18
***
"What is all that, Miss McKay?"
Nellie set down the things she'd been carrying in both hands onto the floor.
"I stopped by the flower market before work and bought some. I'm going to plant them in the yard today."
"You're doing unnecessary things."
Chester said it bluntly, then returned his attention to the book he had been reading. Undeterred, Nellie answered him anyway.
"All of this is for Mr. Coleman! You may not agree, but flowers calm the soul."
After wolfing down her breakfast, Nellie went out early with the flowers she had bought. Chester watched for a while as she moved about with a trowel, digging and planting, and then slowly approached her.
"How much did all this cost?"
"Excuse me?"
"These flowers, I mean."
Chester poked at an orange flowering shrub whose name he didn't know.
"You didn't ask me for money, so you must've bought them out of your own pocket, right?"
"Oh. Yes. I bought them with the highest weekly wage in this town."
"Claim it from me before you leave. I'll pay you."
"That's not necessary."
Nellie shook her head. But Chester was resolute.
"No. It's fine with me. Save up and open that café of yours, won't you?"
Chester also knew the reason Nellie had come to Newdane, the same reason she'd told Mrs. James. It seemed Mrs. James had mentioned it.
Nellie accepted his words with a smile.
"Don't keep trying to get rid of me, Mr. Coleman! Have you changed tactics from firing me to trying to make me leave on my own?"
"…It's not that. For the time being, you're needed… I told you before, didn't I?"
Chester spoke with a little shyness. Nellie found that sight endearing.
Goodness! The day had come when Chester Coleman looked cute to her!
"If you can, please keep saying you need me. It really lifts my spirits."
Nellie chuckled and wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve. Some of the soil on the sleeve smudged onto her forehead.
"……."
"Take this as a favor. I bought them using the highest weekly wage in town."
"Very well. Take the money from the drawer and use it as you please."
"What?"
Nellie blinked in surprise. What was this?
Was this… some kind of new proposal?
He was just… telling her to spend money however she wanted?
"You've been taking things out as you pleased all this time, haven't you?"
"Still, I did tell you beforehand how much I was taking, and I even kept the receipts to show you…"
In fact, Nellie had been meticulous. Every time she went shopping, she told Chester how much she'd spent, then neatly placed the receipt and change in the drawer. She didn't want to give him any reason to doubt her.
Of course, Chester had never shown the slightest interest in those receipts or the change.
He simply shook his head.
"There's no need for that. Just carry around about a hundred dils as emergency cash. Use it whenever you need to. You don't have to show me any receipts."
What was this? Was he really proposing?
A hundred dils! That was nearly two months of her boarding rent!
Who in their right mind handed such a large sum to their nurse–errand girl–housekeeper–rehabilitation assistant?
Such a generous employer couldn't possibly exist!
So clearly, this had to mean one thing. He was proposing marriage!
But Chester's face remained perfectly calm.
"Mr. Coleman, are you handing over your finances to me now?"
"……"
"Are you sure that's wise? We haven't even drawn up a prenuptial agreement yet. What will you do if we break up later?"
"……"
"Should we start with the prenup first?"
"Miss McKay, please stop joking around."
"This time, I'm serious."
Chester stared blankly at her, as if he couldn't understand a word she'd just said.
Nellie, slightly flushed but utterly confident, replied.
"I've never had an employer hand me a hundred dils for no reason before. I don't even know how to react! No matter how I think about it, it sounds exactly like a proposal."
"…It's nothing like that."
Chester shook his head firmly.
"I just want you to work comfortably. If you dislike it, you may refuse."
"Dislike it? Not at all! Thank you, truly. You're a very generous employer, Mr. Coleman."
Nellie grinned broadly.
"I'll make sure to take my emergency funds and also withdraw the cost of the flower trees from the drawer before I leave today. Is that alright?"
"Yes. Do that."
Before he could add anything else, Nellie quickly changed the subject.
"Then, Mr. Coleman…"
"Yes?"
"Please come help me now. I bought way too many."
She gave him a pitiful look, pointing to the mountain of flower trees still waiting to be planted.
***
The midday sun blazed down relentlessly.
"You really should've just hired a gardener."
Nellie had rummaged through the backyard shed and come out armed with soil, gravel, and gloves.
Now she was carefully spreading white pebbles around the flower trees she'd just planted.
"But, Mr. Coleman, if you don't even have a gardener, why do you have all this stuff lying around?"
She pointed to the pruning shears, the worn watering can, and other tools that looked like someone had used them long ago.
"…It's probably because I brought them from my old place in Whitedale. I had a gardener back then."
"Oh… So you lived alone in Whitedale too?"
Chester fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, before answering in a somewhat reluctant tone.
"Yes… Are you planning to plant all of those as well?"
He gestured toward the remaining trees. It was clear he didn't want to keep talking about the past.
"Yes, every single one!"
Beads of sweat trickled down Chester's forehead.
"You're sweating a lot. Let me wipe it for you."
"I'm fine."
He brushed his forehead roughly with his sleeve. His once-clean clothes were now streaked with dirt and dust.
"Let's finish up quickly and go inside for some ginger ale, Mr. Coleman!"
"I don't think ginger ale alone will cut it. Cake, too."
"Alright, have some cake as well."
They focused on their work again, forgetting to speak as they dug, planted, and watered.
"All done!"
Nellie sat down on the ground after planting all the trees she'd bought. Chester casually sat beside her. Sweat still glistened on his face.
Nellie tapped her legs with her fists. After crouching and digging all day, there wasn't a single part of her body that didn't ache, arms, legs, back, everything.
"Ah, Mr. Coleman, your legs must hurt, right? Let me give you a massage."
"I'm fine. It's nothing."
Chester quickly drew back his legs that had been carelessly stretched out.
"Why do you keep rejecting your caregiver's touch?"
"I sense an impure intention, Miss McKay."
"…You're quite perceptive, aren't you?"
Of course, she hadn't meant anything improper by it. But since he clearly didn't want her to touch him, she decided to just play along.
Nellie looked around the now-finished garden. Thanks to the cluster of newly planted flower trees, the house already felt more alive.
"Still, if there were a real gardener, it would've looked much prettier."
"I don't like having too many people coming and going. The way it is now… is enough."
"Mr. Coleman."
Chester tilted his chin slightly, as if telling her to go on.
"Am I… crossing the line too often?"
It seemed the joke she'd made earlier had been weighing on her mind.
"I mean, when I mentioned the prenuptial agreement before, and then went ahead and bought flowers without telling you… I feel like I keep overstepping boundaries you didn't set for me to cross."
Crossing the line? Chester let out a faint laugh. She had already crossed it, many times.
The young caregiver had passed through every wall he'd built around himself, as if they'd never existed.
And now, with a pitiful look on her face, she was asking him that question.
"If that's really the case, I'll try to be more careful. It wouldn't be right to keep doing things you dislike."
…Not to mention, she didn't actually want to get fired either.
Nellie kept that last part to herself.
Without realizing it, she had begun to feel comfortable around Chester. It made her tease him more often.
Of course, that last time, well, maybe it had been half-joke, half-serious.
She liked it when he frowned slightly, pretending to be annoyed by her teasing.
And she liked it even more when he sometimes responded with a joke of his own now.
"Professional caregiver Miss Nellie McKay, why have you suddenly become so timid? That's unlike you."
At that, Nellie hesitated before answering.
"The wedding. You still don't intend to attend it, do you? Even though I promised I'd make you able to walk again… Is it because you think that promise itself was me crossing the line as a caregiver?"
"I never thought that. I don't think of it as you 'overstepping your place as a caregiver.'"
"Then what is it?"
Nellie's forehead was streaked with dirt, but her expression was earnest. Chester found it oddly endearing.
Still, he kept his tone serious.
"It's just that… I haven't made up my mind yet. It's not your fault, Miss McKay."
Nellie didn't reply. Instead, Chester changed the subject.
"By the way, how did you find out about the wedding?"
"Well, you'd have to go to the post office to send a reply, right? But you haven't gone out during the day lately, and you didn't ask me to send it either. So, it's obvious."
"……"
Nellie tapped the mound of dirt around a freshly planted tree with her small trowel.
"I just want you to be at ease, Mr. Coleman. No matter what."
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