Page 5 of Inked Devotion

“I don’t need your help, Benjamin.” I wondered why it irked me that he wanted to.

“I want to help you because I like you, Brenna. We’re friends. Right?”

“We are.”

“Then I’m going to make sure that the family stops acting so weird. I mean, we’re weird daily, but I don’t like the way it was just now.”

Neither had I, and the fact that he’d seen it too meant it wasn’t only in my head. “Thanks, but I can figure it out on my own.”

“You can, you will, but you don’t have to.” He kissed the top of my head, headed to his car, and I got into mine. My phone buzzed at that moment, and I looked at the readout, my heart clenching.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Brenna. I just wanted to let you know that the tests are ready, and the next set of treatments will be when you get back.”

“Okay,” I said. “Dr. Geller, does this mean I’m going to have to pick a donor now?” I asked with a cringe.

“Yes, a donor will be good. The fertility treatments are going well. You’re doing what you should. You’re taking care of yourself. Soon we’ll be at the stage for implantation.”

I swallowed hard. “And then a baby. I’ll be able to have a baby.”

I smiled as I said it, and I listened to her speak again before I hung up the phone and let out a breath.

I was going to have a baby. Maybe not in the most conventional sense, but I was ready. I was ready for my future. I did not need a relationship to make that happen. So yes, I was a Garrett. A Montgomery.

And soon, I’d make my own family.

Even if I was the only person that knew.

Chapter 2

Benjamin

Idug my hands into the soil and let out a relieved breath. It had been a long morning, full of dealing with clients, paperwork, and the bank. Nothing like my typical day, and I just wanted to get my hands dirty. Yes, I had lunch later, for which I had to be clean, but my ex knew who I was and how dirty I got. The fact that I usually had dirt somewhere on my body wasn’t why we were exes per se, but she knew my faults. So that meant, for now, I would stay covered in dirt and just dig.

“Hole looks about right.” I leaned back, studied the bed in front of me. “Let’s set her in.”

We had used a shovel for the first part, but I always liked to get down and dirty and make sure that the sides of the hole for the trees we planted were set. I did that with every tree that I helped plant, every bush, every flower. I needed to feel the earth.

I may be a weird landscape architect, but it was my niche. It’s what I did. The rest of my team did the same thing. I didn’t know if they had just learned it from me or it was something we all did. It didn’t matter. In the end, we were fucking good at our jobs.

“I’m glad that you talked her out of the Pyrus calleryana.”

I snorted at Timothy and helped him place the tree. The Pyrus calleryana was famous for its unique…smell.

“Of course. It wasn’t going to fit the design anyway, and considering this is right by their bedroom window? No, they don’t need that smell in the mornings. Though it’s still a pretty tree.”

“They’re gorgeous, and they smell like ass and other, um, things, when they’re blooming.”

I looked around the area and made sure that nobody else was around but my team.

Timothy blushed. “Sorry.”

“Oh no, it’s technically a construction site, you can expect the cursing, and I curse more than you,” I said with a laugh. “However, I know our client is heading around to visit us today, and so the last thing that we need is to get yelled at.”

This client was a bit demanding, but I didn’t mind. Their lawn and garden would look fantastic when we were done with it, but they’d had particular views on what they wanted, and while I had liked most of it and hadn’t minded working with their initial plans, some of it just wasn’t good for a Colorado climate, nor for the size of their lawn.

Not to mention the whole smell thing of those specific blooms.

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