutely still riding the high of getting back together with Evander. Theyspent each night together, had coffee in the mornings together, talked about a whole bunch of nonsense together when they caught a minute alone.Thatpart of his day felt wonderful.
Thispart felt like slowly peeling off his skin. No small part of it was the row of lilacs he’d never planted. A big reminder that, technically speaking, this job wasn’t finished.Hisjob specifically, the landscaping, was the ugly mark on the entire project, all because he’d gotten a bee in his bonnet about some rose bushes a few weeks prior. He still had no solid plan for that damn flower bed. He could get the lilacs planted before the end of the day if that made the most sense, but he was still holding onto hope that, once the actual clients showed up, he could have some flash of genius or something and solve all the problems.
In the interim, while they waited, his mood was soured.
A familiar black SUV pulled up and Ozzy took a deep breath. Cameras swarmed and he knew he needed to put on his TV face. He nodded briefly to Mason. “Take the lead. Please.”
“Ooh, I get a please.” Mason’s voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. He grinned. “Not so hot on hosting?”
