I was dead-tired and starving, but I wasn’t looking for sympathy from Ruth or anyone else because I was the one who had gotten myself into this mess, along with the help of a beautiful dog who was just being a dog.
I just wanted Ruth to be happy.
At first, I was tempted to go home after we had finished the job and let Ruth be surprised when she came home and found the place put back together. But then I thought I needed to explain some things, especially why I felt the need to disobey her direct orders. I had three surprises for her, and hopefully they would be enough to smooth out any friction between us.
“I hear a car out front,” Brandon said, moving some of the loose dirt around the rose bushes with his hands one more time.
I grabbed the empty bags of fertilizer, bunched them into a ball, and stuck them in the recycle bin on the side of the house. Then I returned to the backyard and sat on the bench by the fountain, waiting for Ruth.
Sure enough, a minute later, Ruth peeked through the kitchen window out to the backyard.
Her jaw dropping open could have been perceived as a good sign or a bad sign, depending on what was going on in her mind. I wasn’t a mind reader. I would just have to wait to find out.
Please let her be happy when she sees what I did.
Ruth came outside and took a few steps toward the roses, pointing at them. “I told you not to touch anything.”
I nodded. “You did.” I turned to Brandon. “Why don’t you go ahead and take off. I’ll talk to you later.”
He creased his brow. “Are you sure?”
I almost wanted to laugh.
He was probably thinking of staying around to protect me from Ruth.
I can handle her.
He’d obviously forgotten that I had been married to someone a lot like her.
“I’m sure.” I shooed him away toward the side yard with my hand. “Seriously. You can go.”
He hesitated. “Okay, but make sure you eat something. You’ve been working almost ten hours without a break or food and that’s not good for your heart.”
“What?” Ruth said. “Are you crazy? Why would you do something like that?”
“He’s exaggerating,” I lied. “Talk to you later, Brandon. Thanks again for everything.”
“You’re welcome. Good night.” He smiled at Ruth and walked by the both of us.
“Good night,” Ruth said, which was a good sign.
The silent treatment would’ve been a lot worse.
We both watched Brandon disappear through the side gate.
Ruth turned back to me. “Please explain yourself.” She took a few steps closer to the roses and inspected them. “I told you not to touch these. You don’t know the significance of these roses and what they mean to me.”
“Actually, I do.”
“Is that right?” She placed her hands on her hips in an all-too familiar move I had seen before, letting me know that she was confident I had no idea what the hell I was talking about and that she was looking forward to setting me straight. “You know that my grandmother planted them with me before she passed and that they’re very special to me?”
What did I tell you? I saw that coming a mile away. And she did set me straight because I was wrong in my assumption. I thought she just loved her roses. I had no idea they were connected to someone in her past who brought her special memories.
I winced. “No, I didn’t know that part about your grandma. My condolences.”
“Thank you, but she lived a good life. Died at ninety-five, happy and satisfied.”
I forced a smile at Ruth, trying to calm the waters. “That’s good to know.”
“Yes, but that’s beside the point.” Karma walked over to Ruth and licked her leg below the dress. “Not now, Karma. You’re the one who started this. Why did you dig up my roses?” She scratched the dog under her chin. “You can’t go doing things like that, even though we know it was really someone else’s fault, not yours.”
Ruth lifted her head and glared at me.
I thought it was sweet that she was talking with Karma and petting her, even if it did include the little dig at the end. Ruth had a soft side my ex rarely showed. Crystal hadn’t liked dogs. Hadn’t liked any animals, for that matter.
“Some dogs dig out of curiosity,” I said, hoping to explain what had happened. “But I know what caused this and it’s actually your fault.”
Oops. That came out wrong and a little too strong.
“Excuse me?” Ruth crossed her arms, another famous move that showed me she had just put her guard up and was ready to fight to the death. She wanted to distance herself from me and let me know that what had come from my mouth was complete nonsense.
In other words, I was an idiot.
I happened to agree with her.
My bad.
Now, it was time to recover from my mistake.
“Sorry,” I said to start. “What I’m trying to say is that your roses are dying.”
“Of course they are. Your dog killed them!”
“Okay, first of all, Karma is not my dog, although if I do get a dog one day, I would love to have one just like her because she’s adorable.” I reached over and stroked her golden coat along her back. “Second, nobody killed your roses, although they were not in the best of shape before Karma went digging. You haven’t been taking care of them properly. That’s why the leaves have been turning brown and look scorched. We have already discussed that stress kills. Well, your roses are seriously stressed out right now. You’ve been over-fertilizing them.” I pulled one of the leaves off and handed it to her.
She inspected the leaf. “Over-fertilizing them?”
I nodded. “Yes. And third, you have most likely been over-fertilizing them with chicken manure or blood meal.”
She nodded. “Blood meal. How did you know?”
“It doesn’t matter. It isn’t such a bad idea, unless you overdo it. Ammonia is good for healthy plant growth, but too much of a good thing can result in death. Plus, dogs are attracted to the smell of blood meal. They think there’s something dead below the surface, and that is why they try to dig it up.”
She looked at me, then the leaf, and glanced at Karma, speechless.
Ruth being speechless left me speechless.
I wasn’t expecting it at all.
I cleared my throat, ready to share the three surprises that hopefully would put this all behind us, in order to move on. “I brought in a soil expert today who diagnosed the rose problem and told me exactly what I needed to do. We were able to clear out most of the old compost without damaging the roots and add something that had less ammonia to balance out the pH level. And you’ve been giving them too much water as well, especially since they aren’t getting enough sun.” I pointed to the neighbor’s tree that had been growing over her fence. “I trimmed back that tree to give the roses more sun in the afternoon. I also added a drip irrigation since you had been watering them by hand, obviously, and getting too much of the foliage wet. Not good when it doesn’t get enough sun. No charge, by the way.”
Ruth was still speechless.
I gestured behind us. “And your waist-high planter boxes are done.”
“What?” She flipped around, her mouth dropping open as she approached the planter boxes against the other fence. “Oh, I love this.”