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can cuss all you like.”
    The grin he flashed made him look so young. I wondered what had happened to put him out on his own so early in life. He rubbed the redness on his cheeks.
    Sebastian harrumphed and limped toward the far end of the shed. How did he climb up and down a ladder with that leg? Groaning, he lowered himself onto one of the cots and threw the covers over his head.
    Garret followed me to the corner.
    “How long have you been working for Liam?” I inspected my cot and tattered grey blanket. My pack clunked to the floor beside me, dropped harder than I meant it to. Idiot!
    “I’m new this season.”
    I opened my pack and fished around for the T-shirt-wrapped package I stored in the middle.
    “The other three been working for Liam for three years, and then old man Conner since Christ wore diapers.”
    When I unwrapped it and found it unbroken, I exhaled. “Is Liam a good guy to work for?”
    “Oh, yeah.” Garret parked himself on my cot and rubbed his hands over his skinny knees. “Always brings us stuff to drink and lets us off for extra time at lunch to swim if it’s real hot. Pay’s not great, but brainless shit work’s always the same. ’Sides, most folks can’t find any work these days, so I feel real lucky.” He turned those wondering green eyes on me. “What’s that you got there?”
    Without thinking, I took the wooden box and set it on the bed. “My mother used to sing this song to me when I was little.” I tipped up the hinged lid, and the haunting melody played. “It’s all I have left of her.” She’d also told me never to let it out of my sight.
    I touched the antique gold necklace and ring inside and listened to the music until tears threatened. The concern in Garret’s eyes brought me back from my mental wandering. My stomach lurched. Really? Did I just spill my guts to a complete stranger? Fuck.
    I bundled the old shirt around the music box again and shoved it into my pack. After securing the latch, I clutched it to my chest. “Don’t tell anyone you saw this.” If anything had happened to it, I’d have been screwed. I shuddered at the thought.
    “Oh, yeah, I won’t tell nobody. It’s real beautiful. Lost my mom a ways back too. Sang like a frog with a cold, but I miss the smell of her, like wildflowers and rain.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “So, you gonna hang around for a bit?” Garret cracked the solemn face that had been forming and let out the excited young boy again. “You’re not so bad for a girl.”
    “Uh—thanks, I guess.” I chuckled. “And no. I’ll work a bit and then be on my way.”
    “What’s the rush? Don’t like hangin’ around with the riff raff?”
    “Stop bothering the lady,” Rourke barked from where he lounged against the wall chewing on his gum and fanning the cards in and out. “Nosy little puke.”
    “Shut it, Rourke,” I said.
    He gave me that nasty grin again.
    My fingers curled into a fist.
    Garret pushed himself up to his feet. A scarlet hue crept along his face. “Sorry ’bout that. Before Gran died, she used to tell me I needed to work on my rattle mouth.”
    I put my hand on his arm. “You’re a nice kid. Don’t apologize for that.”
    “I’ll leave you be, then.” He padded off, giving Rourke a wide berth as he went.
    Watching him walk away from me tugged on my heart. Some long dormant instinct in me wanted to grab him up, pull him into my bed and wrap my arms around him. The need had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with comfort and protecting him from the slimeball on the floor. I took a step forward before I came to my senses. Pure lunacy. I didn’t even know the kid. Liam could take care of it in the morning. So why didn’t the knot in my stomach believe it? No, I’d watch from a distance, intervene if I had to and nothing more.
    Rourke’s mischievous eyes followed Garret to his cot and rolled toward me. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I turned my back on him—not usually