Page 142 of A Curse On Black Lake
I brush my tears away.
Killian hops up and holds his hand out for me. I take it, and he pulls me up slowly, drawing me into his chest. His dirty hand directs my chin so all I see is him. “Sorry my hand is dirty, but I need those lips.”
I smile at him wistfully and stand on his boots to reach him.
“I don’t care about the dirt.”
Killian’s mouth meets mine in a tender kiss. “Come on.” He takes me by the hand out of the barn.
We walk up the hill towards the house and around back. There are four squares dug out in the ground and wood in the same shape, making a garden bed. A couple of other squaresare started, but the bed isn’t completed. “Are you going to start gardening? It’s a little late in the season, cowboy.”
He drops an arm around my shoulders. “I buried Conrad over there, by that tree,” he says, pointing to the bald cypress across the yard. “I know you probably wanted him at your house, but…”
“No, I get it,” I mutter.
“So what are you doing with this?” I ask, pointing back at the garden beds.
He adjusts his hat and rubs his beard. “I, uh, thought you could plant some things here. I started it between moving your animals.”
I stare at the garden beds. It’s not like I was running out of space on Greer land. We’ve had space for expansion, for higher-yielding crops. Killian knows that.
It was in Grams and I’s plans to expand everything. When she was alive business was good, but it was because of her.
I look up at Killian, and his jaw twitches.
“I don’t know what to say,” I say, still shocked, but confused. These garden beds mean he’s serious, right? They mean that he wants a future with me. Am I prepared for a future with him? Two months ago, the only thing I could do was get myself out of bed and feed my animals.
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I can plant some other things here. I know we spoke about this earlier, but I did it anyway because I want you here, and I thought this could encourage you to be,” he says.
Shocked isn’t the right word to describe the way I’m feeling. “This is really thoughtful, thank you.”
Okay then, Eliana, way to show gratitude.
“Yeah, no problem,” he says and kisses my temple.
I don’t deserve this because I don’t know where I stand with him. He is the only man who has ever taken the time to see me,to get to know me. It also doesn’t help that I have no idea what I’m doing with him.I wish Grams were here.
Killian lets out a deep sigh and squeezes my shoulder before dropping his hand.
“It’s yours if you want it,” he says and leaves me standing in front of the garden boxes.
I watch him walk up the steps of the porch and disappear into the house.
This is not the time for this. I have no business being in a serious relationship with someone when I have a stalker, Killian’s being accused of murder, there’s a curse Killian and I’s ancestors are a part of and for some reason it involves us, and I just buried my grandmother, the most important person on Earth to me.
I look over at the mound of dirt where my Conrad is buried. Picking a few wild daisies, I go lay them on his grave.
I like Killian a lot, but are we ready for this? We’re going at a slow, comfortable pace, something I can adjust to. But does he care only because we have so much common ground in our loss, or because we’ve faced so much in such a short amount of time, we’re looking to each other for comfort?
Chapter forty-five
Eliana
Thenextday,I’mdownstairs before Killian. We didn’t share a bed last night. It’s probably for the best. I can feel him distancing himself from me, which is fair because of how I responded to the garden beds. But I don’t want him to put space between us. Yet, I did it to him.
Rejection, without being rejection. Is that a thing?
I groan to myself and pour hot coffee into my mug.
