You Looked Down on Me Once, Now You Look Up. novel Chapter 429

“Say something, will you?”

“Bro, are you mute or something?”

Hector leaned in across the table, eyes shining with curiosity, practically sticking his face in Oliver’s. He was dying to get a reaction.

Oliver just shot him a sly look. “Depends. If I say yes or no, what do you really want to hear?”

Hector clicked his tongue. “What, you think I’ll run off and spill to your wife that you’re meddling again?”

Oliver grinned. “Why are you so sure I’m sneaking around behind her back?”

“Oh, wait—don’t tell me you two are actually teaming up on this?” Hector’s attempt to provoke him couldn’t have been more obvious.

But Oliver just kept smiling, not taking the bait.

Muttering under his breath, Hector stomped off, clearly annoyed.

Lately, Patricia had a lot of free time on her hands. She’d taken to hanging out in the garden with Marian, tending to the flowers and plants. She got really into pruning, even asking the gardener to teach her a thing or two, and started following him around like an eager apprentice.

April was the perfect month for it—not too hot, not too cold.

That morning, while Oliver was out, Patricia curled up in the living room, watching videos about gardening and plant care, soaking up everything she could about how different flowers grew. In the afternoons, she’d head outside for hands-on practice with her teacher.

Around three-thirty, Oliver finished up at the office and headed home. As soon as he walked in, he spotted Patricia up on a ladder in the yard, carefully trimming the branches of a tree. She moved slowly but paid attention to every detail, totally focused.

Jackson stood behind her, holding the ladder steady so she wouldn’t fall. When he noticed Oliver coming back, he handed off his job without a word, strolled down the garden path toward the guest house, and snatched a stalk of wild grass to chew on, humming as he disappeared.

Oliver’s eyes lingered on the grass in Jackson’s mouth, a small frown tugging at his lips.

Patricia stepped off the ladder and blinked when she saw Oliver. “When did you get back?”

“Just now.”

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