Page 53 of An Adventure For Aster

“We know you do well with plants,” she said. “Are you going to care for the flowers outside of Zane’s cabin in the spring and summer?”

He laughed. “I told him I would, but he knew it anyway. Yeah, this is a dream job in a way. I’m doing what I know how to do and enjoy doing but get to be around something else in life that I like too. Sort of. It’s not like the flowers are at the plant unless they are being used for other things.”

But he did enjoy walking around them in the greenhouses. Even talking to Violet too when she was there and they both had time.

Aster finished his breakfast; Raine did too. “Go. You don’t need to clean up.”

He put his plate in the dishwasher anyway. “What are you doing today?”

“I might do a little shopping,” she said. “More online than stores, but we’ll see.”

“Will you be around later?” he asked. They hadn’t made plans yet for the night or the weekend.

“I will be,” she said. “Will you come back and see me?”

“Why don’t you come to my place tonight and stay,” he said.

“I can do that too.” He gave her one more kiss and left.

When he got to the plant, Zane was already there. He figured as much.

“How was your holiday with Raine’s family?” Zane asked.

“Good. Noisy. I’m not used to family things like that.”

“I was,” Zane said. “But then you spend years in the service and it all changes and you get used to something else.”

“Full house yesterday?” he asked.

“We had it at Poppy’s. She’s got more space. Lots of extended family this year. It was the three sisters and their families, my parents, Zara, Ren and their two kids, Rose’s father-in-law, Tom, and then Reese’s brother and his family came up.”

“Geez,” he said. “I thought it was noisy where I was, but I was wrong.”

“It was crazy with all the kids and people but nice too. That doesn’t happen often but it played out that way this year. Let’s say I was happy to get home with my kids and relax.”

“I talked to Daphne last night,” he said. “She worked. I feel bad she didn’t get to share in what I did.”

“I’m sure she’s used to it,” Zane said. The two of them got to work as they talked. They had a rhythm they were always able to achieve.

Two hours later, Aster was picking up the nail gun with his left hand to put more nails in it and it just fell to the ground.

“Shit,” he said. He hadn’t even felt it when he tried to grip the thing.

“What was that? Are you okay?” Zane asked.

“Yeah,” he said, shaking his hand off to get some feeling back in it. The tingles hit so fast he hadn’t realized it. “My finger went numb or something. Must be my elbow was bent funny.”

“Are you sure?” Zane asked.

“Positive,” he said. “It happens now and again. I’m sure I’ve got nerve damage in there. They said that was a possibility. Good thing it’s my left hand.”

Zane lifted his eyebrow but then went back to work.

There wasn’t much more he could say and Zane would know he wouldn’t want to talk about it. A little tingling in two of his fingers wasn’t a big deal. It’s not that he didn’t feel the nail gun in his hand, it’s just he didn’t have a good grip on it.

“Hey, can I steal two big strong men?”

He looked up and saw Violet in the doorway. “Sure can,” Aster said. “What do you need?”

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