Chapter 4

4

" H ave we received payment for the Collins job yet?" Faith asked as she walked in from the shop after getting the crews lined out for the day.

"Yep," Amy replied. "We received payment yesterday."

Amy's job was to take care of the office and do the payroll. Faith was slow to trust her with much in the beginning, but as the business grew and Faith needed to be out in the field, someone had to be in the office.

As the years passed, Amy had become the closest thing Faith had to a friend. She explained to Faith that her trust issues came across in a very negative way to her other workers. There had been times when Amy smoothed things over to keep a good worker from quitting.

"Were you nice this morning?" Amy asked, looking up from her computer.

Faith smirked. "Yes. I even told them to take several breaks during the day and quit early because it's going to be hot today."

"Look at you," Amy said. "They'll think you actually care."

"I do care," Faith replied.

"Uh huh." Amy raised a brow. "Because you want the job finished."

Faith huffed and opened the laptop on her desk. "That's not the only reason."

"You could smile every now and then, you know," Amy said.

"When I have something to smile about I will."

"I have you set up to tour the new business park so you can prepare a bid," Amy said. "That should make you smile."

Faith gave her a fake smile.

Amy chuckled. "You can do better."

"When?"

"At the end of the week," Amy replied. "They're letting landscape companies tour the grounds at the end of the day so they won't be in the workers' way."

"Even getting part of that contract would be such a big deal for us," Faith said.

"Mark said you ran into your best friend the other day," Amy said. "I'm sure she'll be bidding on this project, too."

Faith groaned at the memory of seeing Destiny at the nursery. Sometimes when she saw Destiny, a pain would slice through her heart. That day when she stared into Destiny's eyes, her heart melted the same way it once had. Faith knew that she unnerved Destiny and could always see it in her eyes. It gave her a little satisfaction, but not that day.

"It seems I can't get away from her lately," Faith muttered, tapping the keyboard. "It's like we're still together."

"What?" Amy asked.

Faith shrugged and busied herself by staring at her computer.

"You mean you were once with her, with her?"

"Don't look so surprised," Faith said. "She's the smartest person I know and she's not bad to look at. And there's her—" Faith shook her head, letting those thoughts go. Most of the time when she thought of Destiny she couldn't believe she'd ever let that woman's hands on her, but seeing her the other day had brought up so many feelings that Faith thought were long buried.

"How'd it go wrong?" Amy asked.

"It doesn't matter." Faith said, ending the conversation.

"Come on!" Amy exclaimed. "I've worked here for over two years and the very first day I learned that The Green Thumb was our enemy. How did I not know you and Destiny Green used to be together?"

"Because it's not anyone's business," Faith said sharply.

"She must have really hurt you," Amy said softly.

Faith looked up from her computer. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you're so angry," Amy replied. "I once read that anger is an emotion caused by hurt or fear."

Faith furrowed her brow as she gathered her things to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to take a trailer full of those butterfly shrubs to the Hutto housing development," Faith said.

"I'm sorry she hurt you," Amy said.

Faith stopped at the back door. "Me too," she said sadly.

She hooked the trailer up to her truck and drove through North Austin and into the suburb of Hutto. Lush Fields had won the contract to do the landscaping for the model homes in this subdivision. The builder was pleased and as the homes were built then sold, they continued the landscaping. It had become one of Faith's best accounts.

As she weaved through traffic she couldn't keep from thinking about what Amy said about anger and the emotions that caused it. Faith was definitely hurt by Destiny's actions, but she knew fear was what fueled her anger.

It had been months since she'd run into Destiny and this always happened whenever she did. A jumble of feelings resurfaced and the hurt came back just as intense.

It had been a little over five years since she'd first laid eyes on Destiny Green. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail with little curly wisps framing her face. Those warm brown eyes held a sense of wonder and fascination, but also passion for what she was doing. Faith thought she was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen.

When Destiny smiled at her, Faith's heart would speed up in her chest and her stomach would do flips. There was something about Destiny that made her so easy to talk to. Faith slowly told her about her past and Destiny seemed to understand why Faith was cautious and slow to trust. She never pushed Faith, she simply reassured her with her words and mainly with her actions.

When they moved in together Faith thought she'd spend the rest of her life with Destiny Green. They were so happy and in love, until they weren't.

She parked and hopped out of the truck with hot tears pooling in her eyes. It was time to plant these shrubs and bury these feelings once again.

It had been a long, hot day. Destiny was ready to be home and couldn't wait to get in the shower to wash the day away. There had been problems at two sites today and with the added heat it made them seem even worse.

She had taken a back road home to avoid the traffic on the main highways in hopes of stripping off these dirty, sweaty clothes sooner rather than later. Several cars slowed in front of her and she noticed a pickup with a trailer pulled over on the side of the road. They were out of the way, but it still slowed the flow of cars that apparently had the same idea Destiny had of missing the evening traffic.

Destiny thought about stopping, but surely someone was coming to the truck's aid. As she got closer, she recognized the woman standing at the back of the trailer staring at one of the tires.

She sighed loudly. "Well, fuck," she murmured.

Destiny pulled her truck behind the trailer and watched in her side mirror for an opportunity to get out. When the flow of cars cleared she opened her door and walked over to help.

"Hey," she said.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Faith groaned.

"Yep, it's your favorite person," Destiny replied.

"I've already called Mark," Faith said. "He's on the way."

Destiny nodded. "It's not safe to stand out here where these people not paying attention can run over you."

"I know that," Faith replied.

"Call Mark back and tell him you have help. I've got an air compressor in the back of my truck and we can air the tire up. I'll follow you to your shop. It's not that far away."

Faith sighed and to both of their surprise, she pulled her phone out and called Mark.

Destiny got the air compressor out of her truck and began to inflate the flat tire. "Hopefully it'll hold enough air to get to your shop."

"I saw a nail in it," Faith said. "I was at a construction site today and must have picked it up there."

Destiny nodded. "Were you at the housing development in Hutto?"

Faith nodded warily.

"You've done a really nice job over there," Destiny said as she kept her eyes on the tire. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks," Faith said. "What are you doing in this area?"

"Oh." Destiny sighed. "Everything that could go wrong did today. We're doing an apartment building right at the border of Hutto and Round Rock."

"You didn't have to stop," Faith said.

Destiny finished with the tire, stood up, and looked at Faith. "Are you kidding me? Of course I did," she said, picking up the air compressor. She looked back at Faith and tilted her head. "You would've stopped for me, right?"

Faith scoffed. "Yes," she said impatiently.

Destiny couldn't stop a hint of a smile crossing her face. "I'll follow you."

Faith nodded and went back to her truck.

Destiny put the air compressor away and got back in her truck. She put her blinker on, signaling that she was pulling back on the road. Once there were no cars coming, Faith eased out on the road with Destiny behind her.

The air held in the tire as they made their way down the road. Faith turned onto a street with less traffic that took them towards her building. A few minutes later they turned into the parking lot of Lush Fields Landscaping.

Destiny followed Faith's truck around the side of the building into the fenced area at the rear. She slowed to give Faith plenty of room to park the truck and trailer so they could easily get to it to change the tire.

Once Faith stopped and got out of her truck, Destiny pulled up next to her and parked. She walked over to the trailer and checked the tire.

"You could probably fill it up in the morning and take it somewhere to get it fixed," Destiny said.

"I'll take care of it," Faith said.

Destiny looked up at her and her face softened. "Faith, turn around," she said.

Faith slowly turned around and saw the sun was about to disappear in the field across from her business.

"Look at that," Destiny said. "Isn't it beautiful."

Faith watched as the bright red sky began to turn dark orange.

"What happened to us?" Destiny asked softly.

Faith stared at the sky but didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry," Destiny said.

Faith turned around and looked at Destiny. "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry, Faith," Destiny said again. "I apologize for everything I ever did to you. But I will never apologize for loving you." She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "We were happy."

"We were," Faith said with anguish in her voice. "Until?—"

Just then another pickup pulled into the yard and parked next to Destiny's truck.

"Hey," Mark said, getting out of the pickup. "I thought I'd better make sure you made it back okay."

Destiny stared at Faith and could see the pain in her eyes. It broke Destiny's heart to think she dimmed those vibrant blue eyes.

When Faith looked away Destiny knew the moment had passed. For a second, she thought Faith was finally going to tell her what she did.

"I'd better go," Destiny said, walking by Mark and trying to smile.

"Thanks for following her back here," Mark said.

When Destiny opened her truck door Faith called to her. "Thanks."

Destiny turned to look at her one more time. "I miss you," she said, just loud enough for Faith to hear. "I miss us."

Once Destiny was back on the road, she let out a deep breath. There were times when Destiny truly thought she could get past Faith. She'd try to convince herself to give up then a memory would float through her head or she'd catch a glimpse of her. But the last few times she'd seen Faith she could feel her heart open like a flower. It was reaching for Faith. It wanted to pull her back inside where she belonged.

She smiled as a memory forced its way in front of her.

They were driving to a job site and George Michael's song "Faith" came on the radio.

Destiny turned up the radio. "Listen babe, that's me," she giggled. "I've gotta have faith."

"Oh you do?" Faith asked with amusement in her voice.

Destiny scooted over as close as she could and reached across the console to squeeze Faith's thigh. They listened to the words for a moment and Destiny said, "You're not going to throw my heart back on the floor. I've got faith, in you, in us."

Faith chuckled. "Does that mean you're my destiny?" she said in a faux dreamy voice.

They both laughed and sang along with the radio.

Destiny found herself smiling at the memory as she stopped the truck. They had laughed so much and had silly fun like that often.

She walked into her apartment, starting to take her clothes off as she walked towards the shower. Do I still have faith , she wondered.