16. Astrid #2
I sigh. “If the porch is such a disaster, why would anyone want to see it? Aren’t the plants helping to hide it?”
“Well, everyone wants the porch behind it to look nice too,” Sutton says.
I think about all the porches on the houses along my street. They’re not only well-kept, but they’re also like little living rooms. There are chairs, sofas, tables, plants, lamps, and twinkle lights.
And people use their porches. They gather. They sit outside and call out to one another. They sit and have iced tea, lemonade, and sometimes something stronger. I’ve had all of the above on multiple porches along my street.
“They want to come over and sit and visit,” I say, before Nora or Sutton can say it.
Nora nods. “Yeah.”
I think about that. People stop by, hand me things, visit for a few minutes, but that’s it. Patty and Wilson are the only ones who stay and make themselves at home. It would be nice to sit down and get to know the rest of them.
I nod. “Got it.”
Nora looks almost proud of me. “And Declan is taking care of it.”
I think about that. Should I be annoyed? Offended? Declan just burst in here and started doing home renovations. Without asking me. He is literally taking my windows out, and he didn’t even mention it to me.
I take a deep breath. This protectiveness on Declan's part has been constant since he got to town. The shrimp, the otters, the splinter, now this.
It’s not that I’ve never been cared for. In fact, I’ve been cared for all my life.
I have a wonderful, loving family, a grandfather who always looked out for me, siblings who are supportive and who I feel are true friends, coaches and trainers who’ve always made my well-being a top priority.
So why do things with Declan feel different?
Because he doesn’t have to do it.
It seems so obvious.
Of course, my family cared for me, but they were biologically programmed to do so.
My trainers and coaches were literally paid to care for me.
All of my personal relationships are reciprocal. I care for them right back. I like to think that I’m just as supportive, loving, and encouraging to my friends and siblings as they are to me.
Declan is a completely different story. He does not have to care for me.
It would make sense that he didn’t. He’s been forced into all of this.
He could be with literally any other woman in the world.
And it certainly hasn’t been reciprocal.
I’ve been a brat since day one. I’ve been pushing him away.
I’ve been literally trying to get him to divorce me.
Yet here he is taking care of me almost as if it’s an instinct.
“Well, I guess I’m not going home for a little bit,” I say.
It seems he wants to surprise me with this. Which is…cute?
That is definitely not a word I would’ve expected to use to describe Declan.
But I can’t deny that I feel a little bit warm and fuzzy even as he’s tearing my house apart without permission.
“Great,” Nora says, relieved. “So want to help with Gardening Club?”
I shrug. “Sure. Why not?” I’m still not a gardening girl, but I have, literally, nothing else to do.
We gather supplies for the Gardening Club into Nora’s little wagon and head for the park at the center of town.
“We are doing some stuff down by the stream,” Nora says. “Everly is leading things today, so I’m not sure what all she has planned.”
Like all of Nora’s clubs, it’s a gathering of whoever wants to show up and somehow benefits the town. Honestly, Nora is amazing at her job.
We pull up to the spot and find one person waiting.
Janice Tobin looks up from the book she’s reading on the bench near the stream. “Morning.”
“Morning,” Nora greets. “Have you seen anyone else?”
“Not yet. But I might be here at the wrong time. I get things mixed up easily.”
I smile at that. Janice has a touch of dementia, but she knows it, and she knows that everyone else knows it and looks out for her. It’s really kind of sweet. She just goes about her business trusting that the people around her will take care of her.
Nora looks around. “Nope, you’re right on time,” she tells Janice. “In fact, I’m surprised no one else is here. I expected to have a little crowd by now.”
Nora’s phone dings with a text, and I find myself hoping that Alex is sending more photos from the construction project at my house. Of course, I hope the photos include Declan, but the chances that the guys are doing a photo shoot of my husband are probably slim.
Then again, it’s possible everyone there finds Declan O’Grady in a T-shirt, doing manual labor, intriguing, though I’m sure for a different reason than I do.
Nora reads the text with a frown. “Well, looks like we lost Everly and Quinn too.” She looks up at me. “Hope you want new landscaping at your house too.”
Everly Levette, one of Nora’s best friends and one of the women who has welcomed me into their circle, owns the local landscaping business, and Quinn, my hockey player, works for her. They do all of the landscaping for the city as well as private jobs.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“They’re over at your house with everyone else. Last minute, emergency, very well-paying job.”
Gee, I wonder who’s paying so well. I roll my eyes. “My yard isn’t that bad.”
Sutton and Nora don’t say anything.
I widen my eyes. “Is it?”
“Well…” Nora says. “It’s just a little…” She glances at Sutton, clearly wanting help.
“Unkempt,” Sutton offers.
“I don’t know what they’re doing there,” Nora says quickly. “Maybe they’re just trimming things up. Or planting something new.”
I sigh. “Sure.”
The only thing I am going to protest is any change to the interior decor. If they try to paint over my wallpaper with the pattern that looks like cut-open avocados or rip out wood paneling, I’m going to yell.
“So, I guess we’ll just do some weeding and talk about native plants,” Nora says looking around. “Muriel and Patty will be here, and if we can get them going about something, they’ll kill most of the time anyway.”
Nora is not wrong that they can eat up time and attention without even trying. The twin sisters come to every single club, no matter what it is, and always start a fight with one another.
But fifteen minutes later, Patty and Muriel are nowhere to be found, and Jeffrey Mullins is the only other person who has joined us for gardening.
“What is going on?” Nora asks no one in particular. “There should be at least twelve people here. Sometimes we get almost twenty. Where is everyone?” She casts a worried eye at her wagon.
I know she’s not concerned about the potting soil, or gardening tools.
It’s the snacks she brought. She’s got twenty cups of chocolate pudding layered with crumbled chocolate cookies and topped with gummy worms. They’re called Dirt Cups and are adorable for a gardening club meeting.
But they’re not going to last out in the sun.
None of us can answer her about where everyone is, of course.
She pulls out her phone and sends a text. “I’m going to check in with Patty. No one is required to come, of course, but I just want to be sure nothing’s wrong.”
She gets a message back almost immediately.
“Oh.” She looks up at me. Now she looks like she’s fighting a smile.
“What?” I ask, not sure I want to know.
“Everyone’s at your house.”
“Muriel and Patty are at my house?” I frown. “Declan said Oscar was with Patty. But…they’re not helping with the landscaping or the windows and fence.”
The sisters are easily in their late seventies, if not older. They’re sassy and admirably spry for their age, but there’s no way they’re climbing around and digging.
Probably.
“Wait, are they?” I ask.
“No. They’re just watching,” Nora says.
“They’re watching the guys work?” I ask. Then I roll my eyes. “I guess I’m not surprised. It’s probably a…nice…view.”
Nora and Sutton both laugh and nod.
Patty lives across the street and down a house. She’ll be Miles’s neighbor once he moves into his new house. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s sitting on her front porch with binoculars watching the handsome hockey players flex their muscles.
But wait, she said everyone is at my house.
“What are they doing, sitting on the front walk?” I ask.
“Kind of.” Sutton is grinning as she holds up her phone.
My eyes wide, I take it from her. And start scrolling.
“Oh. My. God.”
The town’s website tells the story. And issues an invitation.
There are five posts, and multiple photos.
There’s a veritable lawn party going on at my house.
There are lawn chairs, people sitting and standing around, drinks in hand. There are three folding tables laden with food. I can practically hear the music that I’m sure is playing from someone’s phone. Or hell, maybe someone brought out an old boom box.
There are easily forty people there. Maybe more.
“Let’s take the snacks over there,” Nora says, suddenly perky again.
I can’t help but smile. It’s not so much the chance to unload the pudding cups as it is that she wants to be a part of the big social gathering going on in town. Nora’s never met a party she didn’t want to be a part of.
And make bigger.
“Oh yes!” Sutton is suddenly all in as well.
I look at the phone and yep, Lawson Landry, Sutton’s crush, is there working on my house.
Then I remember that Declan is there too. In that T-shirt.
“Okay,” I agree.
I mean, I’m hosting a party. I might as well be there.
When we get to my house, it’s exactly what I expected: pure pandemonium.
People are sitting in lawn chairs, a few on blankets on the ground, several standing around. Everyone is talking and laughing, watching the guys do the hard work. And I quickly realize that I’m not just having two windows and a door replaced.
My two front windows on either side of my front door are also brand new.
My front porch has been torn out and is being rebuilt.
A portion of my front pathway has been torn out and carefully taped around so no one steps in the fresh concrete.