“I didn’t know you were into gardening,” she says. “But I guess there’s a ton I don’t know about you, right?”
“No, I’m still not all that great. Dad’s teaching me some things. He’s enjoyed taking care of the plants. It’s given him something to do, and he actually likes it.”
She starts to speak and then hesitates. “Maybe Iwillcome shop in your greenhouse. I like supporting small growers.”
“Now that you know it’s not me growing it, huh.”
That gets her. She laughs, a genuine laugh, and it hits me hard, because I don’t hear it often when I’m around, not like this. When she stops, she grins down at the kale in her hands.
“Maybe,” she says softly.
“Mm-hmm.” It’s fun to tease her without things blowing up. “My basil could put this place out of business.”
“Yourdad’sbasil,” she corrects.
I snort, and there’s a beat where we just look at each other. Maybe she’s as relieved as I am that we’re not at each other’s throats.
“I wanted to see the ice sculptures in Stillwater before I head back to Windy Harbor.” My voice is tentative, but I straighten my shoulders and keep going. “Would you want to?—”
“I’ve been thinking about going to see those too,” she says in surprise.
“Remember when—” we both say at the same time.
We then laugh awkwardly.
“Yes,” both of us say again, and then we really laugh.
“You go first,” I say.
“Remember when we were making our own ice sculptures, and we were so sad when they melted?” She looks away and smiles.
“Yeah, we had that crazy warm day in January…that is so the opposite of today, by the way.”
She rubs her arms. Today’s a cold one.
“We spent so many hours on those,” I say. “It’s the only time I’ve ever been sad for a warm day during the winter like I was then.”
She laughs. “Same.”
“So, what do you think? Would you wanna go out there?” I try again.
“Sure, I could do that,” she says, her expression shy.
“Okay, we can finish up here and then head out.”
She nods. I can’t tell if she’s still unsure.
I can’t believe she said yes.
“Wait. This won’t last in our cars. It’s too cold out there,” she says.
“Right. Didn’t think of that. Where the fuck is my head?” I laugh awkwardly. “I’ll see if they can set it aside for us.”
“Good idea.”
I go check, and they’re happy to hold it.
The whole drive to Stillwater, I think about Juju and tell myself not to mess things up. Keep the peace. See if we can get through a day without fighting.
