Free Near To You by Asha King Page A

too.” Deena sighed dreamily and Niara chuckled. “So. Gardener—when’s he coming?”
    Possibly never. She avoided checking the time again—it would just depress her—and kept her eyes closed, away from the rising sun and the bright green grass and this whole new life that threatened to overwhelm her. “I don’t know. I’ll start pulling weeds myself soon if he doesn’t show.”

    ****

    Brady Trewin had cut his van’s engine ten minutes ago, but hadn’t left the vehicle.
    Instead he remained behind the wheel and stared at the small, dilapidated house on the water, through the wild trees and bushes that surrounded the property.
    Niara Morgan. Jesus Christ.
    His heart accelerated the more he stared, the more he thought, a swell of memories rising up to drag him back.
    She’d left town right after high school, eight years ago this June. He knew because he remembered the last time he saw her, right after graduation. He swore this was it—he’d ask her out. Finally. He’d prepared a speech or two so he didn’t sound like a dork and spill everything he’d thought during his four year crush on her. But that entire day, she’d never left the confine of her friends. A week later, feeling an adrenalin high after a long bike ride through the country, he’d shown up at her house, knocked on the door, ready to say everything then.
    Gone. Gone, her uncle said—gone from their small, redneck town for the city, and not planning to come back. And now here she was.
    The day before he was leaving.
    He’d hardly believed it when Cynthia said one Niara Morgan had called looking to hire help for her new house. A joke, he figured—something one of his asshole friends set up, thinking to be funny. His goddamn bags were packed , apartment closed up. He wasn’t even supposed to be working this weekend—he was set to take off in the van, drive across the country, and see where he ended up. Years , he’d been drifting along, saving, no clue in the world what to do with his life, but just knowing he had to leave. Maybe find work out west, maybe just travel for a while. He’d miss his sister but she had her own family, and their dad...he just hadn’t been the same for the past two years. There wasn’t anything keeping him here.
    It would be just like his friends to play a prank this last day and pretend his crush from high school was still around. Oh yeah, Nia Morgan , he’d thought when Cynthia offered the appointment, cocking a brow and grinning like she knew. He’d shown up just so he could prove them wrong.
    But he stared at her now, still adjusting to the fact that she was real.
    Nia sat on the steps of her sagging porch of peeling white paint, a cordless phone to her ear. Her head was bowed, free hand massaging her temple as if she had a headache. Hair was longer than in school, falling in relaxed black waves, and the sun peering around the house gave her dark skin a healthy glow. And though he couldn’t see it now, her face flashed to his mind immediately—her lush lips, deep brown eyes framed in long thick lashes.
    Beautiful. Of course she’d be, all these years later. In school he’d been a lovesick jock, spurning the advances of girls while he pined over the dark beauty running the school paper. And she probably hadn’t changed at all, smart and gorgeous. Staring at her, he felt like an embarrassed teen again, who didn’t know how to talk without babbling and waited until she left class before rising to avoid anyone seeing the tent in his jeans.
    He should get out of the damn van. Needed to. The clock on the dashboard read 8:26. Whether she remembered him or not, he didn’t want her first impression of him now to be of someone who was late.
    But he’d been so goddamn sure it was a prank. Positive. So he left his place wearing jeans that, while clean, had been scuffed up so many times during work, they remained faded and torn in places. He wore a dark hoodie over a black, sleeveless ribbed shirt, and his