He moved his shoulder again. "Just saying. "
"My thought was, with some of the reorganizing and transferring I'm doing, I could cull out some office space for you at the center. "
He gave her the same look he'd sent his men over her shoulder. A lesser woman, Stella told herself, would wither under it. "I don't work in a frigging office. "
"I'm not suggesting that you spend all your time there, just that you'd have a place to deal with your paperwork, make your phone calls, keep your files. "
"That's what my truck's for. "
"Are you trying to be difficult?"
"Nope. I can do it without any effort at all. How about you?"
"You don't want the office, fine. Forget the office. "
"I already have. "
"Dandy. But I need an office. I need to know exactly what stock and equipment, what materials you'll need for this job. " She "yanked out her notebook again. "One red maple, one magnolia. Which variety of magnolia?"
"Southern. Grandiflora gloriosa. "
"Good choice for the location. One weeping cherry" she continued, and to his surprise and reluctant admiration, she ran down the entire plan he'd tossed out at her.
Okay, Red, he thought. Maybe you know a thing or two about the horticulture end of things after all.
"Yews or winter creeper?"
He glanced back at the shed, tried both out in his head. Damn if he didn't think she was right, but he didn't see why he had to say so right off. "I'll let you know. "
"Do, and I'll want the exact number and specimen type of other stock as you take them. "
"I'd be able to find you . . . in your office?"
"Just find me. " She turned around, started to march off.
"Hey, Stella. "
When she glanced back, he grinned. "Always wanted to say that. "
Her eyes lit, and she snapped her head around again and kept going.
"Okay, okay. Jesus. Just a little humor. " He strode after her. "Don't go away mad. "
"Just go away?"
"Yeah, but there's no point in us being pissed at each other. I don't mind being pissed as a rule. "
"I never would've guessed. "
"But there's no point, right at the moment. " As if he'd just remembered he had them on, he tugged off his work gloves, stuck them finger-first in his back pocket. "I'm doing my job, you're doing yours. Roz thinks she needs you, and I set a lot of store by Roz. "
"So do I. "
"I get that. Let's try to stay out from under each other's skin, otherwise we're just going to give each other a rash. "
She inclined her head, lifted her eyebrows. "Is this you being agreeable?"
"Pretty much, yeah. I'm being agreeable so we can both do what Roz pays us to do. And because your kid has a copy of Spider-Man Number 121. If you're mad, you won't let him show it to me. "