42. Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Evander
It seemed like it took forever, but the patio finally looked like it was the product of two people who knew what the fuck they were doing instead of a forgotten space. Fixing itself up just like me and Ozzy. There were finishing touches that needed to be put in, and Ozzy was still dead set on trying to get those rose bushes transplanted, so the one garden bed was empty and waiting. He had plants on standby, and it seemed more and more likely that they would have to get used, but he still hadn’t pulled the trigger.
The table in the middle was exactly what Evander had in mind. It also worked the way it was supposed to, which he had to give a ton of credit to Jake for. He didn’t know the details, whether Jake had tracked down a schematic or just winged it, but he’d put together a table with a trough around the edge that fed into a planter in the middle. The soil rectangle had been filled with multicolored zinnias, and the wood had been stained a pale gray, so it made a good base for all the surrounding colors.
With all thanks to Aras and that one lighting assistant who stepped up, the sconces gave it a warm glow in the evening. They’d even made a last minute call to clear everything off the patio, clean it, and stain it. A little friction over how they should do it, but nothing obscene. Nothing like how he and Ozzy used to fight things out. Ozzy just had concerns about the longevity of some of the more striking, vibrant products Ev was leaning toward. Evander still maintained that the brilliant, terra cotta orange would have been the best look, but the pale slate color they’d landed on still brought a lot of light and interest to the space.
It also smelled amazing, even without the roses. Evander wasn’t any kind of landscaper, so he didn’t know what all the different plants were around the patio, but the scent was woodsy and citrusy and of course floral, but not overwhelmingly so.
The chairs were also insanely comfortable. Evander was taking advantage of that fact when the sliding glass door opened. Bunny walked out, closed it behind her, and sat opposite him.
That look in her eye…he’d been waiting for someone to finally broach it. So Evander beat her to the punch. “You’re here to ask about Ozzy?”
“Well duh.” She gestured lackadaisically toward the house. “Aras said he saw the two of you last night and you looked…happy. And dressed up. You had a date?’
“Yeah. There’s an actual Czech restaurant here.” Not the best he’d ever had, but hardly bad.
Bunny nodded. “So…is this permanent?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? “Hard to say with us, isn’t it?” Ev had really been trying to avoid diving too deeply into those sorts of problems, but he had to consider them eventually. If someone was going to bring them up… “Have we ever been permanent?”
Bunny shrugged. “It’s not like the universe is out there dictating who gets to stay together and who doesn’t. People decide who they want to be with. Then you just keep making that decision over and over again.” She chuckled. “Times I would have killed Marv, but I decided to stick by him instead. And he always did the same for me. That’s why we’re still together.”
When she laid it out like that, it seemed so simple. Too simple for him to have missed it. A light sparked in Evander’s middle and he smiled at her. “Thanks, Bunny.” He sighed. “I’m going to do what I can to make this permanent.” Saying it out loud made him feel a little childish, a little naive. He didn’t care. He liked how he felt when he and Ozzy were together, when everything was working. So if he sounded childish, that was a small price to pay.
Melanie’s parents would be out for the big reveal the next day, so it was a bit of a mad scramble. Evander had finished up basically all the design work inside, so he was just being used as a body to haul stuff, clean stuff, and generally get everything right. Even after all these years, it amazed Evander just how much happened at the last minute on these jobs. The entire back yard was in constant bustle, and somehow Jake was still putting some last pieces together. A spice rack that would hang inside one of the kitchen cabinets, a small table to go out front that would hold a potted plant, a last minute bathroom shelf, which Evander took full responsibility for. It was just assembly—the wood had been cut and painted and stained—but it all added to the fever pitch.
So did Ozzy barking out orders for the yard. They had lots of little things that needed to be checked and checked again, so there was a near continual string of people running up to Ozzy and then scurrying off to do something else.
As Ev hauled another bag of trash out—anything that needed tossing had to get tossed before three, when they had the container scheduled for pickup—he spotted the backup plants. The ones Ozzy wanted to use if they couldn’t get the rose bushes. He still wasn’t planting them, but as far as Evander knew, he didn’t have another plan.
Ev didn’t fully understand why he was so hung up on them. Yes, Melanie’s dad had put a lot of work into those roses. Yes, they would be great in that space, both for color and for aroma. But he was basically out of time to get anything moving on that front.
Evander felt a familiar, critical tendency rise up. He could remark on how it didn’t make sense…or he could decide to be supportive and help him out. With a smile, he did in fact make that decision. What he was going to do, what he could do, Evander didn’t have any idea. But he headed for someone who just might be able to guide him.
Eliza was actually in the fray along with everyone else, hauling empty paint cans out to the trash. He waved and she strode over. “What can I do for you? Please tell me there’s not a tragedy at the last minute.”
“Not that I’m aware of.” He scratched the back of his head. “So, I wanted to ask about transplanting some roses. How we could maybe get that done.”
“Roses?”
Evander nodded and, although he was sure she knew the basic outlines, gave her the rundown for the whole thing. As he did, it sort of incidentally came up that he and Ozzy were trying the whole boyfriend thing again, which got a big smile from her that reminded him she was a fan of their VideoHead channel.
Once he laid it all out, she nodded. “I’m all ears if you have suggestions, but I don’t know what we can do at the last minute.”
Evander had taken the time he was explaining everything to roll it over in his mind, and although he wasn’t certain how good a chance they had of pulling it off, he could at least make a suggestion. “We’ll need a little talk with Melanie, and probably need to rent a box truck tomorrow, but I might have something.”