Chapter 71
Katie
Days later
“You’re making some progress.”
I looked up to see Nan had come up with a basket of food and then glanced at the sky. Sun was overhead, so must be lunchtime.
“We’d want to be.”
Rhys walked over, wiping his face on his shirt and that was a mistake. We’d been hauling stone bricks out of the undergrowth and cutting down weeds, which was hard, backbreaking work. Bronson was in his element, barking and then coming barrelling over when he saw we had company. He stopped at Nan’s truck though, dropping into a sit and barking at the passenger side door.
I soon realised why.
Mandie sat there, silent for once, until she opened the door.
“Brought you something to eat and…” Nan looked over her shoulder. “Another helper. Figured you could use another set of hands.”
Could I? It wasn’t my sister’s hands I was worried about, but her mouth. My hands went to my hips and she noted that as she walked over. For once she was acting almost chastened.
“Fellas.” She nodded to the guys and got a simple nod from them as they helped themselves to the thermos of tea. “So, this is going to become a shelter, huh?”
“That’s not why you drove down here.”
I’d gotten texts and missed call notifications from her, but by the time I got to look at my phone, I was usually too tired to reply. Well, that was my story, and I was sticking to it.
“Nope, it’s not.” Mandie looked the shed over, squinting slightly in the face of the bright sun. “This could be amazing. The stone is a great?—”
“Why are you here, Mandie?” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“To say sorry. You know me. Open my mouth and the truth bombs just drop out.” She tried to smile her way through that, but my steady stare had it faltering. “I was a dick. Not entirely off base?—”
“You know you’re ruining a perfectly good apology right now,” I said.
“Yeah?” She dared to smile. “I kinda thought I sucked at it.”
“That’s probably a more accurate way of putting it.” I grabbed a cloth and wiped my face. “Well, if we’re all about the unvarnished truth, let me hit you with some.” Her silence was about the best I could expect from my sister. “You treat me like I’m some kind of gimp because I don’t do things the way you do. Newsflash, most people don’t and it’s not because they’re too stupid to recognise your genius, but due the fact everyone does things in their own way.” She sucked in a breath to reply, but I cut her off. “That doesn’t make them wrong.”
“OK.”
Apparently, I had permission to continue.
“If you really want to help people, try listening first and passing judgement later, if ever. See if people actually want you acting as judge, jury and executioner.”
“Heard.”
Her tight voice made clear how much effort it took to keep quiet.
“And be a bit more open to the fact people have their own goals and their own ways of getting there.” I looked over my shoulder to see the guys moving closer. They had my back, I’d learned that pretty quickly, and they always would. “It’d be a whole lot cooler if you accepted you were a fellow traveller on the road, not the only person who can see a way forward.”
That was the moment when her shoulders drooped, her face falling. I hated seeing it, but also needed it to happen as well. Mandie would bounce back and be twice as bossy, but right now I was creating a check point, one I could bring her back to when she got too crazy.
“So can we jump to the part when we hug this out?” she asked in a small voice. “After I’ve said sorry, that I just wanted things to get better for you.” There was a mischievous glint in her eye as she met my gaze. “I mean look at how this all turned out.”
“You did not just say I told you so…” I growled, taking a step forward and she threw her hands up in surrender. “Pretty sure that means you’re on brick heaving duty.” I punched her in the arm. “You’re always rabbiting on about functional exercise in your videos.”
“Nothing more functional than tossing stone bricks into a pile,” Rhys said with a grin, nodding the mound we’d created.
“Fine…” Mandie rolled up her sleeves, then tossed me her phone. “Get this on film.”
“So I can play it back and gloat each time I watch it?” I asked with a grin.
“Because this is good content.” She looked up at the walls and the decaying roof. “And you’re gonna need me to help out with the shelter. I’ll have a GoFundMe campaign up before the end of the day, a marketing plan by the morning. I know a bunch of influencers who’d love to get behind a community project like this. We can get a working bee going?—”
“Lets start with the work first,” Rhett said, shooting her a dark look. “Everything else can be sorted after the day is done.”
“Well, that was long overdue.” Nan wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze, despite my filthy state. “You always let your sister ride roughshod over you. A bit of push back is healthy for both of you. Now, I made you your favourite sandwiches…”
I ate them sitting down on an outcropping, Bronson panting at my feet. Mandie had ideas, so many ideas about how to make the process go faster. The guys listened patiently, then directed her to move her arse and get it done the way I told her. I smiled and then took another bite.