Picking Up the Pieces (8 page)

The way the auction shook out hadn’t sat well with me. When the sheriff showed up, I’d just about had a heart attack. Joe Simmons would have skinned Rose alive if he’d caught her, but he would have locked me up and made sure I had plenty of gray hair before I ever tasted freedom again. But Rose had surprised me. Not only had she gotten away, but she’d held her own and earned Skeeter’s respect. For now. Something plenty of grown men had never done, myself included.

Now Fenton County was abuzz with gossip about the Lady in Black and I was fairly certain Rose was oblivious to it all. She thought she was done with Skeeter but I’d bet my right eye that she’d only just seen the beginning.

So now she had her money back, which meant the nursery was safe. Even though she’d said she would share it with me in exchange for helping her, I wasn’t about to hold her to it. I’d learned desperate people would make all sorts of promises to get out of trouble.

Even so, Rose was different. I’d noticed that right away when she sat on my jury. While all the other jurors looked like they were about to pass out from the heat of the broken air conditioner, Rose watched the trial like it held the secret of life. Sure, she passed out, but I later realized it happened at the very moment she realized I was innocent. And when my old neighbor took the stand and told the judge that Rose had been snooping around Frank Mitchell’s house, investigating my case, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Judge McClary threw her in jail for contempt of court, and I watched in disbelief as she was escorted out of the courtroom.

Why would someone I didn’t even know risk so much to help
me?

The very next week she sat across a table from me, both of us stuffed into a tiny room with my worthless attorney. She held her ground when my lawyer tried to make her look like a fool, and when she stared into my eyes, I about fell over. She truly believed I was innocent. Other than my best friend David, she was the only one who did. But truth be told, there were a few times when I’d seen doubt in David’s eyes.

I spent plenty of sleepless nights pondering it. Why
did
she believe in me?

At first I wondered if she wanted something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it could be. After I was released, I waited for her to show up asking for favors, but she never did. Not for a couple months and then not for what I expected.

When David called to tell me that she wanted us to help her plant flowers at the new reverend’s church, I thought he was high on ’shrooms. But he swore to me that he was at work and sober.

“
That’s
what she wants from me?” I asked in disbelief.

David sounded leery. “So what do you wanna do?”

I hadn’t worked since before my arrest for Frank Mitchell’s murder. No one would hire me, so there was no denying that I needed the money. But I could have been rolling in a bed full of hundred-dollar bills and I still would have gone. I owed her. I figured I’d pay off my debt, collect my paycheck, and be done with her.

Little did I know I’d only just begun with her.

Little did I know I’d finally found my purpose in life.

One summer when I was twelve, my momma couldn’t take the bickering between me and Russell anymore, so she packed me up and sent me to her uncle’s farm. I mostly helped him with the cattle, but my aunt had a garden and I helped her weed the beds. Before the summer was over, she was calling me Farmer Bruce.

I planned to go back the following summer. Instead, I ended up doing my first stint in juvie for shoplifting.

Maybe it was working at a church. Maybe it was Reverend Jonah making me think I could do more with my life. Or maybe it was the woman who believed in me more than I believed in myself… Whatever the reason, when I first promised Rose I’d help her, it was because I owed her, but when I agreed to work with her on Jonah’s house, I did it because I loved it.

Rose gave me my life back twice. And I wasn’t about to forget that.

When I was in fourth grade, I read a book about a Chinese proverb. I wasn’t much of a reader, but I had a book report due. I grabbed the book out of the school library, hardly looking at the cover—I just needed a book to skim so I could write the report. But later that night, I started reading it and couldn’t put it down. It was about two men, a fisherman and a merchant. The merchant thought he was high and mighty and treated the fisherman like pond scum. The merchant needed to get to the other side of a lake in a hurry, so he asked the fisherman to use his boat to take him. Once they’d started their journey, the merchant confessed he couldn’t swim, which the fisher found ridiculous. But halfway across the lake, a sudden storm blew in and tipped the boat over. The fisherman frantically searched the water and pulled the merchant from his almost watery grave, laying him on top of the overturned boat.

“Why did you save me?” the merchant asked. “I already paid you, and I didn’t hide how disgusting I thought you were.”

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” the fisherman replied.

Once they got back to shore, the merchant swore his loyalty to the fisherman. He said he owed his life to him, and from them on, he would forever be in his debt.

For some reason that story stuck with me. Maybe it was because I could relate to the fisherman. Maybe it was because the merchant got his plate of humble pie—something I wished could happen to the high-and-mighty people in my life. Or maybe I just wanted to think someone could change their mind about me. You see, I always saw myself as the fisherman until I met Rose Gardner and I realized I’d got the story all wrong. The fisherman knew who he was the whole time. And I didn’t know who I was until I met Rose.

But she had saved me twice, so what could I possibly do to pay her back? To my mind, taking her to see Skeeter Malcolm had done twenty times more harm than good. Even if Rose didn’t see it, I’d got her into the mess. Now I was gonna have to figure a way out of it.

The morning after Thanksgiving I sat around in my house, twiddling my thumbs. We were plumb outta jobs and Rose was planning to split up the business, which meant there wouldn’t be anything to do for a while. But now that I’d had a taste of doing something I loved, I wasn’t content to sit around. Rose owned the whole shebang—the store and the landscaping part—even if she planned to split it apart. Right now the store was in shambles and someone had to clean it up. I figured I’d head over after lunch and get a good look at what we were facing.

Rose’s truck was in the parking lot when I pulled up to the store. I usually hated coming to the nursery, but only because Violet was always there, looking down her perky nose at me. But today her car was nowhere to be seen.

I found Rose inside the shop, sitting on a folding chair in a small area that had been cleared of debris, two other folding chairs arranged in front of her. “Rose?” I asked as walked through the door.

She turned to face me with a faraway look in her eyes, then gave me a soft smile. “What are
you
doin’ here, Bruce Wayne? I gave you the day off, remember?”

“Sittin’ around didn’t feel right so I came to assess the damage. See what needed fixin’.” I sat in one of the chairs in front of her. “What are
you
doin’ here?”

“Trying to figure out the right thing to do.”

I chuckled. “You know what it is. Sounds like you don’t like it, but you know all the same.”

She shook her head, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Neely Kate better watch out. You’re giving her a run for her money.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but it was good to see her more like herself. “I heard everyone in town got their money back. I’m guessin’ you did too?”

“Who’d a thought Skeeter would be a man of his word?”

“Don’t count on that bein’ a regular occurrence. In fact, steer clear of him if you can.”

She gave me an exasperated look. “It’s not like I plan on paying him weekly visits for tea.”

The thought of Skeeter drinking from a tea cup with his pinky sticking out nearly made me laugh, but there were more serious issues underfoot. “
You
might not be planning on visiting Skeeter, but you know
he’s
gonna be calling on you. He’s gonna want you to help him again.”

Her lips pressed together. “No way. I can’t.”

“Skeeter’s not used to hearin’ no. He’s got ways of makin’ people do what he wants them to do.”

“Mason’s in his office right now with the DA and the sheriff and they’re all abuzz about that woman with Skeeter.” She turned to me with pleading eyes. “Mason’s gonna kill me if he finds out who she really is. And what if the big-wigs in town learn that it was his girlfriend…he could lose his job because of me.” She shook her head. “No. I can’t risk doing anything like that again.”

“And I’m telling you that you might have every intention of saying no, but you better have a plan in place for how to handle the situation when you say yes.”

She released a frustrated sigh. “No sense borrowing trouble, Bruce Wayne. I’ll cross that road when I come to it.”

“You can’t—”

“There’s nothing I can do about it now, right?”

I hated to admit that she was right.

“Besides, there’s plenty of other things we need to talk about. About the business.”

My heart pounded in my chest. Had she changed her mind about making me a partner after all? It stung like a hornet in the ass, but I could hardly blame her. I decided to beat her to it. “I’ve been thinking.” I looked down at the floor. “I’m not really the business owner type, you know? Maybe you shouldn’t make me a partner, Miss Rose.”

She was silent for several seconds, so I glanced up to look at her.

A fire lit behind her eyes before they narrowed on me. “What in tarnation are you talking about? We made a deal, Bruce Wayne Decker. Do I strike you as a reneger? Because I never considered you one.”

I tried to keep from smiling. “No, ma’am. To both.”

“And what’s with this Miss Rose crap?”

I couldn’t hold back my grin.

Her anger faded. “Bruce Wayne, as long as I own a nursery, you’re gonna be a partner. Are we clear on that?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She sighed. “But I guess there’s another partner in the mix.”

I almost gasped in surprise. “
What?
Who?”

Her gaze leveled on me. “Joe.”

Before I even thought about what I was doing, I groaned and stood. “You asked him to bail you out?”

“No!” she protested as she stood too. She moved behind the chair and gripped the back of it as though she needed help anchoring herself. “Violet convinced him to help us and neither one of them told me until after the fact.” She paused. “He not only caught us up; he paid off the loan. Over one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, Bruce Wayne. I can’t pay that back, not for a long time.”

“You know he hates me, Rose. He’s never gonna put up with me being a partner. But it’s okay if you don’t—”

Her eyes narrowed again. “I thought we just agreed to put that nonsense behind us.”

“If he’s a partner, he’s never gonna agree.”

“You let me worry about Joe Simmons. I still own the vast majority of the business. Right now, I’m trying to work through the logistics of it all. I want to let Joe and Violet have the storefront while you and me have the landscaping business. I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out how to make it work, and I think we’ll need our own office. The less I deal with Violet, the better.”

“Our own office?” I couldn’t help smiling. “Does that mean I get a desk?” I teased.

“Do you want one?” She was serious.

I snorted. “What would I do with a desk?”

She shrugged. “Draw up landscaping plans. File all the paperwork for your clients. Use it as a place to keep your computer with landscaping software on it.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Do you want me to go on?”

“You’re serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m dreamin’ big, Bruce Wayne. I need you to dream big with me.” Her smile widened. “Can you do that?”

I nodded. I’d never dreamed big before, but I was willing to give it a try.

Chapter Seven

Rose

I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mason that evening. Not because I’d changed my mind about him. It was far more likely that he’d change his mind about me when he heard all the details I hadn’t told him about the last two days.

It was nearly five when I finally went home. The smell of something delicious hit my nose as soon as I walked in the front door. I found Maeve peeling potatoes at the kitchen sink with Muffy lying at her feet.

“You didn’t have to cook dinner, Maeve,” I said as I walked over to the counter to check out the contents of the crockpot. “Although I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything so good in my life.”

She flashed me a grin. “It’s Italian Beef. Mason and Savannah loved it when they were kids, so I figured I’d make some for dinner. It’s easy, so don’t be worrying that I’m going to too much trouble.”

“But you cooked almost the entire Thanksgiving dinner by yourself and now this,” I said, looking into the glass lid. “I don’t want you to think we invited you here just to cook for us.”

“Speak for yourself,” Mason teased, standing in the kitchen doorway. “I
always
hope she’ll cook when she comes to visit.”

My stomach cramped with anxiety, which was at war with my elation that he was home early. “Mason, what are you doing here?”

His grin widened and he walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my back, pulling me close. “Turns out I live here now.”

“You lived here before, silly.”

“Before it was temporary.” His eyebrows lifted mischievously, and then he gave me a quick kiss. “Now it’s more permanent.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I patted his chest. “When I stopped by your office this afternoon you were up to your elbows in work. What changed so you could get loose?”

“My mother telling me she was leaving first thing tomorrow morning, for starters.”

My mouth gaped. “What?” I turned to her. “You were supposed to stay until Sunday. I’m so sorry to have heaped so much work on you.”