He smiled at me. It was an innocent gesture, but by now I knew the lines of his smile the same as the two-lane road I took home every day. It was comfortable. Inviting. And while it put my mind at ease, it seemed to have a turbulent effect on my heart, powering it up like it was getting ready for a transatlantic flight. Fighting back every urge I had to grasp at my own chest to stop my heart from leaping out, I instead held onto Beau tighter. He responded by pulling me a little closer, causing my toes to curl under.
His eyes—more whiskey tinted than usual—fixed on mine, and this time I didn’t fight them. They seemed to burn right into mine, as if their sole job was to ignite a flame in a reserved compartment in my heart. One I hadn’t even known had been there until now. Standing in a crowded room, all I saw was him. As we exchanged heated glances, something else was changing.
Chemistry, or attraction, or whatever you call that thing that makes you flush when they were near. Now, the burning sensation kindling in my heart started to feel like oozing . . . drifting down slowly. At first it didn’t make sense and I chalked it up to hormones, but it kept creeping further down. I had a pretty good guess as to what it was, and it was a disaster waiting to happen! My spine stiffened as if was being zipped up from the bottom, and before I could break from Beau’s firm hold, I felt it.
Plop.
The zombie-snail ball fell out of my gown and landed on the floor between us!
Beau’s chuckle was instant. Not knowing what to do, I tossed up a shoulder, and batted my lashes, acting all innocent. Beau’s baritone laugh continued to roll out, hooking me to join in. He shot me a look that I swore hinted at adoration. “I had a hankering suspicion you didn’t eat that.”
“Yep.” I sealed my lips up before I leaked out anything else, but I struggled to hold back a giggle with every ounce of strength I had. Thankfully our song was over, and a fast tempo beat blasted out of the speakers. I responded by pushing back from him and jerking my arms like my earlier rendition of funky chicken was now having a seizure. His eyes widened in shock at my spastic motions, but I was too relieved to care. I was never one of those women who had honed an art for dance, or had a signature dance move—let alone an appropriate one—but that wasn’t going to stop me from pretending to care about keeping up with the beat. I needed a reason to break away fast from his embrace.
Beau surprised me—though he was laughing hysterically—he copied my moves. I got to see how ridiculous they looked, which sent me into a rush of laughter that brought tears to my eyes. It was absurd and hilarious. I was having the time of my life, and we danced all night in a manner that showed neither one of us had anywhere else we’d rather be. We hadn’t spent a moment working, but I was okay with that.
Better than okay. I washappy.
Unfortunately it had to end.
We were being corralled with the crowd toward the door and moving painfully slowly with the massive amount of people. Beau accidentally bumped into someone, and I heard him say excuse me. Looking over, my eyes caught sight of the director of the city gardening program. We’d been business acquaintances for years. I was about to introduce Beau to Tim, when they started their own conversation.
“Beau!” Tim reached over, offering Beau a handshake. “I thought that was your ugly face.”
Beau shook his hand. “Didn’t think I’d run into you here. Guess they let anybody in these days.”
“Right?” Tim chuckled. “What have you been up to?”
“Same old trouble, and you?”
“Me too. But, I thought of you the other day because I was over at the junior high. You should see the size of the strawberries they have in those vertical gardens. I think they’re going for a world record.”
“That’s great to hear. Glad it’s working for them. I haven’t had time to stop by because I’ve been busy, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I’ll put it on my list.”
“You should.” Tim pushed his hand forward again. “Well, hey, it was great running into you. Get a hold of me, and I’ll take you out on my new fishing boat.”
“Will do.” The line was parting as we got to the door, and as they waved goodbye, Tim filtered out in the opposite direction.
Befuddled, I halted. Even though it wasn’t any of my business, I had to know. “How do you know Tim, and what was all that about a garden?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” He waved my question away with a hand gesture. “Tim’s a buddy of mine, and he’s does these community gardening projects. None of them make any money, but they make people happy, so I support it for him. He was looking for a way to bring the gardens to the schools, and he reached out to me to donate my machinery for some dirt work. I just had a better idea.”
“Vertical gardens?”
“Yeah, they are way more efficient—”
“I know that!” I blurted out, so lost, like we were having this conversation backward. I was the expert on green things. I should have been telling him about the benefits of vertical gardening. This was the last thing I had expected to learn about him. I didn’t know why it bothered me, but it did. Maybe it was a huge hint, or wakeup call. I had been totally wrong about him from the start, and even though I had since grown this weird affection for him, it still confused me. “So, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“If this was something you did, how come you never talked about it? I mean, this would totally help your image, aside from other things.”
He shook his head, unwilling to hear my suggestion. “I didn’t do it for publicity. I did it because I wanted to.”
“Right, and I get that, but can you see how it helps your image, and since you’ve been doing it for years it won’t even feel like it’s forced.”
“I don’t know, Cloverbud.” He shrugged, unwilling to put the energy in to give me a straight answer, but managed to add, “I live my life. I like to have fun, and I help people when I can. I know most of the things you do are more calculated, but I don’t work like that. I can’t do things to show face.” He pinned me in his direct expression. “Do you know what I mean?”
It was a personal attack. He was hinting that everything I had been doing to help him was all about something for me. I wasn’t sure how to read him, but this realization opened a whole new door of curiosity.What else didn’t I know?As if he could see my angst, he shifted nearer, and his voice came out thick. “I didn’t mean to insult you, if that’s what you thought.”
