Adriana's Corner

Chapter 19

I look at him, surprised and Eli's head whips up also.

"You want me to look after him...in the garden?" I ask. Joe's eyes stay on me for a moment then he looks at Eli.

"I won't be here today, keep an eye on her will you?" he says instead. Eli laughs as do I, though I'm trying not to. "You asked for that." he adds with a grin to me. I smile too and slide an envelope with his name on it towards him.

"Bank that while you're down there will you?"

He picks it up and looks at it, raising a messy eyebrow.

"What's this?"

"Your pay cheque for the last few weeks work." I reply, taking another mouthful of coffee. I can feel his eyes on me still so I try not to meet them, pretending instead to concentrate on the papers. I hear him start to open the envelope so glance up just in time to see him pull out the cheque. His eyes bulge and I look back down, hiding a smile behind my mug.

"$30,000?" he says. I look back up and nod.

"You wouldn't give me a number so I guessed, I thought two thousand a day plus overtime sounded reasonable."

He shakes his head and throws the cheque on the table knowingly.

"I'll have a number for you tomorrow." he mumbles, heading out the door.

"Thank you!" I smile as I rip the cheque in half.

A strange look stays on Eli's face though.

"What if he'd banked it?" he asks in a shocked tone. I shake my head, discarding the cheque.

"He wouldn't have."

"But what if he did."

"He hasn't . . ."

"But what if he did?"

I laugh a bit and finish the last of my coffee.

"Any amount of money like that is checked with me by the bank before it goes through anyway."

"Oh." he says, quietly.

"So, what are you doing today?"

"Well." he sits up straight. "I had this idea. Your soil is quite dry and doesn't look like it retains much water especially during summer so I was thinking instead of paying out tonnes of money for mulch we don't know anything about, why don't we hire the mulcher back again and put all the dead twigs and leaves through it. Presto! You have you're very own mulch to put in your garden. The trailer is full of stuff so I think it will be enough. Up to you though. Your garden."

"What did Joe say?"

"He walked off the second I pulled out the book."

I laugh at this and stand up with my plate and cup, taking them to the sink.

"Sounds reasonable."

"If I could do a bit more research on what not to put back into the garden then it should be fine right? Even if it waits till Joe is back tomorrow..."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" I ask over my shoulder

"Yeah, it's good fun. I like feeling tired and worn out at the end of the day with scratches on my arm and mud on my face. I feel like I'm accomplishing something."

"Good. I'm glad." I smile just as the phone rings.

"That will be sleeping beauty." I say to myself going to it. "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Miles Turpentine Hamilton." A rather happy but condescending voice says. I laugh and making my way out to the deck where the sun is out in all it's glory. "Are you just going through the laundry cupboard to find the names now?"