Jack looked out the back window. She could see the doubt etched on his face, even in profile.He’s not going to agree,she thought. “It’s gotten kind of out of hand,” he said. “I thought it could wait until my dad got back, but…”
Calisa glanced out the window at the rampant overgrowth.Kind of out of hand?It could hide an entire family of bears easily. “How long has your dad been gone? You didn’t say.” WhenJack said he’d gone for supplies, she’d assumed it was only a couple of days, but the yard couldn’t have gottenthisout of control that fast. It wasn’t days of growth out there or even weeks. Could it be months?
He didn’t answer.
“Jack? You okay?” Had his dad been gone for months?
He rinsed the plates, then put them on the drying rack, wiped his hands on the dish towel, and completely failed to answer her question.
She eyed him and decided not to push. He’d open up when he was ready. Or not.It’s not my business.Especially if she didn’t want to risk driving him away. “Where do you think we should start? Front of house? Near the porch? It’s the first impression for any guests.” She wouldn’t be surprised if potential guests saw the botanical disaster before them and just turned right around and went to a different bed-and-breakfast. All the weeds and brambles made the inn look abandoned.
Jack’s shoulders relaxed minutely. “Sure, front sounds good.”
Auntie Zee hobbled into the kitchen. “Good for what?”
“We’re going to weed by the front porch?” Calisa couldn’t help it coming out like a question, and she immediately wished she’d sounded more forceful, like she knew what she was doing, even though everyone knew she didn’t.
Calisa held her breath, expecting Auntie Zee to scowl, glower, or tell them not to. But instead, she said, “Gardening tools are in the greenhouse.”
“Ah, okay, great.” Wow, she had not expected Auntie Zee tosay something helpful.Maybe she’s coming around on us fixing the inn.“Thanks.”
“It’s pointless, though,” Auntie Zee said. “It’ll just all grow back.”
“Not immediately,” Calisa protested.
“Years ago, there were beds of flowers around the inn. Daffodils and tulips in the spring, then the peonies and daisies. And the lilacs. You should have smelled the lilacs. I even had climbing roses on the porch.” For an instant, Auntie Zee looked wistful, then she scowled again. “It was a lot of work.”
“But worth it for the flowers, right?”
“Flowers die. Or they’re eaten by deer and rabbits. And then the deer and the rabbits call all their friends and have a banquet, and you might as well not bother.” She paused. “But you two do as you want.”
Well, that wasalmostan endorsement.
Before Auntie Zee could change her mind and tell them not to, Calisa pulled Jack out through the kitchen door into the inn’s backyard. It was a beautiful day. The summer morning sun was like a kiss, and she lifted her chin to feel it on her skin. The sky was cloudless and as blue as a kindergartner’s drawing of a landscape. She waded through the grass past the apple tree toward the greenhouse.
The door was propped open, as they’d left it. Jack entered first and stopped. “Huh.”
She peeked in behind him.
The lizard was lounging on the highest shelf. One of the leathery flaps on his back had unfolded, and it reminded Calisaof a bat wing. She guessed he wasn’t molting after all—the leathery flaps were part of him. “Did heflyup there?”
“Lizards don’t fly,” Jack said.
He certainly looked like he could have.
“Well, except flying lizards,” he amended. “But they live in Asia, and their ‘wings’ are more thin skin between their legs, kind of like flying squirrels.”
If she had access to Google, she’d have looked it up, but as it was…“He has wings.” Studying them, she could see the thin bones that stretched through the delicate skin. “They’re like bat wings. Kind of pretty.”
Jack handed her a pair of gardening gloves. “See if these fit.”
She shook the dirt off them. They were stiff, but no holes. She tried them on, and they fit fine, loose around the fingers but workable. “I’m going to name him Draco. You know, because he looks like a mini dragon.”
“That’s a terrible name,” Jack said loudly.
She shot him a look. That was a particularly vehement opinion from the usually laid-back Jack. So far, he hadn’t been anything but sunny and occasionally anxious. She hadn’t thought he was capable of arguing about anything.
Less vehemently, he said, “He, uh, doesn’t look like a dragon at all.”
