Steady (30 page)

“No,” she responded. He was still out of town. He’d been calling her and texting her with regularity now. It had been a little over two weeks since she’d toured the gardens with him and met his sister. He called her or sent her a text just about every day. It had started out with just checking on the garden plans, but that had morphed into asking questions about her day and her job, until now he knew the names of her craziest customers.

He’d subtly pulled from her information about her life and the godfathers while he talked of his trips, his family, the places and sites he’d taken in. So much for putting him behind her. Her cell rang a few minutes later. He wasn’t going to leave her alone, it seemed.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Good. You?”

“I’m okay, just taking a break. Thought I’d call to check to see how your day was, see if all was well in the land of the gardens,” he said, a smile in his voice.

“Nothing new here,” she said, and it was quiet for a second between them. “So how is your trip? Work keeping you busy?”

“Not too much,” he said. “How about you? How was work?”

“Mrs. Stevenson called today,” she said.

“What did she need this time?” he asked and sat back in his chair, so many miles away, and listened as she brought him up to date on the antics of her trust customers, the things going on in her life, with the godfathers, and their neighborhood. He was slowly making headway, or so he hoped. He hoped he was coming to mean to her what she’d come to mean to him.

September

Will walked to the neighborhood garden the first weekend in September, which was the official mandated start time for the competition to ensure as much as possible fair play among the final five. Volunteer numbers were also checked to make sure no one team had an advantage over the other.

Today they would begin the major restructuring of the garden to accommodate his design. Six-thirty in the morning was early, but it wasn’t too early for him. He usually left home around this time, sometimes earlier, for work or to cycle.

He’d met with Katrina, Thomas, and the committee members first in a small meeting last night and later on with the volunteers to discuss the upcoming work assignments. Captain Katrina had a list of all the volunteers, along with their work assignment for the next three months. She was all business, telling them that she would be monitoring and reassessing the plan against what they had accomplished at the end of each week and would change course if things were moving ahead of or behind schedule.

She answered any and all questions, introduced him around as the leader and somehow getting him and the other volunteers excited about this competition and the huge boatload of work that would be required of them.

Katrina had also explained last night that the backhoes would be mainly used to dig the major pond, the streams, and the waterfall. Will didn’t have much experience in that area, so she’d given that assignment to others. He had been assigned, along with John and John’s nephew, to digging the area that would hold the Zen garden. September, as Katrina had told them last night, would be the month of the diggers; it was her feeble attempt at humor.

He walked into the gardens to find her standing to the left of him, near where the new pond would be. She had his design in her hand and was staring at a spot in front of her. She was dressed ready to work in baggy shorts and a long T-shirt. Her hair was in one braid, with a hot pink bandanna tied around the front of her head, work boots and thick socks on her feet. He’d missed her on his last trip, but was content to talk to her on the phone. His decision to pursue her slowly had been a wise one.

He walked over, coming to stand behind her; he stood a little closer than was required, but he needed to satisfy his desire to be close to her. He used every opportunity he had at his disposal to touch her, and it was mutual—or it seemed mutual to him—although neither of them spoke about it. He’d bet good money that she probably would deny it, even at gunpoint.

“Here I was patting myself on the back for getting here early. I should have known you would beat me here,” he said, looking over her shoulder at the plans.

“I wanted to make sure everything was ready, plus I needed to unlock the equipment and potting buildings. Most of the volunteers have been working here since the garden’s inception, so I try to be as prepared as I can. I would hate to waste their time,” she said, looking over her shoulder at his face; she’d missed seeing him.

“So do you have everything ready? Can I help?”

“No, I’m okay. You are digging for the stone garden today, correct?” she said, folding her plans and reaching toward the ground for her backpack.

“Yes, sir,” he said, giving her a salute, which she missed as she bent over, allowing Will to admire her form, or at least what he could see of it in those shorts.

“Where will you be working?” he asked, looking into her face as she stood up and turned to face him.

“Mostly supervising, making sure we stay on track. I will be tagging the plants that need to be moved, and just filling in where needed,” she said.

“You’re good at this. Thank you. I can see what John meant by your ability, and I’m glad you’re on our side,” he said, smiling.

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes moving away.

“When are the volunteers due to arrive?” he asked.

“Eight.”

“I’ll go and pull some of the supplies from the equipment building,” he said, turning from her and walking away.

“There is food in the potting shed if you’re hungry,” she called out, watching him leave.

So far, so good, he thought, walking away from her. He was still in that pushing-her-for more mode, whether she acknowledged it or not. The calls and texts he’d sent, he’d initiated, going alone for a while until finally she started to return the favor, now calling and texting him unsolicited.

They were becoming friends. He knew the other would require time and more than a little finesse to make friends with her fears. He absolutely believed that the slow, cautious route was the best course. He was willing to be patient in his pursuit of her. No sudden moves; just keeping it nice and easy.

***

Once the others arrived, Will didn’t see much of Katrina for the rest of the morning. He’d been working with John and John’s nephew. John hadn’t been much help, unless you called talking his ear off help. The nephew, Mark, was a big help, though. A sophomore in high school, he didn’t talk much, just worked. Will had told both the nephew and John where to start digging and how deep it needed to be, and the nephew had put his earphones on and got to work. John, on the other hand, put his mouth in gear and had not slowed down since. Good Lord, that man could talk. He bet Katrina had sent him to work with him deliberately. He would not have been surprised.

It was now ten and he and Mark were a fourth of the way done with the digging for the stone garden, which was going to be much larger than the ten-by-ten-feet one at his house. If they could get that finished by day’s end he would be extremely pleased. Tomorrow would be reserved for more digging, and hopefully they’d finish this detail. If he could get rid of John, he would be ecstatic.

“Hey, John,” he said, interrupting John in the middle of his discussion about water conservation. “I’m going to take a break and go find Katrina to see how we’re progressing.”

John nodded.

“Sure, sure, go ahead. We made great strides this morning, didn’t we?”

“Sure did, John,” he said.
What’s this
we
shit
, he wondered as he walked toward Mark, who was working steadily. Will tapped him on the shoulder.

“I’m going to take a break. Why don’t you do the same? I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes or so,” he said, removing his gloves.

“Okay,” Mark said, dropping his shovel. He was gone in sixty seconds. Will looked around for Katrina. He didn’t see her, so he took off, headed who knew where, just looking around as he walked. He recognized many people from the neighborhood who smiled and spoke to him. Another byproduct of the competition was that it’d helped him meet and become acquainted with his neighbors. He spotted Oscar and Katrina digging holes for the new trees. He walked over to them.

***

After she’d gotten the volunteers lined up with their assignments, Katrina received unexpected help with the plant tagging and finished up faster than she expected. She found Oscar and roped him into helping them get a start on digging tree holes for the Japanese maple trees that Will wanted to add. They’d gotten started about an hour ago. Lola had come over with Oscar this morning, but, as Katrina had expected, she mostly sat on the bench, providing humorous commentary. If they were nice to her, she brought over some water for them to drink. Lola disabused them of any notion that she’d help.

“Lola, do I need to get you a shovel?” Katrina asked her.

“My momma didn’t spend thirty hours in labor to have her daughter play the role of the field hand,” she said, her hands at her hips. “You’ve got the best of us beat by a mile, anyway, Katrina.”

Katrina gave her the middle finger salute and Lola laughed. Syd ran around playing with the children of the other volunteers over at the playscape area, occasionally coming back for something to drink or eat.

Katrina watched Will walking toward them out of the corner of her eye. She’d watched him off and on all morning. He and John’s nephew had worked really hard. She intentionally had given him John, but made up for it by giving him Mark. John was one talking man, and since he loved Will so much, she let him love Will up today.

“Hey, Oscar and Katrina,” Will said in greeting. Looking over at Lola, he said, “Working hard, Lola?”

“You bet your sweet buns I am, Will. Thank you for asking. You appreciate the little gift Katrina gave you this morning?” Lola continued, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Will smiled back, the full-toothed one that Katrina liked so well, as he looked over at her.

“Thanks, Katrina,” he said.

“Hey, I gave you Mark, who can work enough for two people.”

“He has to, because his uncle hasn’t met a word he doesn’t like,” Lola added.

“The two of you got a lot accomplished this morning,” Katrina said, stopping, resting her hands on top of her shovel, looking directly at Will. “You guys might be finished tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

“Well, you have the volunteers until five. Not all of them will be here tomorrow—church and all—but the guys working the backhoes will be here. You’ll need to see how much is left to do tomorrow evening, and how many people you’ll need to finish the major digging and replanting, if any, next weekend.”

“Thank you again, Captain Katrina,” he said.

“Just doing my job,” she said.

“And you do it so well,” he said, bending at the waist for her.

“Oscar and Lola, thanks for helping. I’d better get something to drink and then get back to work. I hear the woman in charge of the volunteers can be really tough,” he said, smiling as he turned and walked away.

“Why, Katrina, I do believe our Will more than likes you. Don’t you think so, Oscar?” Lola asked.

“I am not a part of that discussion and don’t intend to be,” Oscar responded.

“Ah, Oscar, you’re no fun.”

Katrina looked over her shoulder, but Will was nowhere to be found. She went back to work.

***

September 24

Tomorrow would be the anniversary of her parents’ death. She picked up the phone and called her Uncle C. It was late, but he’d be up; he was the night owl to Colburn’s early bird.

“Hey, it’s my goddaughter calling. I was sitting here thinking about you. You all right?” he asked.

“You know me around this time. You would think by now it wouldn’t hurt so much, but it still does,” she said, trying not to cry.

“I understand. They were two very special people who loved you very much. I miss them, too.” He could hear her tears. “You know what, Kat? They would want you to move on, not to forget them but to try and find happiness; maybe find a husband, start a family, or start your own business. You haven’t said much about any of those things since they died, and you used to talk about wanting those things when they were here. It makes this life easier to take, having someone around to love.”

“Things are different now, and I have you and Colburn. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

“Only you can answer that, Katrina. I just know that it helps me to have Colburn here. Don’t know what I’d do without him, even as gruff as he can be. He and I want that for you,” he said quietly.

“I know,” she said.

***

September 25

“Western Bank and Trust. Katrina Jones speaking,” she said into the phone.

“Katrina, it’s me, Aubrey.”

“Hi, Aubrey. How are you?”

“Fine, but I need some money. I need to find me another apartment,” she explained, rushing the words out.

“Oh? What happened to the one you’ve been living in?” Katrina asked.