Crossing Over Easy by Nova Nelson

Author:Nova Nelson [Nelson, Nova]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FFS Media
Published: 2018-02-26T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Turned out, Grim was more passive-aggressive than any dog I’d ever met.

He got us to the garden center, yes, but only after we’d circled by the same few spots in town multiple times. My feet were killing me, and having only eaten a few bites of lasagna since breakfast, my stomach growled fiercely by the time we reached the vine-covered archways leading into the garden center.

The narrow cobblestone side street opened at the end of two stone buildings, and what lay beyond was almost unbelievable.

This was either Whirligig’s Garden Center or simply the Garden of Eden. I would have put my money on the latter. I wondered if crossing into the garden center would actually put me in an entirely different world.

A tall stone wall stretched out in either direction, facing off against the stone and brick of downtown Eastwind, but it was almost impossible to see any of the fence since it was so thickly covered in vines and violet blossoms.

Downtown Eastwind looked like it was pulled from some fairy tale, but the garden center was a step above. I’d never seen such lushness. The trees were covered in moss that was covered in moss. It was like someone had painted a canvas bright green and then added splatters of vivid color here and there just to prove that whatever you thought you knew about plants was all wrong.

I stood at the entrance, which was a tunnel of stone archways covered in vines that stretched from one arch to the next, creating a cozy canopy.

“Why are we here?” Grim asked.

I’d forgotten that he wasn’t in on the conversation with Tandy. “We need to talk to Ansel Fontaine.”

“Ansel as in werebear Ansel?”

“Yes.”

Grim’s tail wagged. “He runs with me in the Deadwoods sometimes in bear form. Werebears can be real tools, but Ansel is alright.”

“Tandy said he has a temper.”

Grim bobbed his large head. “Oh yeah. No doubt about it. I’ve seen him level a tree when he was angry.”

“Right. Okay. Well, I’ll try not to set him off.”

I followed as Grim padded forward beneath the archways. “Nah,” he said. “He’d never hurt a woman.”

“Glad to hear it. But it wasn’t a woman who was murdered last night.”

“You think he murdered Bruce?”

“I don’t think anything just yet. Tandy thinks it’s a possibility.”

“Tandy also thought I would let her bathe me in lavender, so maybe she doesn’t know anything about anything.”

Grim ran ahead to greet Ansel when he spotted him.

Tandy wasn’t joking when she said Ansel was easy on the eyes. It probably helped that he had his shirt off and sweat glistened on him like the dew in a honeysuckle, just waiting to be licked off.

Small saplings surrounded Ansel on three sides and by the looks of it, he was transplanting them to larger pots. He’d just set one, roots heavy with clotted mud, into an oversized pot when Grim trotted over.

“Hey, man!” Ansel said when he spotted Grim. “What brings you out of the Deadwoods?” He didn’t expect an answer, which was good because Grim didn’t give him one.

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