“Oh,” Miles replied. “Did you really not know this was here?”

I shook my head. “I have no reason to come back here. I thought it held most of the animal stuff, and I can’t say mucking out horses is my favourite thing.”

“Didn’t you have a pony growing up?”

“Yes, but I’m a princess, remember?”

Miles froze, then his lips slowly curved into a smile. “Well played.”

I grinned. “I agree. So what here can I use? You’ve seen the area. I agree that some slabbing would function better than gravel for accessibility, but is there enough here?”

“There’s enough,” he said tentatively, scanning all the piles. “But it might not match.”

“Hm.” I rubbed the side of my neck. “Well, do they go together? Could we mix and match it? Would that be too difficult?”

Miles made a weird noise. “I’m really not a builder, princess. Caleb would know more than me. I just plant the stuff, not build the area.”

“Oh.” I deflated. “Okay. This could help, though, if it works.”

“Hang on.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped a few times, and held it to his ear. I frowned as he said, “Hello?... Yeah, are you near the barns? … Long story… Do you have five minutes?... Brilliant. Thank you… In the left one.” He pulled the phone away, tapped, and stuffed it back in his pocket. “Caleb is on his way.”

“Oh.” I was saying that a lot. “Will he know?”

“Of course he will.” Miles leaned against the nearest wall, folding his arms across his chest and giving me a stunning view of his arms.

Simp train, ticket for one.

Look. At. Those. Muscles.

All right, Gabriella. Settle your kettle, dear.

“How will he know?” I asked, mooching over to the slabs to have a look through them. I touched one that looked a lot like slate and a corner cracked off, falling to the ground and smashing.

I backed away from that.

Oopsie.

Miles choked back a laugh. “He grew up on a farm. What do you think he spent his life doing? Feeding chickens and shearing sheep? Farmers are jacks of all trades. He could build you a wall in his sleep if you asked him to.”

“Oh.”

Again, with that.

God.

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“What makes sense?” Caleb joined us in the barn and looked around. “What do you need me for? Why are you here?” he asked Miles.

He nodded towards me. “She needs help.”

I smiled sheepishly. “Hi. Lots of it. Please. Thank you.”

Caleb chuckled. “What’s the problem?”

I explained it all to him, from beginning to end, including why I’d accidentally broken one of his slate slabs.

He laughed. A lot. “Yeah, you can. For the most part, as long as you stick to slabs that are the same depth, it won’t be too difficult. Why don’t you show me your plans?”

“Oh.”

I had to stop bloody saying that.

“My laptop is in my car, but the garden is on the other side of the public ones.” I tucked hair behind my ear. “Do you have a few?”