AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a style of building that’s meant to be extremely eco-friendly. It uses the power of the earth to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I collect rainwater and have a well, so most of the water I use is off the grid, and the electricity all runs on solar. I also installed solar tubes in the bigger rooms so that it takes place of the electric lighting as well…”
I stop talking because I feel like I’m just bragging at this point. Coral, however, taps on my arm. “Go on. Do the solar tubes work for plants?”
“I don’t have a lot of plants inside. But I do have a pretty decent sized garden out back.”
Coral gasps. Audibly. “A garden? What do you grow?”
“Honestly? Nothing right now,” I say sadly. “I started a bunch of seeds, but with Amara coming in and ruining all of mypersonal space, and then some business for the alpha, I couldn’t get them in.”
“Do you still have them?”
“The seedlings?”
“Yes.”
“Well, they’re kind of a mess now, but?—”
“I’d love to see them!” she chirps. She’s a plant faerie. There’s no way that I’m going to deny her this.
“Follow me.”
We walk through the halls of the house, then out the back door until we get to the garden. I wave Coral forward. “I just have the seedlings here, in the greenhouse.”
“You have a greenhouse?!” she squeals. “That’s so cute! I have a small one, but this one is so much bigger. I can definitely grow things without one, but it helps.”
I laugh, opening the door. “Not all of us have magical plant powers, you know. Some of us have to suffer through guessing if there’s going to be growth or not.”
“It’s really so cute in here!”
She’s filled with wonder. Everywhere she goes. It makes me want to follow her around, bringing things to show her. For example, what would she do if I brought her a rare orchid? Or a huge bouquet of flowers? Would she even like flowers, because they’re not growing?
I suck in a breath. The seedlings that I have in the greenhouse really are a mess. Half of them are dead, half of them have grown so much that they’re outside of their little containers, and they all look vividly terrible.
Coral, however, is hovering over them, and they’re stretching up to reach her fingers. All of them. Even the dead ones are slowly, surely, coming back to life.
I have no words for what I’m seeing. It’s incredible. She’s coaxing a life from the seedlings that I didn’t even think was there to begin with.
“Coral…” I say softly.
She opens her eyes and grins. “I can plant them for you tomorrow.”
I would like that. I love the garden, because I’ve always loved the idea of being self-sustaining with a garden, but it’s not just about that. It’s about her.
Coral promising me tomorrow is something that hits my veins like lightning. It’s something that I can’t control. And I don’t want to.
“Let’s plant them tomorrow together,” I murmur.
Coral’s smile explodes across her face, and I know in that moment, I’d do anything to see that smile another day.
Chapter 7
Coral
The seedlings get planted. They get tended. They start to grow into a real garden, one that brings me joy every time I come out to it, and I even start working on a collection of inside plants as well.
The house is incredible. After about a month, I kind of forget why I’m here. Or I could—if I didn’t dream about it all the time.
