Page 90 of Out on a Limb
He squinted in the bright sun, the skin around his eyes crinkling as he scanned the space. “Maybe you can talk to Collette. See what she thinks.”
I almost smiled.
Collette might not realize it, but her grandmother’s position at the garden was most definitely filled.
But it wasn’t by her grandfather.
“I’ll talk to her and we’ll come up with something.”
Mark tipped his head in a nod. “Good.” He looked around. “It would be a shame to lose this place because of a few assholes.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” I slapped him on the back before heading to where Julia was already working. She was organizing the plants lined in the greenhouse, separating out the ones that needed to be planted from the ones that still had some time left inside. “Mark found the ladder.” I grabbed the line of mature plants and started stacking them onto one of the rolling carts we kept to move them from place to place. “And he noticed there were chickens missing.”
Julia’s eyes widened. “Did he tell anyone?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.” I finished adding the plants to the cart. “He thinks it was the guys behind us.”
Julia rubbed her lips together. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“As long as no one can prove it was you guys then it’s still a good idea.” It would have been great to see the looks on their faces when they walked into the trailer and saw chickens everywhere.
“I’m not sure it will matter either way.” Julia dusted her hands off.
“It will matter if they want to press charges.”
She shrugged it off. “Maybe.” Her eyes went to the plants on the cart. “Where in the hell are we going to put those?”
I did a mental rundown of the available space in the garden. “Do we have a few spots by the temple?”
“That’s been full for months.” Julia looked from the plants to the trash can.
“No.” I wasn’t throwing away perfectly healthy plants.
“Looks like you’re taking them home with you then.”
My yard was as full as the garden was at this point.
Maybe worse.
“I’ll go ask Collette if she wants them at her house.” She wanted a plant room. Maybe it was time to make that happen.
Give her grandmother’s plants another home.
I pushed the cart all the way to the front of the property, keeping my eyes out for Alan and Wilfred. I half-expected them to be carrying shovels around, digging holes looking for that key.
Which was one more thing I needed to discuss with Collette.
The thing was clearly valuable to them and we needed to know why.
Collette was at the register when I went in, checking out a young woman in yoga pants and a sports bra. She came here at least three times a week with her mat and spent an hour stretching and meditating in the temple next to the fish fountain Ruby brought from India.
Collette looked my way as she bagged up the woman’s purchase. “What are all those?”
“Do you guys sell plants?” Yoga woman immediately snagged one of the babies from the rack and lifted it up to look at the bottom. “How much are they?”
“Ten dollars.” Collette didn’t miss a beat.
“I’ll take three.” The woman picked two more plants and lined them down the counter. “Now I can have a little of Sweet Side Gardens at my house.”
