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Marian had tended this garden with love and care Noas time for Abby to do the same

The whole damn day had been torture

He’d co to catch a few y, after all And not the half-assed one he’d given her the night of the barbecue It had been especially clear when she was gone and he orking in her house alone

He’d missed her

But instead of a war Abby’s kitchen like a couple of teenagers Hell, they’d even had a slumber party And then his crew had shown up and they’d started painting He had fans going now, trying to e and the boys had already left in their trucks, so the only chance Tom had had all day to speak privately to her was nohen he was finished for the day

She was still out in the garden

He stepped outside, wandering around to the side of the house where the pathwaysto the lattice arch and the profusion of rosebushes that surrounded it She’d been busy The bushes were neatly trimmed back, the deadwood pulled out, and she’d built a brush pile down over the side hill, away from the other trees She’d pulled so many weeds from the flower beds that her wheelbarroas rounded with thearden was cleaned out, Tom could see the perennials that had withstood the test of tireen stalks of lilies, irises, and phlox becaarden, and along one side she’d pulled away tall grass to let the rhododendrons have their space, their brilliant pink and purple flowers announcing the arrival of early summer

It was going to be gorgeous when she got it done

Abby knelt on a foa out her back, oblivious to hierated the curve of her breasts and the long colulove and rubbed her neck with her fingers, closing her eyes and tilting her head to one side

Toht muscles and the kinks She’d looked at hiry So hurt Not that he could bla it had been different She’d teased hi had happened He wondered if he had Jess and Sarah to thank for that Wondered exactly how much they’d told her about him, and Erin, and Josh, and what a messed-up situation it had been

While he watched, she put her glove back on and went to work on another patch of weeds What would he say to her, anyway? How could he explain about Erin without sounding like a complete jerk?

He knehat she thought That he’d gone after his cousin’s wife That he hadn’t was merely a technicality He’d hovered on the brink, unbearably teh, but in his mind and in his heart he’d done it a thousand times and he hated himself for it

He could never explain it all without tarnishing the one He’d be damned if he’d put an ounce of the blame on her now

Abby deserved better So he turned around and walked away, out of the garden and back to his truck

The early-summer eve