Page 4 of The Woman in the Hollow
Though I did catch him at the grocery store buying extra-large black bags and tape to make dead bodies. So he was clearly committed, too.
“I heard my ma talking to your ma about it the other day.”
“Oh, yeah? What’d they say?” I asked, dropping my arms and reaching for my bottle of water.
“Your ma was going on and on about how proud of you she was.” Well, that felt good. “She said she thinks it shows that you’re getting serious about starting a family,” Milo added with his trademark playboy smirk.
“I don’t even have a girl,” I said, shaking my head as a laugh/groan hybrid escaped me.
“You know the moms. Wanna be drowning in grand babies. And you’re the last one to settle down. Didn’t youryoungestbrother even get married before you?” he teased, knowing perfectly well that August had settled down even before our oldest brother.
“She’s got Valley to worry about too. And who are you to talk? You’re still single too.”
“Eh, she’s on Elisa’s ass now that Smush is seeing someone. I figure I got another year or two before that shit comes my way. But, yeah, you weren’t doing yourself any favors by opening that place.”
“We’ve got other kids in the family too. I want them to have the same experiences we got to have as kids. Feels like the world is losing the spirit of the holidays in a sea of beige boringness.”
“Not your ma.”
No.
My mom went all-out for holidays still, Halloween included. If anything, she’d amped shit up since becoming a grandma.
She rented two fucking storage units to store all her holiday shit: one for Halloween and other, smaller holidays, and one for Christmas.
With October finally being here, I was sure she’d gotten one of my brothers to drive over to the unit, load up their cars, and bring the decorations to the house.
There was probably a whole graveyard set up, creepy figures ready to scare the bejesus out of trick-or-treaters, and purple and orange lights all over the place.
The pumpkins would come eventually, likely after she came to visit the garden center and picked out her own. I was sure to grow not only the cute, small pumpkins for the class trips, but big, hunky ones slated to become jack-o-lanterns. In orange, white,andgreen. The last two colors had come highly requested from my sister and cousins who wanted to decorate their front porches withallthe pumpkins.
“Alright. I’m hitting the shower. You need to hit the leg press,” I said, elbowing my cousin as I passed. His legs were fine and we both knew it. But cousins were just as good for ribbing as brothers were.
I showered and changed into a suit. Dressy for a garden center? Sure. But some habits were hard to break. I’d been admiring the suits our fathers and uncles always wore ever since I was biting ankles. Aside from when I was hitting the gym, I was rarely seen without one on.
Besides, it was the first time a lot of my employees were going to see me. I wanted to look good for first impressions.
By the time I made it to DG Greens, the school bus had just unloaded, and Domenico was speaking to the teacher and chaperones as the kids bounced around on their heels, necks craning to check out all the events to come.
Why the fuck wasDomenicothe one greeting children? Young children who weren’t mature enough to hear the abundance of f-bombs and other inventive curse words that would no doubt escape his lips.
Not a great way to secure future deals with the schools.
On a grumble, I climbed out of my car and rushed around the garden center, looking for someone—anyone—who could step in for my cousin.
“Is anyone working here?” I asked aloud when I didn’t see anyone.
But, of course, the second the words were out of my mouth, my gaze landed on someone.
Not, as I expected, one of the many young adults or the few farmhands who were usually lingering around.
Oh, no.
I’d never seen this woman before.
I would have remembered; that was for sure.
She was small—short and slight—but with a killer rack she had covered in a simple black tee. Her short legs were swimming in a pair of plaid orange and black pants, and there were thick combat boots on her feet. The thick sole must have added another inch or so to her height, so she was even shorter than she first appeared.
