28. The Scoop
“Why hasn’t she called yet?!”Carla asked. “There’s no way they could still be eating lunch.” Carla pressed her nose against the glass of her living room window, gazing at the house next door. “Her car isn’t in the driveway. She’s been gone all afternoon!”
“Carla, my love, my treasure, chill out and mind your own damn business,” Matt said from the couch as he took a swig from his beer.
“What if they killed each other?!”
“Possible. But highly improbable.”
“I mean… she could bury his body so easily! You know, plant some sort of rare, endangered species over it so no one could ever dig it up!”
“You spend way too much time on the internet.”
“Maybe—but that doesn’t make it any less true. Oh! Oh, she’s pulling in! Matt, she’s pulling in the driveway!”
Matt took another long drink, chuckling. “Oh, goody.”
“Hush, Matty. You’re just as invested in this situation as I am. You’re just hiding it to be all manly man-ish. We both know you’re as much of a meddler at heart as I am!” Carla walked away from the window and wrapped her arms around Matt from behind, kissing him on the head.
“No way. But, just out of curiosity, how long will you wait before you go over there and get the scoop?” Matt tilted his head backward to grin at his wife. “I want to know when I’ll have a few minutes to sneak back onto my Only Gardeners account.” Matt gave Carla an exaggerated wink and grinned.
“Not funny, Mister. I figure I’ll give her a half hour or so. I don’t want to make it obvious that I was waiting on her.”
“Oh, right, because she won’t already know you’ve been staring out the window since the moment we got back from the restaurant, just waiting to pounce. Discretion has never been your strong suit.”
Carla laughed. “Whatever, Matt. She loves me for me. Screw it. You’re right. I’m going over now.”
“That’s my girl! See if she has any leftovers that she wants to donate to the Matt fund.”
“Do you ever think about anything but food?”
“Sometimes,” Matt started. “But we already did that.”
Carla rolled her eyes, pulled on a pair of slip-on canvas shoes and walked toward the back door. “Answer your phone if I call—we may need you to help dig,” she said. Matt’s face took on a perplexed expression until he finally gave in and questioned her.
“Dig what?”
“Shallow grave?”
“You’re insane. Go. See friend. Now.” Matt waved Carla off, sending her out the door, down the back steps, and toward the fence at a trot.
Carla pulled the broken fence rail aside and peered into Gia’s backyard, listening before she made any sound, trying to gauge the situation. She heard Gia’s voice clear as day, and it was—singing! Well, I don’t see any shovels. That’s a good sign, Carla thought, allowing a slight giggle to emerge.
“Carla?” The singing stopped, and Gia’s voice rose between two raised beds in the garden area.
Ooh, busted.
“Oh, hi, Gia,” Carla stammered. “How… uh… how are things?” Carla began pacing toward the garden with long strides, trying to appear nonchalant.
“Things are—thingy!” Gia responded, intentionally avoiding the topic she knew Carla was there to discuss.
“Would you care to elaborate on that?” Carla smirked at her friend, prying for information.
“Hmm, nope. I think ‘thingy’ pretty much sums it up!”
“Gia! You tell me immediately how your date with Ben went, or I’ll never speak to you again!”
“We both know that’s a lie. It would kill you to stop speaking to me before you heard the gossip.” Gia grinned at Carla, tugging a piece of her hair gently.
“Regardless. Tell me!”
“Well, first of all, it wasn’t a date—just so we’re clear. It was a forced lunch.”
“Semantics. How was your forced lunch?”
“It was delicious, thanks. Charmed to Table is right up my alley. Amazing food, wonderful service, top-notch!” Carla squirmed in her chair as Gia continued about the restaurant”s quality. “Great cocktails, fabulous desserts, delic?—”
“Wait. Desserts? You two made it to dessert by choice? And no one shed any tears—or blood?” Carla asked.
“We did, indeed.” Finally, Gia began to spill the details of their lunch. She summarized the events from the past several hours, from their laughter fit to the more serious discussions. Carla listened as she spoke until only one question remained.
“And after?”
“After what?”
“After the date—I mean, the meal, the lunch, forced lunch, whatever—did you kiss? You said he wanted to take you on a real date. Did you make plans?”
“No, for your information, we didn’t kiss. And I’m not telling you anything else. I want to see how it goes before I rattle on about something that isn’t even a thing.”
“First off, yet. It isn’t a thing—yet. Second, so you did make plans! You have to tell me where he’s taking you! That’s all I’ll ask for now, I promise.”
“Carla, I don’t have to do anything. And you, my dear friend, have done enough already. Back off! Oh, but first, follow me to the kitchen. I have leftovers for you—or Matt—or whoever wants them. I can’t eat another bite, and these desserts won’t taste nearly as good tomorrow or even later today. Farm-to-table is always best eaten fresh.”
“Ahh, Matt told me to ask if you had anything.” Carla grinned. “I forgot.”
“At least one of us is looking out for your husband’s bottomless pit of a stomach,” Gia said with a slight chuckle.
“You feed him; I make him do cardio.” Carla made a raunchy motion with her hips, moving them in and out.
“Aaaand, changing the subject… Kitchen. Now. Let’s go.”
Gia led the way past several tall trellises with sugar snap pea vines rising up and throughout, then ducked slightly under a curved piece of wire fencing she had placed over the walkway. Between the spring and the start of the summer, climbing flowers in various bright hues had wrapped their way around the wires, creating a breathtakingly beautiful—and delectably scented—garden tunnel. It was one of her favorite floral features this year, and her children loved running through one end and out the other. Even better, she had done it on a whim when she realized she had extra materials available after a repair to the dog’s fenced area.
Having almost run out of gardening space in the existing beds, growing up became one of her favorite new hobbies! Despite the importance of the lessons the kids learned almost daily in her garden, Gia always wanted to ensure her children had at least some free space in the yard for running and playing. She devised several brilliant ways to keep the garden condensed while increasing her yearly yields. Still, someday, Gia hoped to grow on a larger scale with a bigger purpose than feeding her family. She had an endless array of ever-building ideas in her mind. Seeing the incredible farm-to-table options available at Charmed to Table kickstarted that desire once again.
Gia and Carla entered the kitchen, and Gia pulled out five separate containers of dessert leftovers.
“Jeez, Gia. What’d you do? Order the whole menu?” Carla asked, causing Gia to laugh out loud. “Oh my God, you did. You guys actually did! I guess it did go well.”
“Shush. Take the food to your spouse. We’ll catch up on the rest later.”
“Gia, this is torture! I need more details!”
“And, perhaps, in time, you’ll get them. But, for now, I’m not jinxing this by talking about it. It’s messy enough as it is. I won’t get my hopes up that anything will come from it, but I also won’t destroy it by running my mouth before I’ve given it a chance.”
“Given what, exactly, a chance? Ben? A relationship? Something along those lines?”
“Goodbye, Carla!” Gia gently pushed Carla toward the door, opening it for her and ushering her back to the garden, then waving her off toward the fence. “Say hey to Matt for me and tell him to enjoy the food.”
Carla groaned and headed through the gap in the fence toward her own house, muttering something inaudible under her breath.
When Gia heard Carla’s deck door slam shut, she grabbed her phone, wandered back inside to her living room, and sat on the couch, resting her feet on the matching ottoman. She needed to regroup and think things over before her children returned home from their father’s house. She also wanted to check her messages. Gia had given Ben her cell phone number earlier to avoid the need for any further Only Gardeners interactions, but she’d left it on the patio to keep it dry while handling her garden chores. Having already destroyed several phones in the garden over the years, she’d learned her lesson the hard way.
Gia turned on the screen on her phone and immediately noticed the text message notification icon at the top of the screen. She sucked in a breath of air and swiped down with a shaky finger to read the detailed notification and phone number information—Ben.