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They should have maybe asked their other friends to help instead of Savvy and I though. We have some meat on us, yes, but lady bodybuilders we are not.
Steadily, they get the gazebo’s roof on it, sliding into the soft supports.
Thunder sounds in the distance.
Baby Nate cries out. Savvy runs to tend to him, and me, with my job being done, helping the boys, join them.
“It’s okay, sweetie, it’s just thunder. It’s just a really loud noise.”
Lightning flashes not long after.
“Now, that’s what you have to actually worry about.”
The baby averts his eyes from the flash of light. He squeezes a plush platypus, his stuffed toy of choice.
“We probably should head in,” I say, loudly enough for the boys to hear us. “The rain is gonna start pouring down any moment.”
“Forecast only called for a drizzle,” Hunter yells back. “Plus, I’m not supposed to leave this winch out in the rain. I don’t want to risk getting chewed out because it’s rusted over when I return it.”
“Thought you didn’t want to rush it,” Bear says, steadying the roof. “What happened to perfection taking time?”
“We’ve kept it slow and steady all this time, Bear. And we’re so damn close to being done...”
A buzzing rings out. It’s Savvy’s phone. She fishes it out of her pocket. “Oh dear. We really should get inside, guys.”
A burst of wind blows by us all. Strong enough that I almost feel myself go with it.
“There’s a tornado warning for all of Evergreen Valley,” she announces.
“What’s that about a drizzle?” Bear shouts in a teasing tone at Hunter.
Hunter grunts. “Fine, get it up on the supports, and I’ll rush the cinch into the garage.”
The two of them settle the roof onto the beams. It’s not super sturdy, but it looks like it should hold for now. Hunter takes the straps off the wood, and packs everything up, hoisting up the device, and starts to roll the machine across the dirt and toward his garage.
More thunder, troubling baby Nate even more, and he's crying out. Poor thing, he’s terrified and there’s no way we can calm him down. Babies don’t really understand how storms work.
But given there’s a tornado warning, I don’t think explaining it would have helped even if he could understand. Tornadoes terrify me too.
“Come on, let’s get inside,” Bear says, concerned about the storm as much as we are. “No point in getting drenched in the rain if you don’t have to.”
“I thought you liked it when I got wet,” I whisper to him.
“Don’t talk like that in front of the kid,” Bear replies sheepishly.
“If he can’t understand thunderstorms, he can’t understand that joke.”
“You’re going to be a fun mom, aren’t you?”
“I hope I am. Who wants to be a boring mom?”
There’s another rumble of thunder, quickly followed by a flash of lightning. The combo must have startled poor Nate as he throws his arms up and claws for mama.
Another gust of wind rushes past us, Savvy bracing herself on her porch railing. The wind is powerful enough that it blows the plush platypus along with it. Nate cries out for it as it goes flying outward toward the unfinished gazebo.
“Oh dear,” I say, and rush to go grab it.
The gust kicks it up farther, and I find myself chasing it across the yard. I hear something creaking.
