I curled up on Paxton’s arm with a soft white blanket when I returned. His typing fingers stopped for a moment while his ego reacted to me watching him work.
“Is that going to be a waterfall?” I asked with my finger pointing to rock-wall in the making. His lips kissed my head and he replied. I relaxed.
“I’m not sure yet. This is the job that’s kept me late all week. It’s a lot of space. The guy wants four-thousand-square-feet turned into a retreat.”
“Wow, I bet that’s expensive.”
Talking to Paxton like this made me the happiest girl on the planet. “That’s the problem. His budget is a quarter-million-dollars. I need at least three-hundred to pull off what he’s expecting.”
I studied the landscaping design in front of him with constricted eyes. “That’s a huge waterfall. Why so big?”
“He wants a waterslide going down the middle. Thirty feet. That’s a lot of stone. Stones not cheap around these parts. Not to mention I have to break up a hug slab of concrete. Twenty five by eighteen. That’s an expense on its own.”
I moved a little, repositioning myself for a better view. “You could use those. The pieces. They’re free. It would be all profit.”
“Shut-up. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh really? Well I’ll have you know, you can stack them and use a mixture of concrete and three different colors of dioxide for the stone look. Mix it up like porridge shovel it on. Let it gravitate toward the bottom before you shape it into a stones. It’s easier to work with that way. Oh, it’s better because you’re not giving any little creatures a habitat to bread. Nobody wants snakes or lizards hanging out at their pool. Good selling point,” I added not missing a beat. “Maybe you could even put a couple deeper holes to plant some color.” That’s when I stopped. My eyes went to Paxton’s, looking just as shocked as his. I snorted and smiled. “I have no idea how I know that. I wonder if there’s any truth behind it.”
Paxton didn’t blink an eye. He stared over at me like I had just figured out Newton’s Law. Like building waterfalls was my specialty. He finally grunted when I elbowed him in the ribs.
“What’s wrong with you? Stop looking at me like that.”
“You’re a fucking genius. That could work. That could work and I could make one hell of a profit off this job. I’m going to look into that. I don’t get it. You just rattled that shit off like you did it every day.”
My eyebrows turned toward inward and my nose scrunched with a silly smile. “Right? Where did that come from?”
“Where do you want a waterfall? I have a whole pile behind my shop from an old basement I dug out. I don’t want to go to Disneyland. I want go home and build a waterfall.”
I laughed and snuggled back into his side. This was going to be a good trip. I felt it deep in my soul. Paxton talked about his plans for the property, totally asking my opinion. Again, I gave my opinion and he listened. For the first time since I met him, I felt like he valued me as a person. Not just a piece of meat, a maid, and cook. Like I mattered.
I closed my eyes when he moved the shrubs around for the fifth time. I yawned and felt a kiss to my head. A relaxing calm blanketing me with love and admiration. It might have taken a lot of time and effort, but I was sure we were going to beat this thing. We had to. People didn’t have this much gravitational pull toward one another without it being real. It was real, and I would take the days like this and deal with the other ones for as long as I could handle it.
~~
“We’re you headed, pretty little thing.”
I didn’t have to turn around to know Tommy Boy’s voice. His arm went around my neck and I smelled the sweat from his armpit.
“I have to go home. Ms. Porter needs her medicine.”
“When we gonna hang out, Yo? You never want to do anything but school work. You gotta live a little. Have some fun. Tell you what. How about you meet me on your stoop at eleven tonight. The old bag will be half dead by then.”
“I can’t. Sorry. I’ll see ya around.”
I tried to get away from him, but he wouldn’t let me. Three other guys enclosed me, one I didn’t even know from our hood. He was young. Like me. The other three were Falcon’s age. Old enough to know better.
“Leave me alone. I’ll scream,” I threatened, my heart pounding heavy in my chest. I was a pea next to one of them, let alone three of them.
“Leave me alone, I’ll scream,” The ring leader patronized me by mimicking my words. I bet his heart wasn’t pounding though. Not like mine.
“Stop it,” I said again, repeating myself over and over. The young one was the daring one.
“Stop it,” Tommy said again in a whiny tone. Mine wasn’t whiny. Mine was scared shitless. Shaky and full of fear. Fear that pumped rapidly through my veins.