Hanged by a Thread by ACF Bookens

Author:ACF Bookens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andi Cumbo-Floyd

* * *

I had never been to Santiago’s house before, and I was eager to see it. He’d mentioned me coming over before, but with Sawyer, it was usually simply easier for him to come to our house. Now, though, I stood in his yard and smiled. The house was a simple brick ranch, but around it was the most luscious landscape I’d ever seen. Even Dad was speechless.

Large, mulched beds housed rhododendrons under just-blooming maple trees, and the sunny faces of daffodils shone everywhere. In the raised beds in front of the house, not-yet-blooming tulips sat next to purple and white Lenten roses. When we walked around back, Santiago’s deck was edged in pots full of herbs, and a large garden of freshly tilled earth sat partially planted. Tiny white tags were labeled lettuce, spinach, and peas.

I found myself wondering if Santiago would mind plying his landscape and gardening skills at the farmhouse this year, and maybe for years to come. But I pushed such silliness out of my mind and followed him up onto the deck. He lit one of those tall propane heaters that restaurants use on their patios and then asked Dad and Saul to help him get the food ready inside. Dad and Saul exchanged a look, and I heard Dad mumble something about women’s work as he went inside. But Santiago just winked as he handed me a glass of white wine. “You three rest,” he said.

I smiled and said, “If it’s okay with you, I’ll take a walk around the yard.”

“Make yourself at home,” he said before he closed the French doors behind him. I was eager to see the inside of his house and hoped it was as lovely as the outside, but for now, I’d relish the time with my two favorite women and explore the yard.

At the edge of the woods at the back of the lot, a small bank of snowdrops was dancing in the evening breeze. As I walked further along, I could see the green tips of daylilies emerging and the stiff spikes of irises, too. His yard was going to be a spark of floral color all spring, and I so hoped I’d get to see it.

“He has a very green thumb,” Lucille said, and I nodded. I liked a man who enjoyed yard work. I liked that man a lot.

“I can separate some of those daylilies and irises for you in the fall, if you want,” Santiago called from where he was sitting on the deck.

I smiled, both at the offer of flowers for the farmhouse and because he thought we’d be doing things like that in the fall. “I’d love that,” I shouted.

Mika took my other arm and said, “He’s a good one, Pais.” She looked me in the eye and nodded.

I felt myself welling up a little because it had been a while since I’d had a “good one,” but I thought she was right. Still, I wasn’t in a hurry to move things faster than they were going.

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