Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“You know,” I said to Austin as we followed the others, “you can have that sculpture if you want. If you can find a use for it.”
“It wouldn’t work in my place. It needs to be kept inside, and my ceilings and space can’t handle a piece that big. It was made for Ivy House. The size, the wood…”
“So I have to find a place to put it?”
He laughed. “Only if you want to. Isn’t that how these things work? You keep what you want and get rid of the rest?”
“Well, since you can’t make use of the wood sculpture you like so much, you can have that statue. You’re welcome.”
He laughed softly. “You’re so giving. How did I get this lucky?”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll let you make it up to me.”
He hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me in closer. I bumped against him as we walked. “Before I make it up to you, which will take some time because I’ve missed you these last couple of days”—heat flash-boiled my blood, and I leaned a little harder into him—“maybe we can talk about a direction for Ivy House’s refresh.”
I sighed, and the heat quickly cooled. “Yeah, we probably should, and thank you for the help. I have terrible taste, and when I asked Mr. Tom for help with the office, because he’s always harping on to me about making it mine, he came up with the strangest stuff.”
“You have great taste—you just don’t know how to pull things together. Did your ex decorate your old house?”
“No. My mother-in-law. It was gauche and terrible, but I didn’t have much say in anything because my ex always sided with her.”
“My grandma used to pick everything out for me,” he said. “It would annoy the hell out of me until everyone started raving about how good my place looked. I learned what I could from her so she’d leave me alone. Turns out, I have an eye for it. Not as good as her, but good enough.” He smiled, his eyes distant. “She’s a hard woman with exacting tastes, but I had a lot of fun learning about that stuff. That’s probably why it stuck so well. My brother isn’t remotely interested in interior design. His mate handles all of that, and she is constantly badgered by Grandma Mimi about her choices. Poor thing. They don’t have the same taste.”
We reached the flowers, another few patches of which had been trampled down.
Austin took a deep breath. “But I won’t have time to handle the nitty-gritty details with Ivy House. It’s much too big, and we have way too much to do. So after we work out a direction, Patty can bring in an interior designer.”
“Or…” I trailed my fingertips along the hand he was resting on my hip. “You could call in a favor and have your grandmother come help…”
His body tensed, and a brief smattering of longing filtered through our bond before he crushed it into submission.
“I’m sure she’s busy.”
“Or maybe she needs a vacation and wouldn’t mind seeing her grandson after all this time. I’m sure she’d like to visit.”
He shook his head as we passed a doll, and I wished again that Hollace were here to kick it. I didn’t dare to myself. I worried it would latch on to my leg and bite me, or something else nightmare-inducing.
I could feel Hollace and the rest near the house. Good. I was sure Dave was eager to show off the magical flowers, but he knew better than to do it without Edgar’s consent. We’d all been down that road.
We approached the entrance of the large labyrinth made up of hedges taller than the basajaunak. They were all trimmed to perfection, their tops flat and the sides without a stray leaf.
“Oh.” Dave, who’d been following us with the other basajaunak, slowed to a stop. “I will wait out here, Miss Jessie. I do not have fond memories of that maze.”
He and my son Jimmy had gone through the maze at Easter, and it hadn’t taken Dave long to freak out and crash his way through the walls to escape.
“Sure, no problem. Edgar will be here in a minute anyway.”
“Get out of here, you blasted thing.” Patty kicked wildly, just missing a gnome that jumped out of the hedge with gardening shears and took off running. “Get out! This isn’t your home!” She hiked up her skirts and sprinted after it.
“She’s not a fan of gnomes,” Ulric said by way of explanation. “Just this way,” he continued. The wall of hedge in front of us had been torched down to the burned grass. Another wall beyond had seen the same fate. “Edgar assured me he could repair the damage. I don’t think he realized Cyra would be helping me, but that’s fine. It’ll give him something to do. Above all, I wanted this one to be a surprise, Jessie. I didn’t know where else to put it.”