"No point in me being upset. "
"Point isn't, well, the point, is it?" She wanted to stroke his shoulders, rub her cheek to his. But he'd stiffen, just as she would if someone touched her before she was ready to be touched.
"You're angry with the way I handled things last night. With the way I wouldn't let you handle them. "
"Your choice. " He jerked a shoulder. "And I'm not mad at you. I'm disappointed in you, that's all. "
If he'd taken his grafting knife and stabbed it into her heart, she'd have felt less pain, less shock. "Harper. "
"Did you have to be so goddamn polite? Couldn't you have given him what he deserved right then and there instead of brushing me back and taking it outside?"
"What good would - "
"I don't give ashit about what good, Mama. " The infamous Harper temper smoldered in his eyes. "He deserved to have his clock cleaned, right on the spot. You should've let me stand up for you. But it had to be your way, with me standing there doing nothing. So what is the damn point?"
She wanted to turn away, to take a moment to compose herself, but he deserved better. He deserved face-to-face. "There's no one in this world who can hurt me the way you can. "
"I'm not trying to hurt you. "
"No, you're not. You wouldn't. That's how I know just how angry you are. And how I can see where it comes from. Maybe I was wrong. " She lifted her hands to rub them over her face. "I don't know, but it's the only way I know. I had to get him out of the house. I'm asking you to understand that Ihad to get him out of our house, quickly and before he'd smeared it all again. "
She dropped her hands, and her face was naked with regret. "I brought him into our home, Harper. I did that, you didn't. "
"That doesn't mean you're to blame, for Christ's sake, or that you have to handle something like that by yourself. If you can't depend on me to help you, to stand up for you - "
"Oh, God, Harper. Here you are, sitting in here thinking I don't need you when half the time I'm worried I need you too much for your own good. I don't know what I'd do without you, that's the God's truth. I don't want to fight with you over him. " Now she pressed her fingers to her eyes. "He's nothing but a bully. "
"And I'm not a little boy you have to protect from bullies anymore, Mama. I'm a man, and it's my job now to protect you. Whether you want it or not. And whether you damn well need it or not. "
She dropped her hands again, nearly managed a smile this time. "I guess that's telling me. "
"He comes to the door again, you won't stop me. "
She drew a breath, then framed his face with her hands. "I know you're a man. It pains me sometimes, but I know you're a man with his own life, his own ways. I know you're a man, Harper, who'll stand beside me when I ask, even though you'd rather stand in front of me and fight the battle. "
Though she knew she wasn't quite forgiven, she pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I'm going on home to work in the garden. Don't stay mad at me too long. "
"Probably won't. "
"There's some of that baked ham left over from the party. Plenty of side dishes, too, if you wanted to come by and forage for dinner. "
"Might. "
"All right, then. You know where to find me. "
WITH GARDENS ASextensive as hers, there was always some chore to do. Since she wanted work, Roz hauled mulch, checked her compost, worked with the cuttings and seedlings she grew for her personal use in the small greenhouse at home.
Then grabbing gloves and her loppers, she headed out to finish up some end-of-the-year pruning.
When Mitch found her, she was shoving small branches into a little chipper. It rattled hungrily as it chewed, with its dull red paint looking industrious.
As she did, he thought, in her dirt-brown and battered jacket, the black cap, thick gloves, and scarred boots. There were shaded glasses hiding her eyes, and he wondered if she wore them against the beam of sunlight, or as protection against flying wood chips.
He knew she couldn't hear him over the noise of the chipper, so took a moment just to watch her. And let hi
mself meld the sparkling woman in rubies with the busy gardener in faded jeans.
Then there was the to-the-point woman in a business suit who'd first come to his apartment. Roz of the tropical greenhouse with a smudge of soil on her cheek. And the casual, friendly Roz who'd taken the time to help him select a child's toy.