Measure Twice, Pine Forever #3
I handed over the legal pad with my scrawl, every repair, every hazard, even stuff I knew it’d take weeks to fix.
He scanned it, nodding as if I’d just presented him with the blueprints for a bank heist. “All right. I’ll take the bathroom and anything involving power tools.
You do the kitchen, less chance of you losing a finger. ”
He was being a dick, acting as if he was better equipped to handle tools when he was the one who had to be rushed to the hospital thanks to tool-related injuries. But since he was helping, I kept my mouth shut.
As we headed inside, I heard a tiny mouse squeak. Damon and I both looked down, and Minnie was staring up at me with her huge Disney eyes.
“Who’s this?”
“Minnie,” I stated.
“Minnie?” he repeated.
“She was squeaking like a mouse. So…”
“I like it.” Damon bent over to pet Minnie, and she hid behind my legs.
“I didn’t know Buddy had a cat?” he commented as he stood back up.
“He doesn’t.”
“Where’d you find her?”
“I didn’t. I was sitting on the porch, and she found me.”
Damon shook his head and squeezed my shoulder. “Wow, pussy literally shows up on your doorstep. How do you do it, bro? What is your secret?”
I shook my head, ignoring my brother, again, because he was doing manual labor for free.
We got to work. There wasn’t much talking, just the rhythm of tools and trash bags and the occasional grunt of frustration.
Minnie was my shadow. She followed me from room to room, to outside, back into the house, never more than a few feet away from me.
She kept her distance from my brother as he tore down the house to rebuild it.
Damon was the only guy I knew who could demolish a bathroom vanity with a crowbar and still look like he was on vacation.
At some point, he found Buddy’s stash of whiskey and held it up with a questioning eyebrow.
I shook my head. “Later,” I said, and he put it back without comment.
The hours ran together. We moved through the house as a unit, like we always did when it came to work, me on the projects that needed finesse and skill, Damon on brute force.
There was something weirdly comforting about it, like being in the old barn again, shoeing horses before sunrise or fixing fence posts in the rain.
We didn’t have to talk to be on the same page, it had always been that way.
By mid-afternoon, we’d cleared out most of the garbage, replaced the worst of the floorboards, got Herbie up and running, and set up a temporary brace for the porch railing.
Damon was needed back at the ranch, so he packed up his tools and wiped his hands on a rag, looking more satisfied than tired.
Minnie hopped onto the counter beside me and then kneaded my arm, signaling she wanted to be picked up. For a tiny thing, she was bossy. I scooped her up, and she curled into a ball in the crook of my arm.
“Not bad.” My brother surveyed the cleaned-up living room. “It still smells like someone died in here, but at least no one’s gonna break a hip on the way to the bathroom.” He gave me a little nod, like we’d just won a game of backyard football.
I looked around, let myself feel a tiny bit of pride at what we’d pulled off. “Thanks,” I said. I meant it more than I could say.
“No thanks necessary, now you owe me.” Damon winked, more comfortable with sarcasm than gratitude, and gave Minnie a quick rub behind her ears.
He headed out to his truck, leaving the door open behind him.
I stood on the porch for a minute, breathing in the fresh, crisp air, holding Minnie in one arm.
Damon was already backing out of the drive, one hand on the wheel, the other out the window, giving me an exaggerated salute.
I flipped him off and watched him disappear down the road, the dust cloud trailing after him like he was leading a cavalry charge.
When the silence settled again, it didn’t feel so heavy.
There was still another hour before I had to be at the ranch, so Minnie and I went back inside and started a fresh pot of coffee with the canister I’d found behind the microwave.
While it brewed, I finished resetting the bathroom door, wiped down the counters, reorganized the pill bottles, and went back over the list of everything we’d fixed, making notes on what still needed repairs.
When it was time to go, I gathered up Minnie, locked up, and walked out to my truck.
I got in, and Minnie curled up on my lap and went to sleep.
It had been a big day for her. I sat there for a long time with my head against the headrest, eyes closed.
I thought about Sadie, about the way she’d smiled at me this morning—the real smile, the one that cracked open my heart.
I thought about what it would be like to see her every day, to be someone she could count on again.
For years, I wondered if I’d built up what we shared, what my feelings for her were. Now I knew the truth, I hadn’t. If anything, my mind had deluded my feelings in an attempt to protect me. She was the only girl I’d ever loved, and I was more certain than ever the only girl I ever would love.