Falling With Grace

I trailed Rosa to the garden, sidestepping the patio and pool, the taste of him lingering on my lips, the dewy grass moistening my bare toes, causing a slight chill.

Rosa pointed to a rectangular raised bed filled with tomatoes and tall bushes of basil. “Let’s start here.”

I dropped to my knees, my jeans dampening with water droplets as I leaned over and dug my fingers into the soft, rich soil, my nails turning black.

Rosa spread a mat on the ground and knelt beside me, emitting a groan. “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

I chuckled. “You’re more agile than my grandmother was at your age. She was confined to her bed, and it shattered her spirit.”

Rosa hunched over, gripping the sprigs of green weeds with her gloved hands and tossing them into a bucket beside her. “I’ve never been one to lie down and take it.”

“I can see that.”

The smile on my face expanded as Rosa rattled off the names of each plant in her garden, noting the intruding weeds. “These were my grandmother’s seeds.”

I arched my brows. “Do they last that long?”

“No.” She chuckled. “The seeds came from the plants’mi abuelitaplanted nearly a hundred years ago.”

“And then you’d collect the seeds from the subsequent plants?”

“Si.” She nodded and flung another weed into the bucket.

“I never knew you could do that. I always thought you had to buy new seeds every year.”

Rosa planted her gloved hands on her thighs. “You must learn these things in order to survive.”

“I’m learning now.”

Tearing out the final weeds from the planter box, we shifted to the next one, Rosa crouching alongside me. A drawn-out, plaintive groan escaped her lips before her knees touched the pad. “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

I flashed her a reassuring smile. “That’s what you’ve said. But you’re handling it like a pro.”

“These weremi abuelita’sseeds.” She leaned over, plucking the weeds on her side of the garden box while I cleared mine, my inner lip caught between my teeth.

“I’d love for you to show me how to harvest seeds when we’re all finished.”

“Of course,mi dulce.”

“I thought we had lunch plans?” Nadia’s voice, sharp as shattered glass, sliced through the tranquility of the garden, hitting me dead center in the chest, its precision strike reminiscent of a heat-seeking missile.

My fingersstumbled as she approached Elias on the porch near the pool in his tailored suit, his hair styled to the side.

“Change of plans.”

Her lips brushed against his cheek, and an unsettling swirl of nausea clawed its way up my throat.

“Relationships these days aren’t what they used to be. When I was her age, we worked to keep our relationships.” Rosa moved over to the next row.

“How do you mean?”

“They bicker more than they’re civil.” She shook her head, putting her concentration back on her work. “She’s a lapdog, and he’s a disinterested gorilla.”

A burst of laughter erupted, drawing their curious gazes in our direction. My lips snapped shut with a swiftness that could rival the speed of light. “Sorry.” I placed the back of my hand to my lips.

“No need. We aren’t hiding.”

She isn’t…