Page 1 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

Starting to walk again, she answered with, “Hey, Boss Lady.”

“Oh God, do you still have that as my display name?” Gina Spaldine asked with exasperation rather than greet her.

“Sure do,” Abril said on a laugh. “It is fitting after all.”

When the only response was a dubious grunt, Abril changed the subject and asked, “How’s the trip going?”

“Great!” Gina said with sudden enthusiasm. “Italy is gorgeous! If I could speak the language, I’d move here.”

“You said the very same thing about Spain, France, Puerto Rico, and Rio de Janeiro,” Abril reminded her with amusement as she reached the top of the driveway and stopped in front of the garage doors.

“And I meant it every time,” Gina told her. “These spa resorts are amazing. I swear they build them in the most glorious spot

in each country.”

“They probably do,” Abril agreed, her gaze dropping to Lilith as the large yellow Labrador retriever tried to move away, tugging

on the leash. Pulling the Lab back, she quickly bent to turn on the collar for the wireless fence that kept the dog safely

in the yard. She then gave her an affectionate pet before undoing the leash to let her run loose.

Straightening again, Abril glanced around the three-acre parklike setting that was Gina’s yard and commented, “But I think

your house is in a pretty gorgeous spot too.”

“It is,” Gina admitted, her tone saying she was pleased with the new home she’d purchased. “That’s why I bought it. Speaking

of which, how is construction going?”

“Uh... good.” Abril glanced toward both the great gaping hole in the ground along the side of the house, and the big yellow

vehicle that sat silent and unmoving next to it.

“Good?” Gina questioned, stress entering her voice. “You didn’t sound too confident when you said that, Abs. What’s wrong?”

Abril grimaced at the question. She’d rather been hoping to keep this problem from Gina, but should have known better.

She was terrible at hiding anything. “It’s nothing really,” she assured her quickly.

“It’s just that—Well, you know they finished the master bedroom, en suite bathroom and kitchen renos yesterday and planned to start digging the foundation for the addition this morning? ”

“Yes. They were pretty close to finishing inside when I left for the airport the day before yesterday.” There was a frown

in Gina’s voice. “What happened? Did they hit the gas line while digging the foundation or something?”

“No, no. Nothing like that,” Abril assured her.

“Well, then what is it?”

“The digger thing... excavator?” she guessed before rushing on, “It crapped out on them about midmorning. They had to stop

for the day and wait for someone to come look at it. They’re hoping that will be first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning? They couldn’t get someone in today or bring in another excavator to continue on?” Gina sounded annoyed

now, and Abril wasn’t surprised. Her boss was not the most patient of women. It had taken forever to get these renovations

started, and now that they were underway, every delay that came up—and Abril was sure there would be many—was just going to

piss off Gina.

“I guess not,” Abril said finally, her voice soothing. “But we had a pretty good rain just before lunchtime and they would

have had to stop anyway. And Jared assured me that he was positive their guy would be able to get here first thing in the

morning to fix the excavator. He also promised they’d work Saturday to make up for the lost time.”

A long silence stretched along the phone line and then Gina muttered, “Right. Okay. Well, these things happen I guess.”

Abril murmured an agreement, her gaze shifting to Lilith as the Lab leaned into the six-foot round inground pond to drink out of it. Unsure if drinking the pond water was safe, Abril was just about to call her away when Gina spoke again, distracting her.

“So, have you had any visits from nosey neighbors yet? Or complaints about the noise?”

“Complaints no. Nosey neighbors yes,” Abril admitted, and then added, “At least I’m guessing nosey since I didn’t get to talk

to them myself. That neighbor from the house one over to the left and across the street, Kim I think her name is?”

“Yes. Kim,” Gina agreed.

“Well, she and another woman came by just before lunch and were talking to some of the workers. I didn’t notice right away

though, and by the time I did, and then got Lilith’s leash on and took her outside, Kim and her friend were already halfway

up your very long driveway, leaving.”

Very long was an understatement when it came to describing Gina’s driveway. Her house had been built on the back of a pie-shaped three-acre

property. The driveway was a good two hundred feet long. Maybe more, Abril thought and then added, “I was about to call out

and walk down to talk to them and make sure they didn’t have any complaints about noise, but before I could Jared stopped

me to tell me about the excavator thingie breaking down.”

“But construction will definitely be starting up again tomorrow, right?” Gina asked, obviously more concerned about the renos

getting done in a timely manner than in what her neighbors thought.

“As long as they’re able to get it going again, yes,” Abril said cautiously, thinking it was better to prepare her for the worst-case scenario. After all, no one knew what the problem was. What if they needed to order a part and wait for it to be delivered before they could make repairs?

“Well, if they can’t fix it or find a replacement excavator by tomorrow, tell Jared to get to work on pulling out the indoor

garden in the meantime. I know the carpet hasn’t arrived yet, but they can still dig out the plants and dirt, fill it in with

the gravel, and pour and spread the concrete to be ready for when the carpet does get there,” Gina said firmly. “I really

want all the inside stuff done before I get back. It’ll eliminate the bother of the construction crew tramping in and out

of the house and distracting us while we’re working.”

“That would be nice,” Abril said slowly, and then grimaced and told her, “Except Jared explained that the carpet isn’t the

only reason they didn’t move on to the indoor garden before starting outside. He said it was more economical to bring in the

gravel and concrete for both the indoor garden and the foundation at the same time. He plans on having a couple of men dig

out the indoor garden right before the gravel comes for filling the foundation, and the same with the concrete. They’ll pour

it outside and inside from the same deliveries. He said that way there also wouldn’t be a great gaping hole in the living

room floor for days or weeks for someone to fall into.”

Abril had no trouble hearing Gina’s mutter of irritation before the woman said, “Well, that makes sense, I guess. I just can’t

wait to be rid of that indoor garden. I hate the plants in it.”

Abril smiled crookedly, relieved her boss wasn’t throwing a fit at the news she’d just imparted. Her relief had her teasing, “You mean you hate watering those plants on weekends when I can’t make it in.”

“That too,” Gina acknowledged. “But I hate the plants as well. Honestly, I don’t know what the Bransons were thinking. I mean,

could they possibly have found uglier ones? Between that nasty, spindly palm tree or yucca thing that looks like a bent and

emaciated old man, and those overgrown cornstalks—”

“They aren’t cornstalks,” Abril interrupted with amusement, but admitted, “They do kind of look like them though. Fifteen-foot

cornstalks. And, yes, they are ugly.” After a brief pause, she teased, “But you didn’t even mention the Naked-man orchids.

Won’t you be happy to be rid of those?”

“Oh, well, those aren’t so bad,” Gina said. “In fact, I find them kind of cathartic.”

“Cathartic?” Abril echoed with surprise.

“Yeah. Anytime I think of William and his taking off like he did, I go down and pinch the little pecker off one of the Naked-man

orchids.”

“Oh gawd, Gina!” Abril cried on a disbelieving laugh. “You don’t!”

“I do. Well, at least, I did,” she assured her. “And I’ll miss doing it. In fact...” She paused and then said thoughtfully,

“Maybe rather than get rid of the garden altogether, I should just have them pull out everything but the Naked-man orchids

and plant different, more attractive trees and bushes around them.”

Abril grimaced at the words. Gina had vacillated for months between changing plants or digging up the garden and either replacing it with flooring or adding a water feature in its place.

Her indecisiveness had nearly driven Abril and the contractor crazy.

It had been a relief when her boss had settled on removing the garden and making the living room larger.

Much larger, Abril thought. The indoor garden was twelve feet by twelve feet, with a three-foot walkway alongside it. Once

the garden was gone, the living room would be thirty-five feet by fifteen feet. That was much larger than she felt any living

room needed to be, but had no desire for Gina to keep that damned garden. Mostly because she would be stuck continuing to

water and tend it and Abril had also hated watering the ugly plants. She wasn’t eager to water different ones now, so warned,

“Whatever you like, but as I already told you, my coming over on the weekends to water the garden was a favor I won’t keep

up after this. So if you choose to keep the indoor garden, you’ll have to tend to it yourself, or hire someone to do it for

you.”

Much to her relief, Gina breathed out unhappily and said, “I suppose it’s better to stick with the plan and get rid of it

altogether then. I mean the indoor garden is the main reason I bought the house, but I can’t remember to water it myself,

and don’t want strangers coming and going on the weekends, so if you won’t water it for me...”