Page 9 of It's Not PMS, It's You

“I’m kidding. Sort of . . .” Dee snorted. “Look—Ruth is my best friend and is one of the kindest and most generous people I know. I love her to death, but she can be a little hardcore and blunt when things aren’t going as planned. She’s a perfectionist. As long as you remember that and deliver what you promised, there won’t be any problems at all.”

If Ruth was anything like my ex, I knew what I needed to do. Just do my job and do it right. Avoid confrontations and mind my own business. The best thing I could do was keep as much distance as possible between me and a woman like that.

The problem was that she worked from home.

I was most likely going to hear things, things related to her personal life and her job. Since I’m a natural problem solver, I’m always looking for ways to help. Some people look at that as sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, but I like to think I’m just being kind and looking for ways to help others. If Ruth was a perfectionist, maybe she would be way ahead of me and come up with solutions before I could. Either way, I didn’t see any issue there.

I grinned. “Good thing I’m a perfectionist, too.”

Dee nodded. “I got that feeling when I saw the meticulous work you had done on some of your previous projects. And I know you’re the best in the business—that’s why we hired you. Anyway, forget I even mentioned it. Okay, I need to get back to work. I do pop in on occasion to help Ruth with things. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

“I look forward to it,” Brandon offered, but then cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, we’ll see you around.”

Dee blushed. “Lock up when you’re done.”

After Dee left, Brandon brought in the doors from my truck.

I pointed to a spot in the corner. “Just lean them against the wall over there. Gently.”

He carefully set the doors on the floor and leaned them against the wall, turning to me. “Dee is cute, don’t you think?”

I nodded. “It looked like you two had a little connection going on there.”

He grinned. “Yeah, I got the same feeling.”

I decided to play with him a little. “How come you didn’t ask her out?”

Brandon stared at me. “Well, I, uh . . . I just met her and . . .” He shrugged.

“I didn’t ask out wedgie girl at the gym because I had just mether, but you seemed to have a problem with that. What’s the difference?”

“There’s ahugedifference.”

I crossed my arms. “Do tell.”

He thought about it for a moment. “Because you have much less time left on earth than I do. You need to meet someone sooner.”

I laughed, since I wasn’t that much older than Brandon. “Not if I kill you for saying something like that.”

He pointed to my chest. “Your heart wouldn’t be able to take not having me around.”

“Lucky for you.” I gestured with my thumb to leave the office. “Let’s check out the backyard again before we head out.”

Brandon followed me through the house to the sliding glass door in the kitchen that led to the backyard.

I slid the door open and stepped outside, surveying the area and visualizing what we had to do over the next few weeks. We had several deliveries scheduled for the next morning and I was excited to get my hands dirty again. This was what I lived for. Starting a project from scratch, from my vision, and transforming the backyard into something special for my client.

Brandon pointed toward the ground near my feet. “You’re standing mighty close to the roses. Do you have a death wish?”

I glanced down and chuckled. “I’m at least thirty inches away.”

He laughed. “Ruth sounds like a ball-buster to me. We need to be careful.”

“We’re careful with every job, it doesn’t matter who the client is.”

“I guess I’m trying to say that we need to beextracareful.”

I nodded. “Maybe you’re right, but why is she so protective of these things when she’s not taking proper care of them?” I pulled one leaf off the rose bush closest to me and showed it to Brandon. “I mean, look at this?”