He just hummed an agreement. She was right. Nothing was ever so easy as he wished things could be. Briar didn't usually mind a little hard work or a little struggling, but usually it wasn't making him lose his mind a little more day by day.There was no point in talking about it. Talking about it wasn't going to make it any easier, and at least Cassie understood. She knew what he needed without him having to say anything. That meant more than she knew.
He was quiet for a while with her, just pulling weeds from the dirt, the mindlessness of it a good distraction to keep him from thinking about the harder things.
"Less strangled," he answered her, voice soft, gentle, and he didn't just mean the plants. Having her with him did the same thing for him that pulling weeds did for his garden. "Thank you for staying out here so late to help me with it." It had to be getting late by now. It was well into the evening when he'd gone outside in the first place, but he liked working as the sun went down and cool air started to creep in.