An image of when she’d first met Ethan flashed into her mind.He’d been taller than her, skinny, with shaggy brown hair and suspicious brown eyes, as if not one to trust easily.
Then an image of him on this very spot, looking down at her with eyes that promised forever and handing her a red rose as he told her he loved her.
She’d been a fool.
Perhaps they’d both been fools to believe a love at that age could last.
Shaking her head, she quickened her pace to get out of the sun.There were more parts of the garden she needed to assess before she visited Darren.
The shade of the peppermints welcomed her, and she smiled at the hammock still strung between the trees.Another place she’d spent many a warm afternoon.It had been an excellent place to spy on the cute gardener Aunt Maggie had hired to help her before she’d got up the courage to speak to him.
Too many places here reminded her of Ethan.Perhaps it was best to demolish it all and wipe away those memories for good.
No.
As quickly as the thought came, she dismissed it.This place had been Aunt Maggie’s life, her homage to her fiancé and the life they were going to have together.
She couldn’t let it die.
But her steps through the rest of the garden showed it would take a hell of a lot of work to bring it back to its former glory.
More than the two weeks she’d given herself to sort through Aunt Maggie’s things.
Anger grew as she tripped in some long weeds.This blatant disregard for someone’s life work wasn’t acceptable.
Darren had better have a good excuse for what he’d done, though she wasn’t certain anything less than his death would be good enough.
As the fury in her grew, she stalked back to the car and went to see a man about a garden.
Chapter 4
Ethan let out a breath and shifted back behind the barn as Chelsea disappeared around the side of the house, pleased that righteous indignation had replaced her grief.A moment later her car engine started, and she drove away.
His heart thudded an uncomfortable beat he refused to acknowledge.
She was the last person he’d expected when he’d heard the car pull up.Thank goodness he’d taken a drink break from where he’d been pruning the oleander hedge behind the barn, otherwise she would have caught him.
Ethan rubbed his chest and slipped back into the barn to process the new situation.
He’d almost called out to her when she’d first arrived, seeing only a glamorous stranger with perfectly put up brown hair, a slimline skirt which hugged her hips and a lacy top that was both modest and kind of sexy.But then she’d noticed the garden, and the way her hand had flown to her mouth was such a Chelsea gesture that the jolt of recognition had made him temporarily immobile.Damned if she didn’t look as beautiful as she always had, though so much more sophisticated than the teenager he’d known.
So much more out of his league.
When his brain kicked into motion again, he’d followed as she wandered the grounds, knowing the path she would take, but making sure he kept out of sight.He felt her emotions from her gestures; a clench of her hands, the gentle brush of a leaf, the way she’d hugged herself when she’d seen the banana passionfruit vine was gone.
She’d spent a long time staring at Cupid’s garden.Had she been thinking about their time together?
His heart twisted.If she had, it wouldn’t be with fond memories.He’d broken her heart.
He should go.
Now, while he had the chance.
No good would come of speaking to Chelsea McGinnis again.Especially when she’d clearly made something of herself.
She was probably married with a bunch of kids.
But as his head listed all the reasons he needed to move, his feet refused to listen.
