Page 28 of Out on a Limb
I checked the other plants we had in the space, watering anything that needed it, repotting ones that were ready to graduate to a larger space, and trimming anything growing too tall too fast.
It took over an hour to get it all done and that hour was exactly what I needed. It gave me time to think.
Time to decide how I wanted my life to be.
And there was only one answer.
I wanted it to be exactly like it was.
I flipped off the lights as I left the building, locking up on my way out.
The park was silent as I worked my way toward the front, taking my time. Like Mrs. Johnson, I walked the garden every day, either first thing in the morning when I got there, or last thing at night when I left.
Sometimes both.
I was always the first one there and usually the last one out, which gave me plenty of time to appreciate everything I’d been able to accomplish in my years working the grounds.
And I wasn’t going to give that up. Not for some pricks who were pissed over a noise complaint.
I went out the side gate that led straight to the parking lot, locking it behind me as I left.
I only made it three steps into the lot.
Collette’s Jeep was still there.
I checked my watch. It was almost seven. Not too terribly late, but later than I’d ever seen her here before.
I walked toward the main building. The lights were all off and there was no sign of anyone inside. The automatic doors were locked, but the light on the alarm was flashing, which meant it hadn’t been set for the night.
Sweet Side was a nice area, but I still didn’t like the idea of her being here alone.
So I unlocked the gate and went back in.
I went straight for the main building, expecting to find Collette in the break room, going through the stacks of inventory stored there, but the lights were off and there was no sign of Collette or Phillip.
I checked the cafe. The bathrooms. Even the storage closets.
She was nowhere to be found.
I went back out into the garden, following the path leading from the side door she always used. It wove along the south side of the property, passing through some of the shadiest and most secluded parts of the property, including some spots you had to pay attention to the map to find. I followed the path of stones leading to one of those hidden spots.
A spot someone else used to be particularly fond of.
I saw Phillip first, his little white body tucked under the bench sitting just beside the largest of the three koi ponds we featured. I barely made it another step before he jumped up and immediately started running right at me, beak open, squawking as he bounced across the ground, ready to dig his spurs into whatever part of me he could reach.
Collette straightened from where she was crouched down at the edge of the pond, gasping as her eyes fixed on where her guard rooster flailed my way.
But only for two more feet.
Phillip wasn’t used to the constraints of the leash his lady had harnessed around him, and all at once his aggressive advance came to an abrupt end, along with the slack of the webbed strap.
The sound that came out of him was nothing short of hilarious, but I was too proud to laugh at him. Phillip was the smallest rooster of the lot dumped through the fence last night, but he had balls bigger than most full-grown men I knew.
“I’m sorry.” Collette rushed to scoop Phillip up. “I think you surprised him.”
“He surprised me.” I was going to have to buy the little guy a bag of mealworms. Maybe some sunflower seeds. “I didn’t expect him to be so aggressive.”
Collette frowned down at the ball of feathery fluff. “Hopefully he gets over that.”
