And he’s smart, but he’s not the one who knows how far I can run without cramping up or the one who should keep track of how far we’ve gone. I am.”
“All right. If you say so.”
“I do.”
“So, how’s my yard?”
“Tink and I are studying it as we speak. Or actually, he’s lying in the grass half asleep and I’m studying the yard. It looks as if the trees haven’t been trimmed in years—”
“You want to cut down those huge trees? I like my trees. Big, lush, green, remember? That’s what I want. Surely you can see that the trees are big, lush and green.”
“Yes, I see that. But they also have some dead branches in them, and some are dangling over the house. You would be greatly inconvenienced if one of those limbs fell through your roof one day.”
“All right. Yes. You’re right. Just don’t cut them down.”
“I just want them shaped up, like a pretty, big, frame of greenery around the house and the yard.”
“All right. Do it.”
“It means a lot of noise and disruption. Crew of workers, a big truck, limbs being cut and falling to the ground. Limbs being ground up into mulch.”
“Then have it done while I’m not there,” he said. “Just check with Ms. Bee. She always has my schedule.”
“All right,” she assured him.
“And take care of yourself,” he said, almost like he was concerned.
“I will.” Then, without really thinking, she added, “See you Friday.”
As if she was looking forward to it or something. Audrey winced.
He didn’t seem to pay any attention, just said goodbye and hung up.
He’d be home on Friday.
She would not look forward to it, and she would not care.
Simon got to the gate and found out that despite the announcement he’d heard only moments before, his plane was not boarding. How annoying.
Traveling had only gotten worse in the past few years, but this trip had seemed particularly irksome. Delay after delay. Frustration on top of frustration. He found himself just wanting to be at his own office in the city and at his own home, rather than forced to wait to be allowed to board a plane or to take off on a runway or to get into a hotel room.
His phone rang, and he looked at the Caller ID display.
Ms. Bee.
He clicked the phone to answer. “Yes, Ms. Bee.”
“Now she’s just sitting there in the grass in the front yard, staring at everything. Her and that animal.”
Simon wished he was there to see it, the dog miraculously still and quiet, lounging in the grass, and Audrey, probably sitting cross-legged in the shade of one of his enormous trees she planned to tame, bits of sunshine filtering through the new spring leaves. And Ms. Bee, spying on her through one of the front windows, a scowl on Ms. Bee’s face.
He had a feeling he’d enjoy the sight.
“What’s wrong with that? She’s not allowed to sit in the grass?”
“It’s just…odd. Did you ever find out exactly what she did to be taken in by that criminal-loving woman you like so much?”
“Criminal-loving?” Simon laughed. Ms. Bee had a talent for making people she disapproved of sound positively evil, and while she’d never admit it to his face, she was highly protective of Simon and especially of Peyton. “You’ve known Marion for years. And in all those years, I think she’s had only one lover who could properly be classified a criminal, and even then he didn’t commit a felony, just a few misdemeanors.”
“Marion Givens has a talent for finding trouble, and you know it. And now she’s gone and convinced you to hire a woman who seems to be casing your house—”
“Casing the joint? You think she’s going to rob us?”
“It looks that way,” Ms. Bee claimed.
“She’s planning to have some trees trimmed, then landscape the yard, remember? Surely you understand how reasonable it seems—no, necessary—to thoroughly study the yard first. We want her to do a proper job, after all.”
Ms. Bee gave a huff to show she still disapproved, then said, “I think she’s bewitched that animal.”
At which point, Simon threw his head back and laughed.
“I don’t see any other explanation for how he’s behaving.”
“You believe in witchcraft, Ms. Bee?”
“Of course not, you wretched man. You know what I mean. She couldn’t just snap her fingers and make him behave, although that’s exactly what he’s been doing since she got here. So how would you explain it?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care, as long as it works.”
“Well, I don’t trust that woman,” Ms. Bee said. “And I can’t believe you do, either.”
“What, are you afraid she’s going to bewitch me, too?” Simon asked.
As if any woman could after his first experience with matrimony.
Although, he was afraid he’d like to see Audrey try to bewitch him. Simon shook his head, thinking he could get himself into serious trouble here.
“You like her,” Ms. Bee said accusingly, then launched into a condemnation of the entire male species and their lack of reasoning and willpower where a pretty woman was concerned.
More mother and sometimes boss than anything else, she was the only woman in the world who’d dare talk to Simon that way.
“I’ll try to keep my head screwed on tight in all my dealings with Audrey. I promise.”
“And I’m going to keep my eye on her,” Ms. Bee promised.
“Fair enough,” Simon said, still amused when he hung up the phone.
Surely he didn’t need Ms. Bee’s protection.
Surely he wasn’t that far gone.
He’d had only one brief encounter with Audrey, over a job and the dog.
He couldn’t be smitten yet, and besides he was not a man who became smitten. He was someone she should be half scared to even talk to, just because he had a reputation for being that way in business. It saved him from so much useless chitchat, saved him so much time and often boredom.
And yet he’d called Audrey at the first excuse he was given, and here he was, anxious to be home rather than out here
