𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

18│BY HOOK OR BY CROOK

"Juliet, I'm so glad you could make it. Jack's just hidden inside since I came across a centipede but he'll be back out in a bit."

Juliet laughed as she imagined the tall boy breakneck sprinting back to the safety of inside. "Hello Mrs.— uh, Dalya," she said, changing her greeting as she remembered the woman's request to call her by her first name. "What can I do?"

"I've already prepared the soil so why don't you start digging holes for the new flowers over there?" the blonde asked. She gestured with her trowel towards a bare patch of dirt not too far away.

"Sure thing M— uh, Dalya," she said and headed over to the indicated place. After pulling on gardening gloves and finding a hand-held shovel, she went to dig the hole but paused. "Uh, how big do they need to be?"

"The smaller plants should have a hole about six to twelve inches deep. The larger plants should be about twice the diameter of the pot and two times as deep," Dalya answered easily.

"Alright, will do. This definitely doesn't sound like a 'Jack job,'" the redhead joked.

The older woman gave her an amused look before she glanced back up towards the mansion, though she couldn't see anything useful due to the tall bushes surrounding their workspace. Still, almost as if she'd sensed him, Jack appeared, carrying a tray of water and some sandwiches. "Hey, Ocean Eyes, you're here! When did you arrive?"

"Not too long ago," Juliet answered. "I heard you got scared by a centipede," she teased him.

The boy shuddered. "Way too many legs. Anyway, here, mom." He handed the blonde a glass of water.

"Thanks, Jackie. Go on, be with your friend," Dalya told him as she took the glass from her son.

The boy nodded in agreement before he headed over to the redhead and knelt next to her on the warm stones that framed the large section of dirt. The girl gave him a 'really?' look. "You're gonna garden like that? After you told me not to dress up?"

Jack was wearing his usual well-put-together outfit of khaki slacks and nicely-pressed, wrinkle-free light green button down shirt. He had the sleeves folded up to his elbows and the bottom untucked, but it was still too nice for gardening. "No, Ocean Eyes. You're gonna garden. I'm keeping you entertained."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

The afternoon turned out to be quite fun, with the redhead telling the blond many stories about the hijinks that she, Shawn and Cory had gotten into throughout her childhood. In turn, she asked Jack about the things he'd done, which the boy had claimed weren't as interesting as her stories— she deigned to disagree since he'd been to ten countries before he was even nine.

As the shadows lengthened and after Juliet had taken a break, she turned to the boy. "You aren't gonna garden at all?" she pressed.

"I don't want any unnecessary run-ins with bugs. It's been too quiet on that front today. I don't trust that they've all disappeared because I'm out here."

With a grin, the girl stood and grabbed the blond's wrist to tug on it gently. "C'mon, Jackie. I'll teach you how to dig a hole for plants, just once," she tried to give him a pleading, puppy-dog-eye look, but all the boy did was laugh.

"You need to work on that face," he said between chuckles. "You look ridiculous."

The redhead pouted for real. "Thanks a lot, genius."

"You know that's not an insult when it's actually true, right?" the boy asked with a smirk as he allowed the girl to pull him up.

"Whatever," Juliet answered for the umpteenth time. She continued to tug the blond over to where she'd been working. "C'mon, if we find any bugs I'll stomp on them."