“Hey, it’s all right,” Brandon said, moving to shield her from his family.
“I told you not to get those,” Duke said with plenty of ire in his voice.
“Momma, you made her cry.” April picked up a second flat of strawberry plants, and while Lenore wanted to tell them that she simply cried sometimes when she got really overwhelmed, the emotion choked in her throat too much, and she couldn’t say a single word.
17
“She said they werehappy tears,” Arizona said, whipping her words toward Brandon at the end of the table.
He’d gotten Lenore into her cabin, and she’d disappeared down the hall to “clean up.” He wasn’t sure what that meant, as she didn’t have cold water she could splash on her face. He’d let her go, and then he turned his fury on Arizona, who’d followed him into the cabin.
Lenorehadsaid her tears were happy, as well as something else about how she’d been researching planting strawberries to harvest in the spring months. They hadn’t talked about that, and Brandon actually appreciated her initiative.
“Can you just…?” He paused, not quite sure how to finish. “Tone yourself down? Would that be too much to ask?”
He turned away from Zona, sighed, and rolled his neck, meeting Dawson’s eyes. “This is why I don’t tell y’all about the women I date for months and months.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who brought strawberries,” Dawson said.
“I thought it would be a nice gesture,” Arizona said. “For those raised beds she’s worked so hard on.”
“Itisnice,” Lenore said.
Brandon whipped around to find her standing there. How long had she been there, and had she heard what he’d said about dating?
“Hey,” he said, hurrying toward her. He drew her into his arms to shield her from his overbearing family. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about the strawberries. I didn’t know about them.”
“It’s fine, B,” she said.
He froze and looked at her. B?
That felt intimate and wonderful, and Brandon wished his family was anywhere but here with him and Lenore.
She didn’t seem to realize what she’d said, as she stepped around him and smiled at Arizona. “Really, it’s great. You have no idea. I just started researching planting strawberries in the fall to harvest them in the spring, and I was going to look into getting some plants on Monday.”
“Well, now you won’t have to,” Arizona said with a wide smile. “And me and the girls would love to help you plant them.” She cut a look over to Brandon.
He gestured for her to go on, because Zona clearly had more to say.
“When Brandon sent us a picture of all the work you’d done on your garden, I thought strawberries would be perfect for a couple of your beds, because theyarea winter crop.”
“I don’t even know what else to plant outside,” Lenore said. “Will they need covering? Brandon and I were going to do plastic sheeting over some wire, but we haven’t gotten to it yet.” She cut him a look, but this was the Zona-Show, and he wasn’t going to wade into the fray unnecessarily.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Arizona said lightly, and Duke started to laugh.
Brandon looked from him to Dawson and folded his arms. “What’s so funny?”
“She’s got sheeting and wiring for the hoops in the back of the truck,” Dawson said in a deliberate monotone.
Brandon rolled his eyes and tamed the swears running through his head. Instead of letting them out, he said, “Holyhorses, Zona,” and led the way back outside.
Sure enough, Shiloh and April had unloaded plastic sheeting and wiring that they could bend from one side of the raised bed to the other to create what looked like the covering on an old-fashioned wagon. In fact, they had already started assembling the hoops by laying the plastic sheeting out flat and putting the wiring over it, then folding the edge around and stapling it together.
“Lenore will want to see how you do this,” he said. “Could you let her do one, please?”
“Sure, Uncle Brandon,” Shiloh said. “We figured we’d just get started.”
“It’s fine,” he said, though he was ready for his family to leave, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. He’d like to use his brother’s manpower to finish the barn, but he didn’t dare leave Lenny with Zona.
