“Uh huh.”
He set the tree down on the ground remarkably gently—the thing had to be way lighter than it looked—then crouched down and got to work cutting a few inches off the bottom, which I vaguely remembered was important for the tree to absorb water in the stand.
“Most of the time, trees get cut down after seven years, maybe less. But a tree like this has to be at least twelve years old.”
“Fascinating. Truly. Everett’s life must be so enlivened by these little fact-filled discussions.” I leaned back against a large tree behind me and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Ah, Ev’s a good boy,” he said heartily.
I blinked.A good boy? That waswaymore than I ever needed to know about Si and Ev’s sex life.
“You know, sometimes things need an extra five years or so to really mature, to get to where they need to be,” he continued.
I scowled. “Are we still talking about trees?”
“‘Course. What else would we be talking about?” he said innocently, still busily sawing at the tree trunk.
“You need me to help with that?” I asked.
“Nope. All under control. So why don’t you tell me what’s gotten you even crankier than usual on this fine day, Gideon. Tummy trouble, maybe? Too many sweets? Too much frosting?”
I narrowed my eyes. There was no way he could know about theotherfrosting thing. There was no wayanyonecould know.
“My stomach is fine,” I said shortly. “I just…” I blew out a breath and admitted, “Liam’s friend’s in town unexpectedly. He says Liam invited him.”
“Hmm. Is that likely? For Liam to have invited him here when he’s staying with you? That’d be kinda rude, wouldn’t it?”
Huh. “I guess it would.” And Liam never wanted to put me out. I hadn’t thought of that.Whyhadn’t I thought of that?
“Hmm. And what did Liam say when he saw his friend?”
“I… I don’t know,” I admitted. “He just showed up here in town, so I directed him to the house.”
“So your husband supposedly invited a friend to town, to possibly stay in your house, but didn’t tell you he was comingorgive his friend the address.”
I frowned harder. “When you say it like that, it sounds—”
“Odd?Hmm.”
“Enough with thehmm,” I grumbled. “He had text messages from Liam, okay? They’re friends, but Liam blushed when he was talking about the guy. Liam thinks he’snice.”
I sounded like a jealous idiot. Iwasa jealous idiot. I couldn’t remember ever being jealous of anyone or anything until Liam came into my life and common sense deserted me.
Silas was silent for a minute. “Do you think Liam thinksyou’renice, Gideon?”
“I’mnotnice.”
“Not what I asked,” he said gently.
I looked down the seemingly endless row of trees. Did Liam think I was nice? I snorted. Maybe. I was niceto himusually. And to Hazel. Because I hated to see them unhappy. Maybe that counted for something.
“People are a lot like trees in that way, aren’t they?” Silas went on. “What’s right for one isn’t right for another. Lot of people would see this tree and think it was too much trouble. Lot of effort to go through for a hunk of dead shrubbery, eh? Logistical nightmare. Would’ve been better—easier—if it had gotten cut down oh, say, five years ago.”
I stared down at Silas’s bent head. Was the man a fucking mind-reader?
“Buuuutthen, for the right person, this is the exact tree they need.” He made a harrumphing noise. “Unless of course, the tree is a jealous idiot who convinces himself he’s too much work and lets thatone rightpersongo on his merry wayfor the second time in five yearsand doesn’t even tell the person he’s in love with him ortryto make things work.”
“Pardon?”
