Black Rose

checked off his inventory. “It was just something I wondered about.”
    “Could be right. You wouldn’t sell it, would you, when it comes to you?”
    “No. Fact is, every time I think, maybe I should move out of the carriage house, get some place, I just can’t do it. It’s where I want to be, that’s one thing. And the other is no matter how smart or strong my mother is, I feel it’s better that I’m around. I think she’d be sad, and a little lonely, if you and Lily went somewhere else, especially since Stella and the boys’ll be moving into Logan’s in a couple months.”

    “Maybe, and I’m not planning on anything right away. But with her and Mitch dating, it could be she’ll have all the company she wants.”
    “What?” He stopped dead, with a young, healthy ficus in his arms. “Dating? What do you mean dating? They’re not dating.”
    “When two people go out two or three times, to basketball games, to dinner and what not, when the she in the pair cooks the he dinner herself, I tend to call it dating.”
    “They’re working on this project. It’s like... meetings.”
    She gave him the female smile he recognized. The one that categorized him as a pitifully out-of-touch male. “You don’t generally adjourn a meeting with a long, hot kiss—at least I haven’t been lucky enough to have a meeting like that for some time.”
    “Kiss? What—”
    “I wasn’t spying or anything,” she said quickly. “I happened to be up with Lily one night, looked out the window when Mitch brought Roz home. Okay, I sort of looked out on purpose when I heard the car, just to see what was what. And if the liplock I witnessed is anything to go by, that’s some serious dating.”
    He set the plant down again, with a thump. “Well, for Christ’s sake.”
    She blinked. “Harper, you don’t have any problem with Roz seeing a man like that. That’d be just silly.”
    “Last time she was seeing a man like that, she ended up married to the son of a bitch.”
    “She made a mistake,” Hayley said, heating up. “And Mitch is nothing like that bastard Bryce Clerk.”
    “And we know this because?”
    “Because we do.”
    “Not good enough.”
    “He certainly is good enough for her.”
    “That’s not what I said. I said—”

    “Just because he isn’t rich, or doesn’t have that fancy Harper blood running through him doesn’t mean you should build a case against him.” She drilled a finger straight into Harper’s chest. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, talking like some snob.”
    “I’m not saying that, don’t be stupid.”
    “Don’t you call me stupid.”
    “I didn’t call you stupid. Jesus Christ.”
    “I don’t even want to talk to you right now.” She turned on her heel, stomped out.
    “Fine. I don’t want to talk to you, either,” he shot back.
    He stewed about it, worked himself up about the entire situation while he loaded and transported the plants himself.
    Ready for battle, he searched out his mother.
    She was in the field, checking on the nursery beds, and the roses he’d t-budded earlier in the season.
    She wore a stone-gray hoodie, fingerless gloves, and a pair of boots so old and scarred they were no discernable color. She looked, Harper realized, more like a contemporary than his mother.
    “Hayley find you?” she called out.
    “Yeah, it’s done.”
    “You know, I’m thinking of adding a mist propagation tent, and doing more palms. Honey, I’ve got to tell you, I’m excited at how these multiple trees you did are coming along. Our customers are going to have fun with these. I’m thinking of taking one of the nectarine and peach myself.”
    She studied one of the young trees Harper had grafted, then fan-trained on stakes. “This is lovely work, Harper, and that weeping pear over there—”
    “Mama, are you sleeping with Mitch Carnegie?”
    “What?” She turned fully to face him, and the pleased smile, the glint of pride in her eyes both froze away. “What did you ask me?”

    “You heard what I asked. I’d like an answer.”
    “And why would I answer a question that you have no business asking?”
    “I want to know how seriously you’re involved with him. I have a right to know.”
    “You certainly do not.”
    “I kept my mouth shut about Clerk. That was my mistake. I’m not making it again. I’m looking after you whether you like it or not. So if you don’t tell me, I’ll go ask him.”
    “You’ll do no such thing, Harper.” She