I spun and shot him a deadpan look, then plastered on a grin as Thaddeus stepped from the deck into the room and came to a stop. He wore a huge smile, and his golden-brown eyes gleamed with pleasure. To see me? The idea was enough to drain my irritation and force me to recalibrate.
“When Ziggy bolted for the front door, I knew it was you.” Thaddeus swayed slightly, leaning against the bifold frame for support. “But I thought you weren’t expecting to be home so early.”
Home?I frowned at his surprising use of the word, but Thaddeus seemed completely oblivious. Tap, of course, hadn’t missed a thing, and the finger stabbing into my back confirmed it. I thought of Tap’s earlier words—Maybe he hoped you’d convince him otherwise—and frowned again. Was Tap right?
“It was too hot to work so we called it a day.” Not a complete lie, I told myself.
Tap gave a loud huff of amusement and clapped me on the shoulder. “I’ll grab us some beers while you go sit and socialise.”
I didn’t want to sit down. And I certainly didn’t want to socialise. I glared through the glass doors to where Will and Naomi were talking quietly. They both looked up at the same time and immediately smiled. I tapped my watch pointedly, butall they did was turn away and resume their conversation. No points for guessing who it was about.
“Come on.” Thaddeus grabbed my hand and tugged me onto the deck to join the others. “Do as the man said and take a seat.” He steered me toward a chair. “I’ll go put some snacks together.”
“You don’t need to—” I began, but he brushed my protest aside.
“Don’t be silly. Besides, that wine’s gone straight to my head.”
No kidding.But I had enough sense to keep my mouth shut and Thaddeus left me to it.
Will leaned forward and patted the seat of the armchair next to him. “Come on. We saved you a spot.” He waggled those ginger brows of his, and I suppressed the immediate urge to yank them off his pretty face.
I scowled and made my way over, landing in the chair with a grunt. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” I told him.
He grinned sunnily. “And don’t forget awesome.”
I ignored him and glared at my sister instead. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
Naomi reached over and patted my knee. “Looking after my little brother’s interests, of course. When you didn’t answer my texts fordays—” She paused for effect, and my cheeks grew hot. “—I called Will for the latest gossip, and he delivered, as usual.” She raised her glass to the young man, who returned the gesture with a beaming smile.
Tap joined us and pressed a beer into my hands. “Drink up. You look like a rattlesnake crawled up your arse.”
“Gee, thanks.” I tapped my bottle to his and took a long swallow as I watched Thaddeus move about my kitchen like he’d lived there for years. He was dancing to whatever music was playing in his head as he loaded a platter with cheese and crackers and potato chips.
“He looks very much at home, doesn’t he?”
I turned to find my sister smiling smugly. I shrugged and took another guzzle of beer. “It’s been ten days. Not surprising, really.”
Tap dragged a chair alongside Will’s lounger, sat, and held out his hand. Will grinned and slid his hand into Tap’s, allowing himself to be hauled out of the lounger and into Tap’s lap. The young man nestled into a comfortable sideways position and threw his legs over the arm of the chair. When he kissed Tap soundly on the mouth and turned back to me, I tried not to be envious of what they had.
“He likes you.” Will flicked his head toward the kitchen. “And he’s nice.”
“He’s on the rebound,” I grumbled, shooting a sideways glance into the kitchen. “He’ll be leaving soon.”
“Mmhmm.” My sister eyed me with interest. “When we arrived, he was pulling weeds.”
I jolted in my seat. “He was what?” I spun to the garden and wondered how I’d missed it before. The garden bed closest to the deck looked surprisingly tidy, as in way too tidy, and at the bottom of the steps sat a bucket from the laundry, a hand trowel and fork from the greenhouse, and a pair of gloves that were at least two sizes too big for Thaddeus’s small hands. That particular garden bed had been on my to-do list the previous weekend, before the storm, before I’d become... distracted.
What the hell?
Ignoring my sister’s chuckles, I leapt up and headed down the steps to inspect the damage. I checked the bucket first, and as I’d suspected by the verycleanstate of my garden, it was full of weeds. But it was also full of many, many self-seeded flowers and most of the fledgling plants that had sprouted from my scattering of seeds the month before.Holy shit.
“So, what do you think?”
I jumped at the sound of Thaddeus’s voice and spun to find him smiling brightly, his expression hopeful but nervous at the same time. Behind him on the deck, my sister had a hand clamped over her mouth as she smothered a laugh. A gardener herself, she knew exactly what I was thinking. That my summer flower garden was going to need a bit of a redo.
“I wanted to surprise you.” Thaddeus raced past to show me his work. “Remember, you said on that first day that you could barely look at the garden, it was so full of weeds.”
I nodded blankly, staring at vast swathes of bare dirt where hopeful plants had once poked their heads through the soil seeking the spring sun.
