I sheathed my knife, then pushed a couple of trays into her waiting hands. “Let’s do this, Stevie-girl. Alternate the lavender and the sage in the back of the bed and put the dark green ground cover in front.”
She looked again at the two of us. “Okay, Uncle Rowdy.”
Laden with trays and gardening tools, she made her way over and went to work, mixing the turned-up earth with the prepared soil.
Grinding my teeth, I pushed the additional trays of lavender and sage at Kess and bent down to snatch the hoe from its spot on the ground. Kess sidled next to me as I grabbed my gloves from my back pocket and shoved my hands into them.
“Okay, I definitely said the wrong thing, and I’m sorry. I?—”
“Do you even know what you’re sorry for?” I asked, gripping the top of the hoe as my eyes found his. “Or do you not understand how offensive that was?”
“To be honest, I didn’t know that I could offend you,” he said, trying to play it off.
“No, I’m sure you didn’t,” I snapped out, looking away, embarrassed by how much that hurt my feelings.
I didn’t know what my problem was—in the time we’d known each other, I’d cemented my reputation as an unserious man with no future goals other than my next imaginary hookup. Kess wasn’tmistaken; he hadn’tassumed. He was reacting to the persona I’d shown him day in and day out for two years. This was my doing.
Before he could respond, I stomped over to the first tree I saw and swung the hoe down as violently as I could. I cut ina circle around the tree, removed the grass, then loosened the existing dirt before dumping a bag of soil.
I could practically hear Kess staring at me. I had never snapped at him like that. Ever. I certainly wasn’t going to explain my reaction because that led to far too many questions, and I was not ready for him to know any of the answers.
Guilt only compounded the shitty ick of it all. I’d wanted to give him a peek of the real me, and I couldn’t reasonably be mad and hurt at him for bantering in the way we always had.Reason, unfortunately, hadn’t yet shown its face, so I kept swinging that goddamn hoe.
After a few painfully quiet moments, Kess started asking Stevie questions about placement and depth for the plantings, and they kept up an amiable conversation as they filled in the beds that led to the front of the house. By the time I started on the second tree, I started to calm down.
“Uncle Rowdy?” I turned, and Stevie was approaching me with a canteen in her hands and concern stitching her brows. “Here’s some water.”
“Thanks, Stevie-girl,” I said, gulping down half of the bottle. “Wow, I was thirstier than I thought.”
“Yeah. Uh, Kessie thought you looked a little dehydrated.”
She toed the dirt with the tip of her cowboy boot, looking every bit the awkward teenager. “Uncle Rowdy? Are you okay?”
“Sorry, sweetie. I was just grumpy.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Try bleeding for five to seven days every month. Then you’ll really know what grumpy is about.”
I barked out a laugh. Fucking Stevie.
Her eyes returned to her boots. “I just thought you were mad because Kessie’s been going on dates.”
That she knew it would bother me was both humiliating and a kick in the stomach. Because itdidbother me. It bothered me so fucking much.
I plastered on a smile. “Why would I be mad about Uncle Kess going on a couple dates?”
After all, it’s exactly what he said he was going to do.
“I just...” She bit at her lower lip. “Okay.”
My phone went off, and I playfully shouldered her before I pulled up the screen. “It’s okay, Stevie-girl, I promise. I’m just in a mood.”
I cursed as the message came through.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
“Not...really,” I lied. Again. Stopping to give her a hug, I said, “Sorry to ditch y’all, but can you keep helping Uncle Kess? I’ve got to go into town.”
“Oh. Do you have a date?” she asked, so innocently. “Is that why you don’t mind Kessie seeing someone else?”
