Page 104 of It's Not PMS, It's You

“Hey. Glad you could make it. You look beautiful.”

A smile slowly formed on her face. “Thank you.” She glanced around the beach. “Did you bring Karma with you?”

“No. This beach doesn’t allow dogs. But since I am now her official owner, I have all her papers and medical documents. I was able to leave her with the doggy daycare not too far from my house.”

“That’s great.”

I nodded. “I sent out an email to the family with a picture to let them know about Karma and had five replies with offers to watch her whenever I needed someone.”

“You can add me to that list, as long as she doesn’t dig anything else up in my yard.”

“I’m pretty sure that was a one-time thing because your soil smelled like bones and dead things.” I chuckled and pointed to the flowers on her dress. “Black-eyed Susans.”

She glanced down at her dress. “What do you mean?”

“The flowers on your dress.”

“Really? I had no idea they were called Black-eyed Susans. How do you know that? You’re a man.”

I crossed my arms.

“Oh, right. You’re that whatchamacallit, professional backyard designer flower guy, plant man.”

I laughed. “What a coincidence. That’sexactlywhat my business card says. Nick Morris, the whatchamacallit, professional backyard designer flower guy, plant man. It wasn’t easy fitting all that on the card. I had to pay extra for printing.”

She laughed and playfully pushed me on the arm. “Okay, give me a break, I’m trying not to think too much today.”

“You’re off to a good start.” I chuckled. “By the way, we still need to talk about the flowers and plants for your backyard. I know you wanted to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.” I motioned to her dress. “Anyway,thoseflowers attract butterflies. You might want to keep that in mind.”

“I will. And I am loving the yard more every day. It’s amazing how much personality the rocks added today.”

Brandon and I had spent almost all morning moving the rocks from the delivery this morning. From the street to the backyard, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow, exactly eight thousand pounds of rocks were transferred from the front to the back. Brandon did the wheelbarrowing and I moved the rocks into place in the backyard once he dumped each huge pile in front of me. It was like Ruth said, the yard was really shaping up well and in record time.

“Now, we just have to plant the palm trees, succulents, and flowers. There are a few other things to take care of, but most of the big stuff has already been finished. Most likely we have a few days left on the job and we’ll be out of your hair.”

Ruth lost her smile.

She probably was thinking what I was thinking.

When the job was over, we wouldn’t be seeing each other anymore.

“Nicky!” my mom called out. “You get over here right now and introduce me to your date!”

Ruth turned toward me and crossed her arms. “Do you want to explainthat?”

I pointed to my mom. “I didnottell her this was a date. I told her you were a friend. That’s all. I promise.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” She waved me off. “I don’t care aboutthat.”

Ruth didn’t care if my family thought we were on a date? Really?

“I’m talking about the part where she called youNicky. You didn’t tell me that was one of your nicknames. Explain that, Mr. Knick-knack-paddywhack.”

“Nicky is not a nickname,Ruthless. It’s short for Nicholas, just like Nick. But there are only a few people who call me that.”

“How come only a few? I think it’s cute.”

I couldn’t tell if she was kidding. “Really?”