“Yes sir.”
He approached the fence, draping his arms over the top of it. “How’s the garden faring?”
“Well, you were right. The seeds were washed away.”
He grunted. “Yes, young lady. Figured they would be.”
I thought about his odd comment during the storm. “Why did you say that last night?”
His brows knit in confusion. “What now?”
“Why did you say that about the seeds in the middle of the storm? That the rain would wash them away?” I tried not to sound upset, but I was. So angry and hurt I couldn’t stand it. Jack didn’t even give me the chance to speak. He thought I hid Kacey on purpose. A tingle in my eyes made me blink. “You can’t protect a garden from rain.”
Richard clasped his hands together, leaning his weight against the fence. “True, true. Sometimes the heavy rain visits ’fore the little seeds are ready.”
“But why tell me right in the middle of the storm? It’s not like I could do anything right then.” My voice wobbled as I stooped to pluck branches out of the garden.
“Just making sure you were ready for the work cut out for you today.” He grinned, the strangeness of his statement not computing.
My squash plants were gone. Bent and broken on the main stems. My nose stung with tears. I rubbed it and pressed my lips together, mustering strength for things I didn’t want todeal with. Letting nature take its course crossed my mind. Who needs vegetables anyway?
“Well, I lost my squash and all my seeds. What do I do?”
“What do you think you should do?”
I loved Richard, but he could be awful cryptic sometimes. “Uh, start over?”
He shook his head. “Nah. That’s going back too far. You got that good foundation in place. Just rebuild. Harvest might be delayed a bit, but you’ll still get one. Some years, you’ll have better, easier harvests than others. And that’s okay.”
Some of the seeds in my palm had already begun to germinate. “Do—do you have any more squash seedlings?”
“I certainly do. I always have extra.” He disappeared and came back with two yellow squash plants. I met him at the fence. “Want help getting these in?”
I shook my head and didn’t meet his gaze. “No, I got it.”
He didn’t release the plants when I tried to pull them away.
His brow wrinkled in a million places as he frowned. “You alright this morning?”
I couldn’t lie. The truth pooled in my eyes. Figured he’d probably been around the block enough times to see plenty of women cry. I swiped my cheek, surprised at the honest answer coming out of my lips. “Not really.”
He nodded. Still didn’t give me the plants.
I continued, suddenly needing someone to talk to. “My life…my life is chaos, Richard. I’m not doing right by my kid. I’m not doing right by Jack. I havenoidea how I got in the mess I’m in.” We hadn’t ever gotten personal about Jack and my situation. I doubted he knew we were married—presently or in the past. “Have you ever felt so lost you wanted to give up?”
He clicked his tongue. “Many times. Many times.”
“What did you do?”
“The next right thing.” He said it without batting an eye—as if it was so obvious.
I turned my head so he wouldn’t see the flash of annoyance I couldn’t prevent as I dropped my hands. “But what if you’ve done all the wrong things for so long that the next right thing isn’t obvious? I have no idea how to fix what’s broken.”
He thought for a long moment. “Well, sometimes the next right thing is pluckin’ out what you’ve already done. Righting wrongs. Cleaning messes. Like what you’re about to do with those squash plants.” He shrugged.
“Then what?”
“You just replant.”
