14
Six weeks later
Hank’s redoof my landscaping took a lot longer than he had expected, simply because I kept adding things to the design. Even though his contract said two months, he told me later he only expected it to take three weeks. He was patient with me and worked with me to make sure my land was both beautiful and sustainable. Today was the big reveal, and even though I had seen most of what he’d done, I hadn’t seen all of it. He’d been adamant about me not going to the back. It made it difficult to take care of Margo, but Hank had practically moved in since that day he’d started the work on mylandscaping.
I watched as his tan arms filled the last of the beds with natural mulch. His t-shirt stretched against the muscles of his back and I felt a little hitch in mystomach.
I waswaypast the liking stage. I adored Hank. He nurtured both the plants in the ground and my heart, and his ministrations had made me bloom. He saw me standing on the front porch and gave me a littlewave.
I stepped onto the stairs, careful to keep my balance. I was wearing a boot now, so it was cumbersome, but not nearly as horrible as the crutches. Hank wiped his hands on his jeans and stood to helpme.
I expected him to put a hand out, but he lifted me by the hips and pulled me tight againsthim.
“Hey,” he said after he kissed the brains right out of myhead.
I slid down his body. “Hey.”
“You want to see the rest of yourland?”
Inodded.
“I brought a golf cart from the nursery so you don’t have to walk toomuch.”
My heart swelled. Thoughtful Hank. He had to be a Hufflepuff, but he wouldn’t fess up his Hogwarts house no matter how much Ibegged.
He helped me into the cart and lifted my booted leg up into the cab. I waited for him to come around, but he went back to fussing with the mulch. He was a perfectionist likethat.
I heard from the Midnight Cove realtors again, but it wasn’t what I expected. They came, with Lucien in tow, offered a sincere apology and announced Lucien would be taking over as CEO. When I gave him a weird look, he mouthedI’ll tell you laterand leaned forward to kiss my hand. Ever the gallant gentleman. We both got a good laugh out of Hank’s warning growl when his lips lingered a little toolong.
I suspected Portia had quite a bit to do with it and I was right. Lucien came by later that evening and explained the prior CEO had up and disappeared. Portia was the last one to have seen him, but no one wanted to poke that bear any more than they had to. Not even the police. Everyone in the company was completely terrified and Lucien’s promotion had stunned everyone. Including Lucienhimself.
A week after Portia left my house, I received a thick manila envelope in the mail. When I opened it, a set of keys and a check fell out. There was also a large sheath of papersincluded.
The keys were to the door. My heart had lurched a little bit over that one because how in the world could you secure keys to Heaven? It seemed insane that she would even give those tome.
The check was another story. It was for an obscene amount of money. When I read the letter and the papers accompanying it, I had to sit down. Hank thought I was having medical complications related to my foot. I, on the other hand, felt like I was having a heartattack.
As Guardian, I would receive a yearly stipend. A generous one. All I had to do was ensure no one found the door. Easier said than done. But, Portia had reinforced the wards around that particular area of the land, and I had some ideas about how I could keep trespassers off the property. But I would have to be careful not to keep the animals out too. It was a work in progress, but with a yearly stipend of that much money, I thought I could figure itout.
But there wasmore.
Portia had deeded me a building in the middle of Midnight Cove for my business. She’d even taken the liberty of making me a sign for it that said, “House of the LivingDead.”
I wasn’t so sure about that sign, but the building made me feel faint. But I wanted to do it. It was about time I put myself out there instead of living life in solitude. If people never took the chance to get to know me, then they didn’t deserve to know me. Hank agreed and offered to provide me some urns and plants for the front of thebuilding.
The paperwork also laid out the work that needed to be done to repair the rift. It would not be easy, nor would it be a quick fix. But this was my town, and since I was partially responsible for what happened, the least I could do was help correctit.
So...things were weird. Andgood.
Then there was Hank. Sweet, thoughtful, sometimes brusque, sometimes still grumpy, but that was just him. He and Pepper were getting on a lot better and he’d even taken some of her input for my land. Lucien was another story, but fortunately he thought Hank’s grumpiness toward him washilarious.
Hank slid in beside me and started the cart with a lurch. As we rounded the corner and I saw the area where I did my work, I gasped. Hank had not only put numerous urns of spilling flowers, he had build a koi pond with a small waterfall. A large hummingbird feeder hung on a pole over the pond and birds were zipping in andout.
“It’sbeautiful.”
“We aren’t finished.” Hank kept driving past that area and as we got a little bit further, I could see he had cleared out most of the brush underneath the trees. He had placed massive rocks all over the place but in such a way that it looked natural. Moss spilled over those rocks, making the entire place look verdant and lush. I gave Hank the side-eye. He might not think he had magic, but I knew moss didn’t grow quite that fast. But Hank kept driving until we were at Portia’sdoor.
He stopped the cart, got out, and rushed over to helpme.
