Page 12 of Ghostlighted
“Hey.” I backtracked so I could stand beside him. “I want to do this. I’ve been looking forward to it, and not just because it’s an escape from a truly aggravating ghostwriting job.”
He peered up at me, his teeth denting his lower lip. “If you’re sure?”
“Positive.” I gestured for him to precede me through the door. “Although you might have second thoughts before we’re done.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Weeelll.” I grabbed a hoodie off its hook in the mudroom as we passed through. “I don’t exactly have a green thumb. One of my friends wrote this fabulous humorous gardening book, but when I offered to help her with planting one spring, she laughed so hard she snorted. So apparently, the idea of me in the garden was funnier than anything in a book titledSlug Tossing.”
Chapter Four
Two hours later, I stood and arched my back with a satisfying crack. The knees of my jeans were caked with mud, as were the fingers on the gardening gloves Ricky had lent me. Granted, I hadn’t done much but dig where Ricky told me and carry the pots of vegetable starts from his pickup truck, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t share the satisfaction of neat rows of leggy tomatoes, spiky chiles, clusters of cucumbers and melons, the leafy floofs of lettuce, cilantro, and parsley.
I eyed the scarecrow, wondering whether I could convince a few birds to dive-bomb it or do a head-poop fly-by on Avi’s behalf. Sadly, I doubted it. I could rarely control my own cat, let alone random neighborhood wildlife.Crap.
Ricky finished watering the last row of cantaloupes and joined me at the edge of the enormous garden patch. “Thanks for the help.”
“I didn’t do that much. Just call me Minion.”
“Still, I finished in half the time, so it’s all good.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you.” I pointed at the scarecrow. “Who made that?”
Ricky chuckled, a little evilly. “I did. Felicia helped, and so did our cousin Eliana. She’s studying art at Northwest College of Arts and Sciences up in Portland.”
“It’s epic.”
“That it is.”
“Enrique?” Sofia called from her back porch. “You are finished already?”
“Yes, Tia,” Ricky said. “Everything went much quicker with Maz helping. Come see your garden.” He gave her a stern look. “But only to look. You’re not allowed to do any work. Not even to pull a single weed. I’ll take care of that for you.”
“Ah, bah,” she said as she made her way down the porch steps, one hand on the railing. “A little bending is good for me.”
“A little bending can set off one of your episodes. Which reminds me. I refilled your prescription. It’s in my truck. I’ll bring it in once I’ve cleaned up a little.” He hurried across the lawn and held out a hand to help her down the last step, grinning at her. “I wouldn’t want to track mud into your nice clean house.”
She patted his chest. “If you did, you would have cleaned it up, just as you always do. You take such good care of me, you and your sister and your parents, just as Guillermo would do if he could be here.”
Ricky slid me a glance. “Of course.” He escorted her to the edge of the garden plot. “What do you think?”
She clasped her hands under her chin. “It is lovely. And even more lovely will be what I will cook in the fall.” Her crown of white braids shone in the sun as she smiled up at me. “I will make special salsa for you, Maz, for helping.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Spicier than what Maria serves in the restaurant. The kind just for family.”
“Tia’s salsa is the best,” Ricky said.
“Then I look forward to it.”
Sofia sighed and her smile faded. She was still looking at the garden, but I don’t think she saw it—her gaze seemed distant.
“Tia? What’s wrong?”
She patted Ricky’s arm. “It is Guillermo.”
“What about him?”
“Now that he cannot come home after his graduation, I do not know how I will get his gift to him, or the check for law school.” She turned her smile back on as she faced me. “He is staying at Harvard for law school, you know.”
“I didn’t, but that’s pretty impressive.”
