“No, listen.Listenthis time, okay? The Scarlet Maple is planning to renovate half their grounds next summer—build a wedding pavilion, a formal English garden, the whole nine yards. We could get that contract, Mama. I could work up schematics. I’ve been doing these tutorials and—”
“No.”
“But—”
“Constantine, I saidno. I have tried and tried to explain this to you. We have committed to a path. We can’t just go around dabbling here and experimenting there. That’s not how businesses run. That’s not howliferuns.”
“I don’t want to dabble! I want to—”
“You’re not sixteen anymore,” she insisted, and for the first time ever, I found myself almost wanting to defend Constantine Ross.Immature man-child he might be, but let the kid finish a fucking sentence, lady.
I sucked on my coffee again and rolled my eyes as the feeling passed. Leandra would kill herself laughing if she could see me now.
Con laughed humorlessly. “When I was sixteen, I spent every afternoon doing community service at the police station and every weekend working for Ross for free. The only thing that’s changed is that Mitch pays me for working part-time now. So one might say Idolive like I’m sixteen.”
“You’re only part time until Mitch can get the council to approve a full-time position,” Angela said, in what was probably supposed to be a comforting way but missed the mark thoroughly.
“And what good will that do Ross Landscaping?” Con demanded. “If you can’t afford to pay me, you can’t afford to pay someone to take my place.”
Angela was silent, and Con barreled ahead. “I’ve already run the numbers, Mama. We’d need one more full-time person at most, if we subcontracted the excavation work. I could quit working at the police station—”
“Just leave your job at the station? Leave a job you love, and leave Mitch high and dry after eight years? Look, sweetheart,” she said in a softer tone. “You know I support you and your brothers in whatever you want to do. Julian wasn’t interested in anything but vet school, and I supported him, even though it would have made things much easier if he’d been interested in the business. Now Theo splits his time between landscaping and working at the hardware store, and you joined Mitch at the police station part-time, and I supported you both in those choices, even though it meant things were tight with only Jonathan and Carlos on full-time. But you need to start living in reality. We have chosen the course we’re going to take and we are sticking to it.”
“You chose,” Con said softly.
“Pardon me?” Angela’s voice was deadly, daring him to repeat his words.
Con remained silent.
“Yes.Ichose. Mistakes have consequences, Constantine,” Angela said.
“Yeah,” he said sounding defeated. “I get it.”
You know, I’d have liked to think I wasn’t the kind of person who’d stand in the sunshine, staring at the back of a tent, listening to a conversation that wasnone of my business, between two people I didn’t even like.
Sadly, I wasexactlythat sort of person. And when Angela started talking again, I didn’t even think about moving. I was fucking fascinated by this new side of Constantine. Hell, I was fascinated to learn therewasa side of Constantine beneath the happy-go-lucky exterior.
“I hate fighting with you about this,” Angela sighed. “I hate disappointing you. I hate that things are so close to the bone right now, and that I couldn’t shield you from it like I have Julian and Theo. You shouldn’t be worrying about the business.”
“Of course I should. It’s my job.”
Angela sighed again. “You workhard,Constantine, and I appreciate it. I wish things were different. I wish I had the money to let you run wild with your landscaping idea. Heck, I wish I had the money topayyou.”
“About that,” Con said. “At the beginning of the year, you said you might be able to give me and Theo a little something this summer, once the new contracts started coming in. Do you think—”
“Oh, Con.” Angela blew out a breath. “I don’t even know how we’ll make payroll if—when—we lose the Crabapple. I’ll figure it out, I promise, but I just don’t see how there’ll be any extra.”
“Right. No, of course. I get that,” he said, in a tone of voice I knew and understood perfectly because I’d used it so many times myself, when I’d needed money for new jeans and there wasn’t any, when I’d needed money for school fees and there wasn’t any, when I’d needed money for college and there wasn’t any. “Don’t worry about it, Mama. I’ll make do.”
Recognition flashed through me like a gunshot and for the barest second I wished I could find a way to help him—
Uh oh.
Oh, no.
Danger, danger, danger.
Shit, shit, shit.
