there now. But, with Mugs on the floor, Goliath on the seat, and Thaddeus on her shoulder, she finally had everything in the car.
At that, Heidi headed up to the front door. Doreen had gotten into the car and started it when Aretha was suddenly at her side.
“You stay away from here now,” she said, leaning into the car.
Doreen settled back and looked up at the old woman. “Aretha, I’m sorry you’re so unhappy,” she said. “Heidi is a lovely person. Make sure you’re nice enough to her that you get to stay here when your money runs out.”
Instantly the woman stiffened, and she hissed, “I’m totally fine financially, and what do you know about it?”
“I know a lot more than you think,” Doreen said sadly. “And I also know what it’s like to have had money and then to find yourself without it. If you ever want to talk, you know where I live.”
And, with that, she drove away, leaving the older woman standing with her jaw open. As she headed back home, she smiled. “Take that, universe. You don’t have to lower yourself to being who everybody around you is or thinks you are.”
As she drove in, she saw Mack’s truck in the driveway and realized how late it was. Instead of pulling into the garage with the car so full, she just drove up beside him and parked. Mack wasn’t in the truck. She let the animals out and started unloading the bags onto the driveway. Mugs hit the pavement and raced around back, woofing and woofing. She could hear Mack talking to him and suddenly he was here beside her, looking at her in surprise. She smiled and explained what happened.
“And this was Aretha?”
“No, it’s where Aretha is staying. She’s a boarder at Heidi’s place.”
“Oh,” he said. “Heidi is a lovely lady.”
“I know, and look at all the plants she gave me. I’m absolutely thrilled.”
Mack looked at them in surprise and picked up the bags she had already unloaded. “I’ll take these and come back.”
She smiled up at him and, in a teasing voice, said, “Perfect timing. Who knew I would need your muscles?”
“Ha,” he said. “I figured you did it on purpose.”
“No,” she said. “I forgot you were coming.”
“Ouch,” he winced. “That bites.”
“Oops,” she said to his retreating back. That wasn’t very diplomatic of her.
She unloaded the rest, piling the bags all around her, and then, when she could, she closed the door. She grabbed a couple of the larger plants in the bags, just when he came back and snagged up all the rest.
“You’re right. A lot is here,” he said.
“There is. But, by the time I get them in the garden, it won’t look like much. The garden needs to be replenished so much.”
“I got a quote for you on the guy who brings in the topsoil bags too,” he said. “One of my coworkers just had it done. It cost $110.”
“I wonder how big the bag is?” she murmured.
“I think a pickup load size,” he said. “Which we could do instead. We could just dump it in front, if you want, or he might be able to swing it around and put it on the side.”
“So it would be a bag by the garage maybe,” she said.
He nodded. “I kind of like that idea myself. Then you could unload it as it’s needed.”
“I know. But, at the same time, it’s $110.” She wrinkled up her face at that.
“But you just got a whole pile of free plants,” he pointed out. “And they need to be looked after, so they’ll really need that quality soil.”
“I know,” she said.
“And, by the way,” he dug his hand into his pocket, “I didn’t pay you for doing Mom’s garden.” He handed her the forty dollars she’d come to expect.
She grinned at it. “You know, if I save this for three weeks …”
He nodded. “It would pay for one bag. Or we could just do the truckload.”
“But how do we get it off your truck?”
He gave her an evil smile. “You shovel it.”
She stared at him aghast. “Your truck doesn’t just lift and dump?”
“Seriously?” He looked at her and chuckled.
She glared at him. “It would make sense, you know? Otherwise you have to fill it and then empty it.”
“Not only fill and empty it”—he appeared as if he wasn’t looking forward to the work—“you’ve got to wheel it all the way around to the back.”
“You know what? That $110 isn’t sounding too bad right now,” she said