Page 98 of A Dream for Daphne

“Add anything else you think might be simple easy maintenance.”

“I can do that,” he said. “Those are things that can be changed out too. I’ll separate it on the quote.”

Some people would rather do it themselves at a later date if the price was too high.

“Great,” Brittany said. She kept looking at her watch and hesitating.

“Is there anything else you need?” he asked.

“No,” Brittany said. “I think that’s it.”

“I’ll get something to you by Monday,” he said again, turning to walk back to his truck.

When he got out front, he saw a car behind his truck in the road. Ella was standing against it.

He’d heard a car door but hadn’t thought anything of it. He turned to see if Brittany was with him and she wasn’t, but she was in the house and looked out the window.

He wanted to grind his teeth over the fact he might have just wasted thirty minutes of his time on a wild goose chase for a friend.

“Hi, Abe,” Ella said.

“Is there a reason you’re here?” he asked. He wasn’t going to be a dick. He never really was, but if anyone could bring it out of him, it was his ex.

“I’m having dinner with Brittany,” Ella said, holding up the bag in front of her. A bag of food.

“So it’s just a coincidence that it’s the same day I’m here giving a quote to your coworker?”

“Kind of,” Ella said. “I recommended you to her.”

“Thanks,” he said. “But I don’t need you to drum me up business. Especially if it was some ploy to see me.”

Ella sighed. “No. I mean, Brittany is serious about this. Don’t think otherwise. Her husband has been talking about it for years. Trust me, I’ve been listening to it forever. I mentioned that you do this kind of work, not just landscaping. I said you were at the McGills’ working on a big project.”

He nodded not realizing Ella kept such detailed tabs on him. “So she decided to give me a call and then told you when I’d be here?”

Had to be short notice. He got the call yesterday.

“Yes,” Ella said. “I think she was just excited about it more than trying to set up anything. Don’t think that or hold it against her.” Ella stopped and Abe went to get in his truck. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.”

“Not sure why,” he said, opening the door to his truck. He didn’t want to have this conversation and put his notebook in there.

“I can’t get you out of my mind. We were good together.”

“No,” he said. “We weren’t. You wanted what I couldn’t give you. Sorry.”

No reason to add he’d felt inadequate multiple times around her for those reasons.

Nothing he ever felt when he was with Daphne.

“Don’t be sorry,” Ella said. “I didn’t know what I wanted. I mean, I always knew I wanted you. Maybe I was focused on the wrong things.”

“You were,” he said. “Not my problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got things to do.”

He climbed into his truck, started it up, and drove away. Maybe he was wishing he’d leave a big old puff of smoke in his wake as part of his exit, but he didn’t.

He quietly left as he had so many times with her.

33

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