I hesitated for a single second when I looked through the Zinnia House front door and saw Ari waiting for me at the fountain in the courtyard. But then I pushed the door open and walked straight to her, knowing it was time.
The beaded necklace her cat-eye glasses were attached to gleamed in the afternoon sun as she regarded me with a warm look before gesturing to the stone bench beside her, and we sat down together. The cascading sounds from the fountain’s waterfall and birdsong surrounded us as we sat in silence for several long seconds. I took the opportunity to look her over discreetly, but besides the bags under her eyes, I found no other obvious marks from the last month.
“I’ll cut to the chase,” she started. “I’d like to start on our greenhouse project as early as next week. If you’re still available and willing to be my assistant, that is.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. This woman had just lost her husband, and I was afraid that what she saw in me—desperation, maybe—was what had motivated her.
She took a slow breath. “I think I need something to focus on. Will you help me do that?” Ari smiled at me, her right hand unconsciously fiddling with her wedding ring onher left. When she saw me notice it, her smile didn’t dim at all.
It made no sense to me how her warmth wasn’t tempered by her loss. I hadn’t even lost Dad, and definitely not in the way she lost Gil, but the past few months had left my heart coated in a thick layer of ice. Even if Dad magically got better and all the people who fell out of our lives walked back into it… it wouldn’t matter.
I was pretty sure that there was nothing left under the ice. That if it were carved away, there wouldn’t be anything to find. Or worth finding.
“I’ve thought it through,” Ari continued, cutting through my intrusive thoughts, “and if there are any times when I’m not, ah… at my best, let’s say, Liem and his beautiful boy have agreed to step in. I wouldn’t want to put it all on you.”
I took a deep breath, firmly pushing down my spiral. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready.”
She looked pleased at that, reaching out and squeezing my hand affectionately. Hope threatened to bloom in my chest—just like it had the first time we’d discussed this—but it didn’t take root this time. It was only visiting.
“Ari.” My throat tightened up as I raised my gaze, looking at her straight on. She deserved that. “I’m so sorry.”
“I know, dear,” she said, her smile watery. “And I am too. But let’s just acknowledge this now and get it out of the way. From now on, when we’re working together, let’s save our sorrys. We can just leave them out of it, okay? We need something good, I think. Both of us.”
I sniffed back the threatening tears as she pulled me into a hug. Just like Adair’s hug the other night, this one put some small part of me back together. Maybe not myheart, but my resolve to keep going. To take another step forward.
“Good.” She produced a handkerchief out of the pocket of her skirt like a magician and dabbed under her eyes with it. “Now, since we’re here, maybe we can strategize? I don’t want Live Oak to forget about their promises to match the funds we raise. Just another reason to not let this idle.” She whipped out a notebook from her other pocket and flipped it open. “I have some ideas. Do you have time?”
There were very few things on this Earth that could’ve made me say anything but “yes” to Arizona Thames in that moment.
21
ADAIR
At 9:30 p.m. on the dot, the doorknob at the front door started jiggling.
Delly and I exchanged a glance, but then the sound stopped. I held my breath, waiting for it to swing open, but… it didn’t.
Then the jiggling restarted, this time with more vigor.
“Go let her in,” Delly hissed, eyes wide.
As if my body had been waiting for permission, I shot up from the couch but instantly regretted it when my ankle screamed profanities at me. Or maybe that was me screaming them in my head at the dumb move.
“Crap, sorry, Addy. I forgot,” Delly whisper-yelled, but I ignored her as I lumbered to the front door.
I was halfway there when the front door swung open, and I panicked.
Going as fast as my booted foot and crutch could take me, I violently course-corrected to the refrigerator.
“Oh, hey!” I threw over my shoulder. “Welcome home!”
I opened the fridge and stuck my face in it.
Lordy.
I should’ve stayed in my room. I hadn’t even looked to confirm it was her, which meant I could’ve just welcomed a burglar into our home. And a bad one, at that.
Meh.
