Untimely Love (Book 3)

♤Chapter 43♤

Was fighting sleep editing this, but I promised myself I wasn't going to bed without updating. Gotta get back into the habit.

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My mother wanted to garden. That was possibly the only thing we hadn't gotten into yet that we planned to do when we moved into the new house.

There was still so much left undone and even though I've never said it, I wanted to be a part of little things like that. Tiny stuff like tending a garden or setting up a living room; things that turned a house into a home. That's why, as much as she got on my nerves, I promised myself weeks ago that I'd try to make enough memories with this place as possible.

We went to Home Depot after a quick trip to Burlington. Quick as in an hour, but we left with bags of clothes. Only, once we left the store, Target was right there on the plaza so we decided to go there too and ended up getting a bunch of stuff. Groceries, more knick-knacks, a few more clothes, plus I got a new book and some music.

It was barely Noon when we headed to the outdoor plant section of Home Depot—the day's highlight.

At this rate, we wouldn't be able to fit anything else in the car, so Mom and I tried convincing each other we'd only look at things we'd needed for the garden. That thought didn't settle my mind. Not when unloading all the crap is gonna be hell anyway.

We'd worry about that when the time came though. Until then, we got about four dozen red bricks into the cart among the potted ferns, flowers, and other plants we'd picked out for the soon-to-be prettiest part of the yard flat over the expanse of an evergreen lawn.

Bagged soil and mulch stacked on each other on the bottom shelf of the cart. We had the necessities and now walked around looking at smaller things we needed. Like fertilizer, gardening tools, two more plants that couldn't fit in the cart, and maybe a bigger watercan.

"Should we get a hose or would that be too much?" I suggested. A hose would probably be better for outdoor plants, especially for after they grew.

Mom looked around the cart, at the space we didn't have and probably thought about the lack of space in the car too, then said, "I've been thinking about getting a bigger car."

I snorted and turned away. "Forget the hose." She already had an SUV. She'll have all the space in the world when I leave for college. Which reminded me that I still hadn't told her my plans for summer. "Let's just go." I was looking forward to gardening today anyway.

We spent over a hundred and fifty dollars in Home Depot alone. I vowed not to buy shit else for next month, knowing that was a lie.

It took ten minutes for us to unload the last cart of new stuff into the car, mostly because we had to rearrange almost everything.

When we finally settled in and were ready to go my feet throbbed as if they were trying to bust out of my shoes. I dreaded having to take all this mess from the car into the house.

I checked my phone while we waited for the AC to circulate. Amoia had texted me over an hour ago. With everything going on, I'd forgotten to check it and reply.

'You tell your mom?'

She probably thought I did and it went horrible.

I quickly typed my response.

'Not yet.

Something else came up, but I'm working on it'

I spent the entire car ride listening to the music blaring in my ears, but Amoia didn't reply until Mom was pulling into the driveway.