14. Nelly
Nelly
The humidity feels alive.
It clings to my skin the second I step outside. It's thick and heavy, so wet that it almost feels like I'm breathing through a damp towel. The storm clouds hanging over Honeysuckle Grove haven't broken yet this morning, but they're close. The air buzzes with it.
Like it's waiting.
"Okay," I mutter as I shove my wheelbarrow into place beside the driveway. "Let's get ahead of this before Mother Nature decides to punch me in the throat again."
The tarp stretched across the roof snaps in the wind overhead. Ford and Knox are already up there checking the anchor points, their boots thudding against the plywood beneath the blue plastic while they shout back and forth to one another.
"Still holding on the east side!" Knox yells.
Ford crouches near the roof peak. "One of these grommets is loosening up!"
I point my shovel up at them from the yard. "If that tarp flies away, I'm haunting both of you."
Ford snorts loud enough that I hear it from below. "You'll have to die first, Nels."
"Working on it!"
He laughs while I wheel the next load of clay-heavy dirt around the side of the house. The ground squelches beneath my boots. At least the grading I've managed to do so far is holding.
Mostly.
Water still gathers near the back corner of the foundation where the slope dips too fast toward the crawlspace vents. I eye it like it personally insulted me as I stab my shovel into the dirt pile.
"Not today, Satan," I say as I gather up a pile of clay dirt.
Landscaping is one of my favorite things to do.
It's monotonous, it's rhythmic, and it gives me a chance to think.
What the hell crawled up Nash's ass and died yesterday?
I still can't get his reaction out of my head.
He seemed almost… jealous. But that can't be right. It's Nash Dempsey, for crying out loud.
The man doesn't care enough about anything to get jealous.
The wheelbarrow rattles as I haul another load toward the side yard.
Sweat already beads along the back of my neck despite the early hour.
My tank top clings to me within minutes.
But honestly? After yesterday morning with Beau, I feel lighter, like I'm not carrying the whole world's expectations on my shoulders.
Even if Nash interrogated me like a detective the second he smelled Beau on me.
My face heats at the memory while I dump the load of dirt into the low spot near the foundation.
"You're smiling at mud now?"
I yelp hard enough to nearly throw the shovel.
Levi grins from the edge of the house, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest while he watches me struggle for dignity.
"Jesus Christ!" I yell. "Do all of you men sneak around like serial killers?"
His smile is easygoing, just like him. "Only when it's funny."
I stab the shovel toward him. "One day, I'm going to hit one of you with a tool."
His grin grows. "I don't think you can pick Nash up."
That makes my head fall back with laughter as Knox chuckles from the rooftop.
The wind kicks harder, carrying the scent of rain through the yard while Levi strolls closer. Gray clouds churn overhead in thick, rolling waves, like they're threatening me with every shovelful of dirt.
His gaze drifts over the side of the house. "You're out here early."
"So are you."
"I wasn't shoveling mud before breakfast, though."
"Congratulations on your superior life choices."
That crooked grin spreads wider across his face while he steps into the yard beside me. "You're like a hurricane before the actual hurricane hits, you know."
The shovel stills in my hands. "What?"
Levi blinks. "What?"
"You said hurricane."
"…Yeah?"
I stare at him. "This isn't actually a hurricane, right?"
His expression shifts, like he can't believe what he's hearing.
"Nobody's saying hurricane," he says carefully.
I narrow my eyes. "That wasn't a 'no.'"
He rubs the back of his neck. "It's just gonna be a nasty storm system, Nelly. According to the reports from this morning, the bulk of it is about to tear through here this afternoon."
There's something he's not saying. "Levi."
He sighs as his hand slips from his neck. "They're watching rotation patterns. That's all."
I gape at him. "Rotation patterns?"
"You know. Wind shit. There was a tornado last night, apparently, a few towns over."
A tornado? In the mountains!? "That's not reassuring, Levi."
"Hey," he says as he moves a bit closer, "we live in Appalachia. The weather's always trying to kill us."
"You're really not good with this reassurance thing."
"And you're not good with the sitting and waiting thing."
"I'm actively standing in a condemned house's front yard trying to keep the foundation from dissolving. How am I supposed to sit and wait when there's work to be done to protect my investment?"
Levi's smile is bright and knowing. "And somehow, I still think you'd fistfight the storm personally if given the opportunity."
I point at the house. "It started it."
That finally pulls a real laugh out of him, and I pause.
Warm satisfaction flares low in my chest at the sound. His scent crawls toward me like it's on its hands and knees, ink and something spicy with a hint of smoke. It fills my lungs and settles like a lead weight in my gut, holding me still for a moment.
Damn him.
"Come on," he says as he reaches for the wheelbarrow handles. "Tell me where you want this."
That pulls me out of my trance. "You're helping?"
"You gonna complain about free labor?"
"Never. Over here, I have to get this side of the house graded."
We settle into a rhythm after that. Levi steadies the wheelbarrow while I load it. He follows me to where I need it and dumps it so I can shovel it around and level it out.
"What's the gravel for?" he asks.
"Well," I say as I pause and wipe the sweat off my brow, "the clay-heavy soil packs down to create a watertight layer, but the gravel helps slow the erosion of it while it's getting pelted with rain. I'm hoping it'll be enough."
He pauses. "You sound way too excited about dirt."
"I am excited about dirt."
"That's insane."
I point my finger at him. "Says the man who permanently inks dragons onto people for a living."
"That dragon earned me six hundred bucks. Plus a tip."
I tilt my head side to side. "Touché."
Sweat drips down the sides of his neck while we work. The humidity is as thick as the syrup at the diner, and my movements go sluggish fast. I wish I was a man sometimes.
This would be a prime time for my shirt to come off.
But we're making progress. Levi's help is a godsend. Not having to deal with the wheelbarrow means we move twice as fast. I get the sloped corner of the last side of the house graded in no time.
"All right," Ford says as he hops from the ladder. "Roof's secure until further notice."
Knox starts pulling the ladder away from the house. "We got it nailed down. The decking has to be upgraded, so we just went for it."
I wave my hand at them. "I appreciate your work. We can tackle that once this crazy set of storms passes."
Ford wipes off his hands on a cloth tucked into his overalls. "I'll go ahead and get supplies purchased. Once I have a delivery date, I'll call you and we'll start talking installation."
"Perfect," I say as I toss gravel onto the newly graded slope. "You guys stay safe."
"You too," Knox says.
I turn my attention back to the grading and sink into the rhythm of it. Dirt, tamp, gravel. Dirt, tamp, gravel. Levi grabs another one of my shovels from the front porch and starts at the other corner of the house, tossing down dirt and whacking at it.
I'll have to come behind him and fix it, but at least the waterproof barrier will be in place.
But then, the wind shifts. Levi glances toward the sky as the little bit of sun I was using for light gets swallowed up by the clouds. I look upward and find heavy, almost-black clouds blowing in fast.
The wind kicks up and every hair on my arms lifts.
"Nelly," Levi says.
I don't even get a chance to look over at him before wind roars through the trees hard enough to bend them sideways. It damn near knocks me off my feet. I stumble against the house, struggling with the shovel as Levi's hands wrap around my arms.
And then, the rain hits.
Not droplets, either.
"Oh my god!" I exclaim as water pounds down onto us.
"Come on, we have to go," Levi says.
"Wait a second, we have to put gravel on—"
"Nelly, come on," Levi says as thunder cracks above us.
My ears ring with the sound. No, no, no. This can't be happening. I was supposed to have until the afternoon.
The freshly laid dirt Levi tamped down near the unfinished corner of the house starts to dissolve.
"Wait a second!" I exclaim as water drenches us. "We need to put gravel down! It won't take but a—"
The loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard rattles my rib cage. Levi's grip tightens against my arm.
I can't leave the house like this.
"Just wait a second!" I bellow as I rip out of his grasp.
"Goddamn it, Nelly!"
I drop the shovel and grab the wheelbarrow, but the ground is already soaked. The tire gets caught as I try to heft it toward the disintegrating soil, and it tips head over heels. Hands grasp my hips, keeping me from tipping with it, and the gravel spills out everywhere.
The unfinished side of the yard without the gravel turns into sludge.
"We need to go!" Levi yells over the storm as he pulls my body back against his.
Lightning splits the sky, and the crack that follows makes me flinch. "No! I can still fix this! I just need ten more minutes!"
Another wave of rain slams into us sideways.
"Damn it, Nelly, you don't have ten minutes!"
I try shoving more gravel toward the runoff trench, but the current tears it away immediately. Panic climbs hard up my throat. How was I supposed to predict this fucking storm before I bought this house two months ago? How would hiring an inspector bail me out of this situation?
How am I supposed to fix this?
All this work, just gone.
Strong arms wrap around my waist and my feet leave the ground.
"What the—Levi!"
He hauls me up like I weigh nothing. "Come on, we have to go!"
"Put me down!"
"No! You're insane and this has gone on long enough!"
The world flips sideways as he throws me over his shoulder. "Levi fucking Cruz! Put me down!"
"You can yell at me inside, Nelly!"
He takes off across the yard, sprinting as if his life depends on it. I lift my head long enough for another bright flash of lightning to reveal that water is also pooling beneath the crooked porch. The ache in my chest goes sharp. Maybe I'm in over my head with this renovation.
Maybe I should just bulldoze the house and sell off the land to break even.
Thunder cracks so loudly the ground vibrates beneath us. I go limp against Levi's shoulder just as he muscles us into the apartment complex. He sets me back on my feet, and I watch the utter destruction outside while the storm beats down on my house.
Okay.
Maybe this storm is worse than I thought.
Water streams off both of us as Levi stands there next to me, his hand moving aimlessly up and down my back. A cold sets in and my body shivers, but all I can do is think about the house. Out there alone, fighting off the storm with no one to take care of it.
I know what that's like, fighting alone with no one to take care of me.
"Come on," Levi murmurs as he turns me toward the elevator, "let's go get you dried off."
And for the first time in my life, I'm pretty sure, I listen without argument.