That's Life for You

Chapter 12

I show up at the Curtis place a little after nine the next day. Cassie answers the door wearing shorts and a sleeveless blouse. I can't help that my eyes linger on her chest longer than necessary. She's glaring when my eyes make their way back up to hers and I offer a lazy smile.

"Just enjoying the view." I put up my hands to show my innocence.

"You're a pig," she mumbles, but opens the door wider so I can come inside.

She leads me though the house to the back door. "The garden is kind of a mess." Her voice is almost apologetic. "There's a lot of work to be done."

I nod absent mindedly, following her into the backyard and letting my eyes scan over. I don't know much about gardening but you don't have to be an expert to know that Cassie's right and it is a mess. It's overgrown with weeds and has obviously been pretty neglected.

"Just tell me what to do," I say.

"Umm," she shifts from foot to foot. "I guess we should get the weeds pulled first?" It comes out almost a question and I raise an eyebrow.

"I'm going to be honest, I don't know shit about gardening so just tell me what to do and I'll do it." God, I hope she has an idea of what needs to be done or we're gonna be pretty screwed.

"Right." She nods. "First we'll do our best to get the weeds up."

Cassie is a lot more patient teacher than I thought she would be. She explains things simply and if I mess up, she doesn't get frustrated like I figured she would. She would just smile, shake her head, and demonstrate the right way.

It was hard work though. The coolness the storm had brought was long gone and sweat was pouring off my body in the first hour.

After we worked a few hours, I couldn't help but notice with dismay that we barely made a dent.

With a sigh, Cassie gets to her feet, which are dirty and bare. Her shirt has come untucked from her shorts and strays of hair have fallen out of her bun. "We should probably take a break for lunch."

Following suit, I get to my feet. I think she's pretty discouraged by the lack of progress too.

"Bologna sandwich, okay?" she asks, wiping sweat off her forehead.

A part of me wants to decline. I reckon they'll probably having trouble feeding themselves and don't need to be feeding another person, but I have a strong feeling that would insult Cassie if I turn it down. We are close enough to the south that it's considered bad manners not to accept food when it's offered. Besides I'm pretty fucking hungry.

"Fine by me," I answer.

The next couple of weeks goes pretty much the same. I don't even bother knocking on the front door, I just go around the house to the back. We work side by side and by the end of the month, I can finally start to see a difference.

Working on the garden actually becomes a big part of my day. Something I look forward too. It gives me a sense of purpose and I swear there's a hint of relief in Cassie's eyes every time I show up. Besides it was easy to dodge Tim by going to her house. He wasn't stupid enough to come strolling into the Curtis's turf, after doing what he did.

One day when I show up Cassie isn't waiting for me in the backyard like she usually is. I check my watch. It's only 11: 15 and she doesn't work today.

I knock on the backdoor, feeling a little panicky. I started relying on working in the garden. I counted on it. Besides working, Cassie never seemed to do much else with her time. I was starting to wonder if she even had any friends.