Page 15 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

Once he was gone, we quickly got to work. Ven sat on her stool, digging holes for different flower starts, seeds, and tubers. Thankfully, her labeling system was pretty great, so I only had to read the little marker to make sure it was what she’d asked for. The seeds were also labeled, which made the tubers the mostdifficult to identify. Those I had to identify by their shape, since the piles weren’t as organized.

For a while, we didn’t say anything outside of her asking for the next plant. Every moment that passed felt like an opportunity to say something, but whenever I opened my mouth, the words died on my tongue.

I’d never been a verbose person, but I’d also never been so tongue-tied. I ended up more in my head than ever, enough so that I nearly jumped out of my skin when Ven cleared her throat and stood up.

“That’s all I had planned for this area today. Thanks for the help.”

Damn it. Had I missed my opportunity? “Is there anything else you wanted to do today?” I asked, my tone bordering on desperate. I wasn’t ready to go back inside. Ready to be an invalid who was too scared to talk to the woman I was in love with.

“You sure you don’t need a break? This is the most you’ve been up and about since you got back.”

“I know, I’m just not ready to go back inside.”

“That’s fair. You have spent a whole lot of time cooped up inside.” Ven let out a sigh that had so much weight to it. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate your help, but I don’t think I have the brain power for any more tasks today. I’m a little fried.”

That was understandable, and I felt a little sliver of relief that Ven still trusted me enough to tell me as much. “Maybe we could just sit outside and chat for a bit? Soak up the sun?”

When was the last time that we had just hung out in her garden? It hadn’t been all that long ago, and yet it felt like an entire lifetime.

“Sure,” Ven said after a beat. “We can do that. I’ll go get another lawn chair. Do you want me to get you a drink while I’m at it?”

My first instinct was to say no, that I could get it myself, but the practical part of my brain told me that going to the kitchen and completing that small task would use up too much of my energy. There was something magical about Ven’s garden—there always had been—and it was hard not to feel like the green space and its cultivator couldn’t fix everything that was wrong with my head.

“I would like that, yeah. Perhaps some of that ginger tea if you have more?”

“I do,” she said with a smile. “Coming right up.”

With that, she hurried off. Although I longed for her company, I certainly didn’t mind the view. Thankfully, she returned before I could lose all my gumption and scuttle away to my safe but boring haven of the bedroom.

“Would you mind holding my tea for me while I grab the other chair?”

“Not at all.”

I held our steaming mugs while she got herself a seat, warmth spreading through me when she settled her chair beside mine. Although she spent many hours at my bedside, sometimes it felt like we were so far apart. Which, again, was probably from all the things we very much needed to say.

The two of us sat there for a while, sipping at our drinks and staring at the beauty around us. Once more, I wondered if I was going to be a coward and let the moment slip by, but Ven spoke first.

“You ordered Ricky to take me away if things went sideways.”

Well, it looked like we were jumping straight into it. I always liked that about Ven. She was direct.

“I did.”

“That was wrong of you. It broke my trust in you.”

Sometimes Ven had such a matter-of-fact way of saying things, it was easy to assume she wasn’t affected by the topicat hand. But I knew her well enough to tell she was very much bothered, and my nose caught the stress rolling off her in bitter waves. I hated that I made her smell like that.

“Ven, I did it for?—”

“I knowwhyyou did it, and ultimately getting me out of there was the right call, because it allowed me to put together the group that freed you and everyone else. I’m not objecting to having a backup plan to make sure that Ricky and I got out safe.”

Oh, she wasn’t? I felt like I was misunderstanding something.

“Then, what...?”

“What I’m upset about is that you thought you couldn’t discuss any of this with me. That you had to baby me and go behind my back like I’m a moron who doesn’t understand logic.” The stress in her shifted into something with a bit more brimstone. She was angry. Had I ever experienced her being angry at me? I didn’t think so. It was a strange sensation, and I didn’t like it.

“Look, I get that you and Ricky are shifters, and I’m a human. There’s a whole bunch of things you guys can do that I can’t, and I’m fine with that, but when we make a plan together, every one of us needs to be included inallaspects of the plan. Going behind my back like that told me you didn’t trust me to make the right decision, which I do find pretty ironic considering that twice now I have had to clean you up after our plans went to shit.”

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