Everything She Ever Wanted: A Different Kind of Love Novel by Liz Durano

Author:Liz Durano [Durano, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-10-11T21:00:00+00:00

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When I arrive at Nana’s, she’s outside weeding her vegetable garden. She plants kale, lettuce, onions, eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers as well as herbs like cilantro, dill, and basil. I love rubbing my fingers between the leaves of the lemon verbena bush right by the driveway and smell its aroma on my skin. Sometimes she allows the older kids from the preschool next door to come over and help her harvest, teaching them how to spot an eggplant that’s ready or a cucumber that’s best used for its seeds instead.

She grows peppers, too. If I had my way, I’d have green chile on everything, even my fried eggs. Dad used to roll his eyes whenever I’d return from Nana’s house with bags of red and green New Mexican chile packed in the cab of my truck, but I’ve also seen him sneak a bag or two in his luggage back to New York.

“Want to help me with these, mijo?” she asks as I sit on my haunches next to her and begin pulling some weeds. She doesn’t need to tell me what to do for it was always my chore since I was a kid to do the weeding though I have been slacking off since I arrived.

We don’t speak for a few minutes, and I shift my position so I’m kneeling on a foam pad she hands me from her gardening basket and dive into my new task. I don’t care that my hands get dirty or that I’m not wearing gloves. Nana doesn’t wear them either unless she’s weeding. She likes talking to her plants, gently encouraging them to grow.

As she brushes against me to hand me a worn basket to toss the weeds in, I’m glad I took a quick shower in one of the smaller bathrooms while Harlow was on the phone because anyone would have smelled sex on me from the get-go. I can almost hear my heart beating against my ears, and I can’t help feeling like I’m a teen again, sent home early after another fight at school because some kid called me stupid.

When Nana finally speaks, it’s in Spanish, and I know better than to answer her in English. Do you like her, mijo?

“Si.” I don’t even hesitate. With Nana, I have nothing to hide though we don’t look at each as we speak. Suddenly, I’m running out of weeds to pull and I remind myself to slow down, knowing my actions are merely matching the beating of my heart. Panic mode.

Does it bother you that she’s still married?

She’s getting a divorce. It’s complicated. They have property. And from what I hear, it’s pretty expensive, probably in the millions.

I sound defensive, and I am. I hate that Harlow’s husband took advantage of her grief and filed for divorce. I hate that he continues to harass her even when she clearly bailed out of the state to get away from him and everything else. I don’t want to be her knight

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