Malcolm squatted beside me, poking at the dirt. “I love my apartment, but I really miss having a garden I can tend to. I used to keep a plot in a community garden down the road, but the spaces fill up so fast. I didn’t get a spot in the lottery this year.”
When he tugged a few weeds out and tossed them aside without really thinking, I realized he must be a true gardener. With his hands in the dirt, a little of his prim behavior melted away. His muscles relaxed, and I saw a smile on his face that was so different than the anxious worry I was used to.
I pulled a couple of turnips out, shaking dirt from them. The greens were so bolted that they would be too bitter to use, but the roots themselves looked possibly usable, even if they were knotted and tough.
“Maybe we’ll have some fresh food after all. You all like turnips?”
“Um, no,” Gunner laughed, standing behind us with his arms crossed. “Do you?”
Malcolm grinned back at his friend. “Not really. But it’s probably better than cans of beans.”
“Gunner mentioned that you’re looking for a new apartment,” I said to Malcolm, rising back to my feet. “Are you hoping to find a place with garden access?”
Malcolm stood up beside me, then crossed to join Gunner, apparently taking some comfort by being close to his date. “It’s not really like that, although yeah, I would love a place with a garden. But if I had a choice, I’d be staying in my old apartment. It’s just my landlords that are forcing me to leave.”
“They’re total scum,” Gunner added. “They’re trying to drive him out.”
“Yeah, it’s a real mess,” Malcolm sighed. “They’ve driving my rent through the roof.” He wiped the dirt off his hands. “Never rent from Richter Properties if you can help it.”
My muscles tensed at the mention of my family name, and I had to turn back to the garden to hide the expression on my face. My father and his family had their fingers in just about every industry you could imagine, and I was very familiar with the tactics they used to exploit their tenants. Hell, seeing my uncle force a few poorer families from their homes when I was in high school helped me understand that the family business wasn’t as respectable and honorable as they liked to pretend.
My Uncle Elmar was low on the family pecking order, and I knew my father considered him an embarrassment, nearly as bad as me. While the leaders of the family business were left to bribe politicians and arrange sketchy contracts with corrupt union leaders, Uncle Elmar had been regulated to much cruder industries. Richter Properties was the dirty jewel in his tarnished crown. I was just glad he hadn’t advanced to harassing Malcolm at work or trying to blackmail him to move.
“Richter Properties, huh?” I said, turning back to face them. “And you’ve decided to move rather than fight it?”
Malcolm shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a fight I can win.”
I thought about unloading my guts right then and telling them the whole sordid family story I’d been carrying around for years. If there was one thing I’d learned from my criminal days, though, it was to keep my mouth shut. Discretion was key, especially when I had nothing more to offer those two guys than some scandalous stories from Uncle Elmar’s past.
It did remind me of Declan’s offer, though. I wasn’t about to go risking the safe, peaceful life I had made, but knowing my family was screwing with Malcolm made the idea of sticking it to them again much more enticing.
“Are these all your sculptures?” Gunner asked, pointing to some of the metal hulks on the hillside.
“Sure are,” I said, grateful to change the conversation for now. “I took up welding when I moved out here. I’m not much of an artist, but it passes the time, and there’s nothing quite like the thrill of shaping metal and bending it to your will. Not to mention completing the occasional welding project for cash keeps a little extra money in my pocket.”
“That one’s cool,” Gunner said, gesturing to one of my favorites. Made from old pieces of steel I had dragged home from the dump, the piece looked kind of like a gigantic flower that had been set on fire, with sharp edges sticking in every direction. Tucked into the side of the hill, time had corroded and rusted the metal, and the burnt red color contrasted nicely with the greens of the grasses and shrubs.
“I’m not surprised you think so,” I said. “As a guy who works demolition, you probably appreciate old salvaged material more than most people.”
Gunner nodded. “Some of the stuff people throw away shocks me. It’s like they’re happy to just trash an entire building rather than take the time to salvage the good parts.”
“What about you, Malcolm?” I asked. “You got any favorites?”
He gestured to a smaller sculpture, almost hidden behind the overgrown rows of the garden. “What’s that one?”
I smiled to myself, then walked through the weeds to reach it, pulling some aside to clear the view. “This is a fairly new one,” I said. “It’s a pooch—my old buddy Freddie. I made it the summer he passed.”
Malcolm peered over the garden, glancing at it. “Freddie looks happy.”
I shrugged, standing back up and throwing aside the weeds I’d picked. “He liked the garden, and I guess I wasn’t quite ready to stop seeing him out here.”
Malcolm blinked at me from behind his glasses, clearly appreciating the image. “That’s nice,” he said.
“Sure,” I replied, ready to move on from the topic. I glanced up at the sky, noticing how the sun was inching across it. “I’m about ready to head back inside. I’ve got a giant sack of laundry to get to and some bills that should get paid sooner than later. Are you two going to be all set if I leave you alone back here?”
“Hey,” Gunner objected. “What about the workshop? I thought you were going to show us the welding equipment.”
“You manage to go the rest of the day without pissing me off, maybe I will,” I replied.
Gunner and Malcolm exchanged a glance, and Malcolm shrugged. “We’ll be fine. Do you mind if I poke around in your garden a little, though?”
“You want to deal with that weedy mess, go right ahead.”
I gave them another look up and down, struck all over again by how damn sexy they looked next to each other. If I were ten or fifteen years younger, I’d probably be falling for each of them, just the same as they were falling for each other.
I grunted quietly to myself, nodding. “Good. Just don’t do anything stupid, okay? I’ll be inside if you need me.”
Turning on my heel, I headed back to the house. I had an afternoon worth of chores to catch up on, but I couldn’t say it was bothering me to have the two of them lounging out in the garden.
If I were being honest with myself, I might even admit that I liked it.
