The Line That Binds by J.M. Miller Page A

though, aren’t they?” I added dumbly.
    Her lips lifted into a soft smile. “Yeah, weird.”
    The clipped answer wasn’t the least bit rude. It was a simple agreement. I could tell she wanted to say more, but she was being as cautious as I was. And that was unnerving. I’d pegged her as someone totally different. She was reserved, not brash like I thought she’d be. Could it all be an act? But what would be the reason?
    We turned the corner and stepped through the barn’s main sliding doors. LJ tucked her bottom lip between her teeth and craned her neck to see everything inside. She lagged behind me, looking at the riding mowers, the garden equipment, and the collective junk stored upstairs in the old hayloft. I dug through one of the employee lockers to find an extra pair of work gloves, and when I turned to hand them to her she was staring at my bikes parked near the other pair of barn doors.
    “These might be a bit big, but they should work until you can get another pair,” I said, handing them to her.
    “Thanks,” she replied, taking the gloves and trying them on with no objection. “You had your wires removed?”
    I watched her eyes as she stared at my mouth. They were wider with interest, and their green irises looked more striking now that her hair was black instead of blonde. They shifted up to meet my own. “This morning,” I confirmed quietly. Looking at her made me forget myself for a second, but I quickly remembered. I needed to find out her intentions, but I still didn’t know her, and I sure as hell didn’t trust her. “Are you ready?”
    She nodded, perhaps a little stunned that I didn’t elaborate further.
    This might just be too much for me to handle. I was probably going to screw everything up and get everyone on this property fired because of something I said or didn’t say. I even had to check myself when I saw her in school today. She looked so different from Janine’s will reading. Her hair was the most drastic change, but the rest of her looked different, too. Healthy. Better. And, just like I’d seen her during our brief bathroom encounter, there was no makeup hiding her face. Her arched brows, her thin nose, her pale lips─it was all natural, all distracting.
    We walked the property and I explained our normal routines, including maintenance for the lawns, gardens, and the event house’s courtyard. She was observant and asked a couple of questions about the plants and how to care for them. The one that attracted most of her interest was the moon vine that had smothered most of the gazebo’s stones.
    “These are amazing,” she said, rubbing the heart-shaped leaves between her fingers. “They are so bright. Are these the flowers?” she asked, pointing to one of the closed, spiral-shaped buds.
    I pulled a twisted bud into my fingers. “This is a moon vine. They are annuals in this area so they die off during the winter. The flowers are white and they only open at night.”
    “At night?” she asked, inspecting the closed flower with her fingers.
    “We’ve hosted several evening weddings out here during the summer because the brides loved the blooms. Janine loved them, too. She used to come out here at dusk to watch them open,” I replied, remembering some of Janine’s better days.
    She let the flower fall from her fingers. “I’ll have to do that sometime.”
    I took that as cue to move on. I wasn’t sure how well she knew her aunt, but whether she knew Janine or not, she definitely didn’t seem comfortable talking about her.
    After the initial property walk, I tasked her with weeding the front garden. It was the best job for her today; no parties were scheduled, it kept her far away from the well, and there were plenty of weeds hiding in the pansies to keep her busy. I had to show her what to do, but she went to work without complaint. The weeds occupied her for the rest of her shift. After we’d said goodnight, I finished with some hedge trimming before I went home