Garden of Dreams (18 page)

But the Mercedes had been there. She found it hard to believe anyone driving a Mercedes would have any interest in a motorcycle bum or a battered Toyota. The possibility that everything JD had said was true did not make her any happier. How much damage could one computer programmer do to another? Surely they weren't violent.

The van “accident” implied otherwise.

Gritting her teeth and glaring at an innocent lily, Nina set the whole idea aside. JD “Smith” rented her front room and played with computers. That's all she needed to know.

At dusk, he sauntered down from the back porch, tucking in his T-shirt as he glanced around, looking for her. Nina contemplated remaining hidden behind the fence, but she supposed she should see if he needed anything. Southern hospitality demanded an awful lot of a person.

She liked the way his bronzed face lit up when he smiled. She liked it when he smiled at her approach. She liked it altogether too well. She couldn't manage a scowl in return, but she kept her voice neutral. “Did you need anything?”

His smile became a crooked grin, but he didn't tease her for a change. “I'm taking the boat back. You'll need your car. We can't leave it parked at the marina. Is there a barn or something on the property where we can at least keep it hidden?”

She definitely didn't like these games. She pointed at the next stand of trees. “There's an old equipment shed over there. The roof is falling in, and half the slats are gone from the side. I won't be responsible if it falls on your head. But it's deep.”

He followed the direction of her finger. “That'll do for now. I don't know if they have any way of breaking into court computers and obtaining your address from license plate records, but I'd rather not take chances.”

“Even if they got my name, it's a rural route address on the records. I've never persuaded the clerk to correct it to the new post office numbers. The only way they can find me from a rural route address is by asking at the post office. I'll talk to Joe Bob tomorrow, tell him not to give out my directions to strangers. Beyond that, I can't promise. Everyone knows where I live.”

And they would all think someone driving a Mercedes was the financier behind the garden plan that didn't exist. Nina could kick whoever had started that rumor. She didn't think JD had strayed anywhere outside the farm without her. Jackie must have said something. How could she tell a whole darned town not to talk to strangers?

JD obviously didn't like the idea that everyone knew where she lived. He frowned, but there wasn't anything the mighty JD Smith could do about it. Shrugging, he said, “There's only so much we can do. I've hidden the program, so even if they break in, they won't find it. Will you be all right until I get back?”

Stupid question. As if she hadn't lived here alone this past year. Nina nodded and watched him walk off with the easy stride he managed even with a cane. He took the rough field and broken ground through the trees with a muscular gait that had him disappearing into the woods within seconds.

The air seemed suddenly still. Not even the mockingbird sang its silly song. Nina listened for a bobwhite or a catbird, a car engine, anything. The heavy humidity weighed on her skin like a soggy blanket as she watched the place where JD had disappeared. She should get back to work. She had plenty to do. But she stood there until she heard him start the boat engine, then waited a while longer until the sound grew fainter.

She finished watering the garden, but her heart wasn't in it. She'd fought this depression when Hattie had gone to the nursing home and she'd rattled around the empty house alone. She should be over it by now. Hattie was safe and comfortable where she was. If she'd stayed here, she could have wandered into the lake and drowned. Sometimes, Nina wondered if her aunt wouldn't have preferred that, but she simply couldn't bring herself to allow it. At least this way, Hattie had her lucid moments. It wasn't as if she were gone entirely.

The mosquitoes became too thick to endure. Nina gave up and returned to the house. The old rooms were ominously silent without Jackie's boom box or the click of JD's computer keyboard. She should be used to silence. Even when Hattie lived here, it had been quiet in the last few years. Her aunt had been too ill to make much noise. The rush of water as Nina turned on the faucet couldn't fill the vacuum.

She fixed a sandwich and turned on the TV news. She received the local channel without cable. She supposed she should ask about cable sometime, but she'd never particularly missed it. The garden and lesson plans usually occupied the majority of her evenings, and she didn't want more wires littering the countryside.

She brought out her notes on the landscaping project and studied them. She'd scarcely begun listing the possibilities. The costs escalated with each new idea. She didn't know why she was wasting her time, but it gave her something to do. It wasn't as if the plans would be totally wasted. Someday, she would find the funds for Hattie's garden. Maybe she would win a lottery.

* * *

JD saw the gray flicker of the television through the front window as he strolled up the walk. It was past midnight, and it had just occurred to him that he hadn't asked his absentminded landlady for a key. He hadn't needed one until now.

Nina didn't look up as he entered. Deeply engrossed, she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV, scribbling like a crazy woman across the notebook in her lap while sorting through the pages of notes and drawings scattered on the rug around her.

She'd waited up for him. JD knew it instantly. He supposed he could call it arrogance, but he knew her habits. She was waiting for him to come home safely. No one had ever waited up for him before. No one. He didn't know if he liked the idea or not. It was kind of like the air he sucked in between his two bottom teeth when the dentist gave them a good cleaning. It took some getting used to.

“Can I fix you some warm milk or anything?” JD asked awkwardly, not knowing how else to intrude upon her reverie.

She glanced up in wide-eyed surprise, and he fell once again for those elfin features. He remembered them now, staring down at him from the pickup, all puckered with concern. He'd made some stupid remark about clowns because he hadn't believed what he was seeing. He still didn't. But he knew better than to offer facetiousness now.

“Warm milk sounds appalling,” she replied without inflection, leaning over to turn off the TV. She didn't own a remote either. JD suspected the ancient TV could receive twelve channels at most. How could anyone live in such a technological backwater?

“I thought that's what people recommended when someone couldn't sleep. Are those notes on the garden?” He nodded at the papers in her hand.

She started gathering the pages and snapping them into a three-ring binder, the kind he used to carry in high school. “I want to be prepared when the professor calls back. Did you get the car?”

She didn't ask where he'd been all these hours. She probably wouldn't have liked it if she knew, which was probably why she didn't ask. Miss Nina Toon had a very perceptive head on her shoulders. “It's in the shed. I didn't see any sign of the Mercedes. Maybe it was all a fantasy. I'll hit the sack now and start early in the morning. The sooner that program is running, the sooner I can get out of here. That's probably best for everyone.”

She nodded, not taking her gaze from him. The look made him itchy, but she didn't say any of the things she was obviously thinking. “Did you have supper?”

“I stopped and had a bite. I can take care of myself.” Damn, now he sounded surly. If he could just get his hands around her for a few minutes, pull her into his arms for a little while, kiss her until both their heads spun, maybe he would lighten up. But he didn't see any chance of that happening before the world ended. He didn't want to be accused of buying her “services” again.

“All right. Good night then. I'm just picking up here before I turn in.”

Realizing he'd been right, that she'd waited up for him, JD felt a moment's smug satisfaction. So, she wasn't entirely invulnerable. A person had to care just a little if they worried, didn't they?

Not wanting to carry that thought too far, JD strolled off to his room, whistling.

***

 
“I heard about that botanical garden your fancy boarder is helping you plan.” Matt bounced the eraser end of his pencil against his shiny desk. “Do you think that's a good idea before this cellular phone business is settled?”

Nina skimmed her fountain pen across the bottom of the pages he'd given her to sign. She wouldn't take her anger out on Matt. He wasn't worth the effort. Capping the pen, she straightened and faced him coolly. “There is no garden, my boarder has nothing to do with anything, and none of it is any of your business. You should know by now how rumors grow. The kids just got to making something out of nothing. Wishful thinking, I guess. How soon will this go to court?”

“The docket's pretty full. It might be next session,” he admitted with a shrug.

Her temper soared. So far, she hadn't vented it on anyone but the imbeciles from the phone company, but if she'd had her shotgun here right now, she might rethink that position. “If you can't get it in any sooner than that,” she replied bitingly, “I'll go over to Hopkinsville and find an attorney and file it in that district. Don't play politics with me, Matt Home. I don't care what the damned phone company is paying you. File that paper now or I'm taking my business elsewhere. And it won't just be the incompetency hearing when I do.”

His baby-blue eyes widened. “Are you threatening me with something, Nina? You know I've always handled your aunt's affairs. Do you have a problem with the way I've carried them out?”

“Not until now. It shouldn't take two seconds for the judge to sign that sheet of paper. Are you going to get it on the docket or not?” Heaven help her, she sounded like JD. No wonder Matt looked at her as if she were losing her mind.

“I'll see what I can do, Nina. I didn't think you were in any hurry. Hattie's been in the home for a year now.”

“I foolishly hoped she would improve, but now I know better. There's no sense hoping anymore, and the place needs repairs. I can't do it until I have her power of attorney. I need it this summer, not after school starts.”

He stood, patted her hand soothingly, and murmured reassuring sympathies as he walked her out of the office. Nina wanted to throw a bucket of manure in his face. Did he really think her a flighty old spinster with no brains in her head? She hoped JD had the name of a good attorney by the time she got home. Gad, but she hated politicians.

The next stop on her list was the post office. Nina almost turned around and walked out with Joe Bob's greeting. “Heard you're building a theme park out at your place, Nina!”

She supposed, if it had been any other person but herself, she would have felt the same excitement and curiosity about the rumors. She just couldn't find the patience for them right now. Too many bombshells were exploding around her head, and it wasn't even the Fourth of July yet.

“No theme park, no garden, no nothing but a couple of kids with overexcited imaginations. Hattie wanted a botanical garden to draw tourists, but there's no money for it. I'll be sure and let everyone know if I win the lottery, however.” She handed him a manila envelope containing her home-study test answers. “If any strangers ask for directions to my place, I'd appreciate it if you'd not give them any. I've had some persistent telephone salesmen after me, and I'm afraid they'll show up out here one of these days.”

“Sure, Nina. I usually don't give out that information unless I know there's an honest reason. A woman living alone needs protection. You ought to get yourself a big dog.”

Nina grinned in spite of herself. “I've got one. His name is Smith.”

Job Bob looked a little startled, but she left money for her postage on the counter and walked away.

Humming to herself, she delivered a vase of roses to one of Hattie's old friends, sat and chatted awhile, then moved on to the pharmacy to pick up a few items she hadn't the nerve to purchase with JD hanging around. As she stepped from the frigid air-conditioning of the poorly lighted pharmacy into the glaring heat of the noonday sun, she stopped and let her eyes adjust.

The sun's glare reflected off the sidewalk, shimmering the air with heat waves. Nina took a deep breath and nearly choked on the stench of hot asphalt. Country in the summer, she mused wryly, turning toward the Toyota.

The figure hovering under the bank awning nearly stopped her in her tracks.

It couldn't be. The heat was playing tricks with her mind. The loose flowered dress and white straw hat belonged in another era. She had spent too long in front of the television last night. She hadn't had enough sleep.

Imagination was a terrible thing. Her mother couldn't have returned from the dead to haunt her. She'd been gone twenty years. As far as Nina was concerned, she could stay gone another two hundred. She wouldn't recognize her mother if she saw her in any case.

Jerking her gaze back to the Toyota, Nina hurriedly opened the door and climbed in. A nice cold shower would straighten her head out. She would never watch old TV movies again, she vowed.