Page 44 of There's Pumpkin About You
Her face turns sympathetic. “You need the help, August.”
“I—”
“He’s going to have help from tomorrow, Doctor Shakari. It’ll all be arranged by the end of the day.”
Doc and I both wait patiently for Wren to explain.
She pauses before continuing, and even though she looks more worried than anything else, I can still see a small flame in her eyes turning them from sandstone to the color of summer leaves. She looks at her phone which she’s holding loosely in her hand and I’m wondering what she’s just done or is planning to do.
“We’re going to pause the work on the barn and everyone currently helping with that is going to work on the harvest with Bash so that Gus can rest. Me included.”
Wait, what?
Doc looks relieved and appeased, but I know that my confusion and anger are showing clear on my face. I can feel the tension in my jaw as my teeth grind together.
“That’s not what’s happening,” I argue. “There’s a deadline on that barn.”
“You getting better is more important, Gus,” Wren says softly. She steps closer to me, and I can’t move away because I’m still on this goddamn bed. “The barn can wait.”
“What about your party?”
She tries to make her shrug look indifferent, but I see the concern in those soft features. “I’ll move it to a backup location.”
This stare down isn’t like our usual ones. There is no anger mixed with unresolved tension coming from her, only me this time. Wren’s stare is softer and kinder than I’ve ever seen it before. She, like me, wants to move away from our toxic habit of arguing in order to settle our differences, even when they’re not different at all.
I let in a deep breath just as Shakari starts to move my shoulder. “We agreed you would have it in the barn.”
“We also agreed that I would have a backup location just in case.”
“And do you?” I ask through gritted teeth.
She looks down and even if she tries to tell me a pathetically put-together lie, I’ll know the truth.
A rather sharp move of my uninjured shoulder distracts me and brings forth a wince and a groan that I couldn’t have stopped even if I was prepared.
Doc hums as she examines my shoulders. “You’re further damaging the muscles and putting pressure on the nerves. You seriously need to rest from here on out, Gus, it’s no longer a suggestion.”
“You need to ignore what she said,” I tell Doc. “She’s having her friend’s party in my barn and so I don’t have people to help with the harvest. I need to work.”
Doctor Shakari, who is looking more and more confused by the second, flicks her gaze from Wren to me and back again before shaking her head and smiling.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, slightly annoyed.
“Nothing, nothing.” She rips off her gloves and throws them away. “I just remember when my husband and I were like this. Always fighting and pretending that what was new love at the time was so much less than that.”
Wren chokes on absolutely nothing whilst I close my eyes and sigh. Why the hell does everyone seem to think that I have feelings for this woman?
Am I attracted to her? Fuck, yeah. Who wouldn’t be? I’m not so blind to the normalities of the world that I would overlook Wren’s beauty, but am I stupid enough to introduce something as stupid asfeelings?
Hell, no. Wren and I would rip each other apart if we were ever in a relationship.
“We’re not together.”
“Yes, at the time my husband and I weren’t either.” Doc laughs. “But you’ll be surprised at what a tiny bit of tension and good intentions can do.”
ChapterTwenty
WREN
