Chapter 14
Mary Louise opened the door and frowned at the man in front of her.
“You’re not Brian.”
The man smiled an easy smile and said, “No, ma’am, no I’m not. I’m Brian’s dad. Dan.”
He held out his hand. Brian had his dad’s sparkling blue eyes. Mary Louise was lost in those eyes for a moment before she came back to reality and offered her hand.
“Brian’s got the stomach flu. Hazards of kids in daycare.”
Mary Louise knew this fact very well. She never made any big plans following the weekends when she had her grandsons. A majority of the time she ended up with some bug or other. Hazards of grandmotherhood.
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Mary Louise said.
As Dan’s calloused hand let go of hers, he said, “I assure you I’ve not been exposed.”
“Hallelujah,” she replied.
Mary Louise found her own smile and enjoyed the moment before Dan said, “So I understand you want to do some natural landscaping?”
“Yes,” said Mary Louise using her hand to direct his attention to the property behind him.
Dan turned and surveyed the half acre or so between the road and the front of her house.
“I know it’s a mess, but I just haven’t been able to keep up with it since my husband passed away.”
His head whipped back around, searching her expression. “My condolences,” he said.
“It’s okay. It’s been two years. I mean…thank you.”
Countless people told Mary Louise there was no expiration date on grief. Everyone was different. Mary Louise learned to cope, but had grown weary with the condolences from complete strangers who didn’t know her, and hadn’t known Albert. They were trying to be polite. They were trying to be caring. The news was fresh to them. The awkward conversation did not get any easier.
“So,” said Mary Louise in her most upbeat voice, “I want to do something natural that looks nice and doesn’t require me to do any mowing. Something as maintenance free as possible. Oh, and deer resistant. We’ve got quite a population out here.”
When they first bought the property, Mary Louise hoped that they could leave the landscape a bit more natural. Albert was having none of that and immediately set about growing grass that had to be watered and mowed. He’d done his best to turn the front of their property into a proper lawn. Mary Louise gave up the fight, unsure about whether or not he really cared that much about how the yard looked, or whether it gave him a great excuse to be out of the house and away from her on the weekends. He would spend hours hand-watering sections he felt the sprinklers missed plus mowing, weed-eating, spraying, and spreading. The biggest thorn in his side was the areas under the live oak trees where grass refused to grow, no matter what he did to encourage it. Mary Louise suggested several times that they create a border and fill it in with mulch at the very least, or possibly plants. Albert took it as an insult to his lawn growing prowess. Since he’d passed, a few weeds had made an attempt at establishing a homestead, but it was still mainly just dirt and leaves that lived under the trees.
Up against the house, he had left the flowerbeds to her, so every spring she went to the Home Depot and picked out plants that fared well against the deer. Just a little color without too much maintenance.
A fence ran around the back of the house from the sides out about thirty yards and then across. This allowed her more freedom in the back flower beds where she chose to plant knock-out roses and silva with a few small annuals scattered in. Beyond that was her glorious forest of Live Oak, Ashe Juniper, and Hackberry trees that grew on either side of a creek that was mostly dry except during the spring when they got a lot of rain. Thankfully Albert had limited his tree cutting/lawn growing activities to the front.
Dan wandered the front of the property examining the trees close up and checking the general lay of the land.
“What would you think about some flower beds under the trees?” asked Dan. “We could do a really large one here in the center to encompass these three trees. Do a pretty natural stone border and fill it up with plants that do well in the shade. Then some smaller ones around the other trees.”
Mary Louise could envision exactly what he was describing. Not a lawn but a yard filled with plants and bushes. Maybe she’d even put a bench in the center one.
“We could do the rest in buffalo grass, or another natural grass that stays low. No mowing. You could even put a bench right here,” he said, walking to the center of the three trees.
This was a new sensation - being on the same page with another human being. With Albert she always felt like they were in constant competition, with her usually being the one to give in.
“It’s like you’re reading my mind, sir.”
He paused his vision of her possible front yard for a minute to look straight at her with a huge grin.
“That doesn’t happen very often. I’m usually trying to do end-arounds with our customers wanting to plant trees and bushes that aren’t native to Texas, but that they saw in a magazine or …”
“On Pintrest.” they said in unison.
They both laughed and Mary Louise once again enjoyed the foreign feeling of someone who was in sync with her.
“Do you have any pets?” asked Dan.
“No, not unless you count the deer.”
“I like Oleander because it looks so natural, but it can be toxic to dogs. Lantana is nice, and is basically maintenance-free after it’s established. Deer usually don’t bother with it.”
The wheels were spinning as he studied her property.
“Would you like some iced tea?” she asked. “Or a cold beer?” She had a couple of different kinds left in the fridge from her last turn at supper.
“I would say a hearty yes to either one,” he replied.
He followed her into the house, and a little voice inside was screaming at her, telling her this was stupid and dangerous. He was a man. He could be a serial killer and no one even knew she was here alone with him, except his son who would have no choice but to deny everything if she wound up dead. It would be days, or possibly weeks before anyone found her body. That is, only if he didn’t take it with him to bury somewhere or stuff in a freezer for later. Being a landscape expert, he probably knew dozens of places to bury a body. She told the voice to shut the hell up and opened the fridge.
“Iced tea, or I have Dos Equis or Abita Amber.”
“Abita Amber, but only if you’ll join me.”
Mary Louise was not a fan of beer, but she grabbed two bottles and then rummaged through a drawer to find an opener. At this very moment if he’d asked her to join him in a cup of warm goat milk, she’d have enthusiastically agreed.
She used the opener on the first bottle and it immediately began playing “The Eyes of Texas are upon you…” She glanced down at the University of Texas logo.
“You a UT fan?” asked Dan.
“Not when I can help it. Leftover white elephant gift from my working days.”
She handed him the sweating bottle, worrying she might be sweating just as much. They were treated to a second round of The Eyes of Texas as she opened her own bottle.
“A toast to natural front yards?” he asked.
“A toast to natural front yards,” she agreed and clinked the neck of her bottle against his.
All she knew about Abita Amber was that it is brewed in Louisiana and a favorite drink of Larry’s. She had never tasted it before and was pleasantly surprised by the slightly caramel flavor as they drank in unison.
“Wow,” said Dan, looking out her rear patio door to the trees beyond. “Now that’s lovely.”
Mary Louise smiled. “Yes, thankfully Albert never wanted to mess with all of the trees back there.”
“Thank goodness,” Dan said.
Mary Louise walked to the doors and Dan followed.
“The freeze last year did some damage, but they seem to be coming back just fine.”
Dan furrowed his brow, moving closer to the glass.
“Do you happen to have any binoculars?” he asked.
“I do,” said Mary Louise, opening the cabinet just beside the doors. “There was a hawk family living in that huge live oak there last year and I wanted to get a closer look. I got to see momma hawk disembowel a rabbit right there on that branch,” she said and pointed.
“Nice,” said Dan. “What was that show? Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom?”
“Yes,” said Mary Louise. “Hosted by Marlin Perkins.”
“Good old Marlin,” said Dan. He put the binoculars up to his eyes, adjusted them, and said, “Well I’ll be.”
“What is it?” asked Mary Louise.
“A golden-cheeked warbler,” he said.
Mary Louise could identify a cardinal, a blue jay, and a robin. That was the extent of her Audubon knowledge.
“Is that unusual?” she asked.
“They’re on the endangered species list. I’ve seen a few over the years, but not very often. Take a look. He’s right there at the top of that tree.”
He handed the binoculars back and then gently took her shoulders and pointed her in the direction of the tree where he’d seen the bird. She raised the binoculars and tried to focus her vision as well as her brain. Even after he’d adjusted her position, he kept his hands on her shoulders and it unnerved her, but in a good way. He was close enough that she could breath in a hint of sweat and aftershave. Albert had always doused himself in the latest department store cologne and it gave her a headache.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so tiny!”
She was able to focus in on the small bird who did indeed have golden cheeks. The top of his head was jet black, and he had a jet black streak from his beak through his eye and to the back of his head, like a Zorro mask. The top of his body was also black, with white streaks mixed in and he had a white belly.
Dan lowered his hands and Mary Louise lowered the binoculars, turning to face him.
“Birds fly all over the place back there, but I guess they are so small I never noticed them.”
“You have the perfect canopy for them with all of those junipers and oaks. I’m surprised you haven’t seen them before.”
“I haven’t been looking for them. And you said they are endangered?”
“Yes. They don’t have a very large habitat. Between the development here in Central Texas and the deforestation in Mexico and northern Central America where they spend their winters, their population is dwindling.”
“So sad. I guess I’m part of the problem, so I can’t really point fingers.”
“Not a problem as long as you keep those trees back there.”
If Albert had had the time and money, those trees would have been gone. Destroying any tree made her heart hurt, but now knowing it could have contributed to the endangerment of that sweet little bird she was glad he’d never been able to do it.
“As long as I’m here, those trees will be too,” she said.
He smiled. She held his gaze for a few seconds longer than was comfortable for her, but she hadn’t been able to look away.
“Well,” she said, making her way back to the kitchen island where their beers were. “What is the next step?”
Lord help her, when Dan raised his beer to take another swig she couldn’t stop herself from looking at his ring finger. Bare.
“I can draw up a plan and cost estimate for you. Do you have a budget in mind?”
The dreaded question of money. She had been looking at the sad wasteland that was the front of her property for over a year now. If she ever hoped to sell it, she had to do something to make it look less like an abandoned lot.
“I did, but I’ve recently learned my property value may be about to take a nosedive. But I have to do something out front besides allow the weeds to take over.”
“I’ll provide you with a detailed quote, broken down so you have some options to pick and choose. How would that be?”
“Great,” said Mary Louise. “Thank you.”
Mary Louise truly appreciated that Dan appeared flexible with her budget. After Albert’s first heart attack, Mary Louise had opened a separate savings account that Albert knew nothing about. That was one advantage to the age of the Internet. No bank statements sent to the house. The account felt even more important to her after she was laid off six months before Albert died. She had managed to squirrel away $10,000 before Albert’s second and final heart attack. Her 401K had remained intact, but some years she had not been able to contribute the maximum allowed.
Maybe Albert had known he was going to die young. Ish. He showed no signs of slowing down, taking care of himself, or thinking about their future. It wasn’t until he died that she learned that he had not opted in for the life insurance policy offered by the company he worked for, and also that he had been siphoning money out of his 401K account for years. She had never pressed to see the actual account, although she should have. What Albert had figured out was that he could take out loans against his 401K and pay them back through his paycheck. Mary Louise never saw his pay statements, only the amount that went into their bank account. During the last year he had begun taking periodic distributions, maybe having a premonition of his impending death and intending to have as much fun as possible until that happened. By the time the latest loan was paid off, the remaining paltry distribution, after taxes, amounted to almost nothing.
“Do you have a time frame?” asked Dan, jerking Mary Louise out of her nightmarish financial flashback.
“Not really,” said Mary Louise. “It’s certainly not urgent, but I’d like to get something done before the dog days of summer hit. I want to give any new plants a chance to get established before the usual drought.”
“That’s good thinking,” said Dan. He finished his beer and looked at his watch. “I should probably get going. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“You as well,” said Mary Louise, setting her still half full bottle on the counter.
She led him to the front door and opened it. He stepped through, turning back to fix her one final time with those steely blue eyes. He smiled, gave a little wave and then walked to his truck. Mary Louise “shut the front door” as the kids these days say and steadied herself against it. Something about that man. There was something about that man that she really liked.
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