Page 39 of Milk & Cookie

13

FRED

Ilook at my phone, and I’m surprised to see a message from Vince so soon.

Is it okay if I quickly drop off a replacement pot for your garden before I leave, Angel? I told your mom I would. She didn’t want to accept it from me directly, but she didn’t specifically say she didn’t want the thing, only that it wouldn’t fit on her bicycle. I’ll be very fast, and you won’t even need to notice me.

He went to see Mom and make amends? Brave man. He’s sure about his feelings, then. I tap out my response. And if I’d like to notice you?

My phone vibrates again. I’ll be there in two.

I look up, to find Morrissey grinning at me. “That’s a beautiful smile, my love,” I say.

“So is yours.” She cranes her neck, to see my phone. “Did Gammy send you a joke?”

I shake my head and put the phone back into the pocket of my gardening apron. “It was Vince. He’s stopping by, to replace Gammy’s pot — the one that broke when he tripped over it.”

Her eyes light up. “Vince is coming? Can we show him our pictures?”

I lift one shoulder. “If he has time. He has to go to work, so he’ll need to get on the road soon enough.”

She frowns. “Is he coming back?”

“Oh, I think so,” I assure her, considering two run-ins with Mom haven’t deterred him at all. “He likes us.”

“And we like him,” she declares with a nod. “Will he draw us more pictures?”

“You’ll have to ask him,” I suggest. “If you let him know how much you like the other ones, I’m sure he’ll consider it.”

She rushes across the lawn, to where Luna is dismantling the pipes from an old kitchen sink. “Vince is coming, Lulu.”

Luna looks up and pushes her wild hair from her face. She stares at Morrissey with a blank expression.

“Vince.” Morrissey makes clawing motions with her hands. “The hairy tiger man.”

Luna looks at me “Rawr?”

I giggle. “That’s right, Lulu. Clever girl.” I give her a little clap, and then quickly to rescue a worm from Raven’s clutches. I replace it with the rusk she dropped, and then hide the poor creature back in the dirt, where it belongs.

Luna bangs the sink with a stick and adds some Tarzan-like singing to the beat, while Morrissey stomp-marches in time through the radishes, pulling up the biggest ones and tossing them behind her in the vague direction of the collecting basket.

She joins in with the vocals. “La-la-laaawh.”

A deep chuckle over by the gate draws my eye, and I see Vince peering over the tall fence. I get to my feet and brush the dirt from my knees.

“Hello, friend,” Morrissey calls, waving like having a male visitor is all very usual, when it is anything but.

Luna pauses her banging momentarily. “Rawr.”

Vince roars back, and she snuffle-laughs before dancing away to drag a bigger stick from a nearby pile.

The urn in Vince’s arms is huge, and I open the gate for him.

“Thank you.” He pauses to kiss my cheek.

Morrissey comes straight over, and he carefully shifts his armful the other way, minimizing any risk of it accidentally falling on her. “Hey, Morrissey,” he says. “Where do you think Gammy would like her replacement pot? Her lavender needs a new home, after my big clown feet busted the old one.”

She looks around the garden, tapping her chin. “It’s very pretty. It should go somewhere everyone can see it.”

---