“Everyone takes them to restaurants. They want to feel like they’re part of a family, our family.” He put his arms around her, clasping his hands behind her back. “Come on, baby, all of this is for us. For you and me. So we can get closer to the time when we start that family you want so much.”
Kent held the promise of a baby in front of her like a carrot before a donkey. It always made her back off.
This was the beginning of the third summer they’d been married and Elise was determined that this year would be different. She had to get something to do besides pick up Kent’s dry cleaning. As for cooking, she’d taken enough classes to know that it wasn’t a skill she wanted to develop further.
She stretched out on one of the thickly padded chaises and opened her book, but she didn’t see it. She needed to figure out what to do about her marriage.
“You look like you’re fascinated by that book.” The voice dripped sarcasm.
Elise tried to keep from showing an expression of horror. Tara! The school gossip. The girl who found out secrets and happily blabbed them. She lived in New York City, but her mother had a house nearby. “Hi,” Elise managed to say. “What brings you out to the boonies?”
“Mom wanted New York bagels and whitefish salad so I had to drop everything and take them to her.”
Elise understood. Tara’s mother subsidized her daughter’s New York apartment—with the stipulation that her daughter be at her beck and call.
Tara plopped down on the chaise next to Elise. “So what’s up with you other than staring into space? Recovering from the night? With a hunk like Kent you must have a great time in bed.”
Elise gave what she hoped was a mysterious smile. “Yeah, sure. We never get enough.”
Tara seemed to be satisfied with that answer and looked back toward the little wall.
Behind it was lawn and trees that Diego and his men kept trimmed. Suddenly, Tara sat upright. “Good Lord! What was that?”
Elise looked but saw nothing. “I don’t know. Sometimes we get foxes, but—”
“No! Him. The man.”
“Diego? One of his men? They’re the gardeners.”
Tara got out of the chair and looked along the side of the house. “Hey! Yeah, you,” she shouted. “Come over here.”
“Tara, let the men work.”
“He can work on me,” she said under her breath.
“Most of the men are married and have children. I don’t think you should—” She broke off because a truly gorgeous man was standing at the top of the wall. He had on dirty cotton trousers and heavy boots, but from the waist up he was naked. Long, lean muscles, stomach divided into ridges, honey-colored skin. But as beautiful as his body was, his face was from the cover of a magazine: high cheekbones, full lips, dark eyes surrounded by thick black lashes. His coal-black hair reached down the back of his neck.
Elise had no idea who he was.
“Do. You. Speak. English?” Tara asked loudly.
He jumped down to the patio with the grace of an athlete, then oddly, turned his back to Elise as he looked at Tara. Elise’s face was about a foot from his sun-warmed skin. If she put her hand up, she could touch him.
When he reached behind him, it took her a second to see why. Tucked into his waistband was a copy of The Lord of the Rings. He was showing her that he could indeed speak English.
Elise moved around him to stand beside Tara. She was looking up at him like he was a meal and she was starving.
“Do you think he can speak?” Tara asked out of the side of her mouth.
Elise saw the man’s eyes sparkle. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen him before. He’s probably one of Diego’s relatives.”
“There are two of them?”
Elise saw the man try to keep from smiling. “No. Diego isn’t like him at all.”
“What. Is. Your. Name?” Tara asked. “Me Tara. You...?”
“Tarzan?” Elise suggested.
Tara frowned at her. “Really, Elise, how can you make jokes about this? This man is hanging around your house and you don’t even know who he is.”
When Tara looked away, the man glanced at the wall behind them and nodded slightly.
She understood. “He’s Diego’s brother. He chose the plants along the wall. What was his name? Alex? No. Alejandro.”
“Si, si, Alejandro.” The man grinned, showing even, white teeth.
Tara went to the chaise to reach inside her handbag. “I like men who speak no English.”
When Elise looked up, he winked at her in conspiracy.
Tara handed Alejandro her business card. “This is my address on Long Island. Why don’t you come by tomorrow afternoon? You and I can talk about you doing my garden.”
Alejandro made no reaction.
“Do you think he understands you?” Elise asked.
“Probably not.” Tara smiled up at him. “Maˇnana. Get it? Tomorrow at two. Dos.”
“Maˇnana. Dos. Si,” Alejandro said.
“Good boy.” Tara took a step sideways. Another one, and she’d see the book at the back of Alejandro’s waistband and know he’d been playing a joke on her.
Elise had seen Tara do some nasty things to people who laughed at her. She whipped out her hand, pulled the book out of Alejandro’s waistband, and held it behind her own back.
Sure enough, Tara looked behind him, admiring the view. There was just lots of skin, no book. She stepped away. “I need to go.” She ran her hand down Alejandro’s arm. “You, cutie, come see me. Maˇnana.”
“Si, si. Maˇnana. Tres.” Alejandro looked like he was trying hard to understand her.
“No, no. Dos. Two. Come tomorrow at two p.m.” She rolled her eyes at Elise, and whispered, “Beautiful but dumb.” She gave one last look at Alejandro, then left.
Elise stood beside him in silence until Tara was out of sight. “I’m so sorry.” She handed him back his book.
“That’s all right,” Alejandro said. “It’s the most fun I’ve had for months.”
“By the way, that’s one of my favorites.” She nodded at the novel. “I feel like I owe you. Would you like a glass of lemonade?”
“Yes, but no. My brother would kill me. I bet that right now he’s glaring at the back of me.”
Elise looked around him and there was Diego staring at his brother’s back with fire in his eyes. “He is,” she whispered, then stepped to the side. Loudly, she said, “Would you show me? I have no idea what that looks like. It’s around the other side of the house.”
As soon as they were out of Diego’s sight, she held out her hand. “I’m Elise.”
“And I’m Alejandro.”
They shook hands. His was big and work calloused and very warm.
He broke the hold. “I really should get back to work.” He took a step away.
“Why are you here? You don’t seem like a...” Elise realized she was putting her foot in her mouth. “I mean... Your English. It’s so good, but I mean...”
“It’s all right. I understand. At home in Mexico, I teach Spanish to English people. I need to speak the language well.”
“And you know about plants, right?”
“I do. I studied botany. My brother thinks it’s a useless subject to know.”
“My family feels that too! My degree is in Fine Arts. Try to get a job in that!” They smiled at each other.
“I don’t mean to be an elitist, but if you have a degree and a job, why are you here?” She raised her hand to indicate the garden. “Doing this?”
“I must reveal my secret. I got into trouble at home and my big brother rescued me. Got me out of the country and gave me a job.”
“Oh. Trouble as in drugs?”
“I wish. Then I’d be rich. Maybe dead, but rich.”
Elise laughed.
“I’m sure you have other things to do than listen to a gardener’s life story.”
“No, I can’t say that I do. My husband wants me to cook some exotic dishes for his clients. But all of them just want beef. And lots of it. So no, I don’t really have anything else to do. What kind of flowers are those?”
“Peonies. Paeonia california. And those over there are Paeonia corsica.”
“Wow. I’m impressed. And based on my little garden here, I think your degree is quite useful.”
“Thank you. I was hoping you’d like it.”
His eyes really were extraordinary. “I should have studied domestic management.”
“And I wish I’d learned how to get a wheelbarrow loaded with a hundred-and-fifty-pound dogwood up a hill. First time I tried it, the thing fell out twice.”
“And you picked it up and put it back in?”