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Which meant she’d been tinkering for hours.
The frustrating part was that the more she worked on her own tasks, the more she thought about André. She wondered if he was working on the lounge over the weekend or if he took the weekends off.
She could go look. It wouldn’t be anything for her to walk up the street and down the block to see if his car was in the parking lot.
But as soon as she arrived at that idea, she doubled back and asked herselfwhyshe wanted to do that.
And herself didn’t answer.
Asa had been right yesterday, she needed to talk to Al. If only to have someone tell her she was being stupid so she could immediately stop being stupid. That’s how things worked, right?
“What are you doing?”
“Fixing this light,” she answered, but didn’t glance in Asa’s direction.
“Did you climb onto the counter all by yourself?”
“No. The woodland elves helped me.”
She was still wearing the wrist brace. It hadn’t been a week yet and the doctor said to give it two weeks with the brace. But she’d decided on her own that she would give it one unless it was hurting. And it wasn’t hurting at all.
It was basically her newest fashion accessory.
She flashed him a sassy smile and tugged the screwdriver out of her pocket and began removing the screws in the fixture.
“You’re stubborn, you know that.”
She hummed in agreement and slipped the screws into the front pocket of her jeans one at a time as she removed them.
She detached the cover and handed it to Asa who stood beside her waiting. After living with each other for as many years as they had, they had a comfortable routine by that point. She tinkered with the electricity, and he stood nearby “assisting” and ready to dial 911.
Which, for the record, he’d never had to do.
She slid the screwdriver back into her back pocket and pulled out the voltmeter.
After a few minutes of checking various areas in and around the electric box, she was satisfied that she’d turned off the correct breaker.
She put the voltmeter back and exchanged it for the slim pocketknife she carried with her everywhere.
If her father could see her right now, he’d be so disappointed.
How many tool belts had he bought her over the years? Too many to count. And they were all beautiful and practical and exactly the kind of thing she should be using.
But she was a bad planner and always in a hurry.
And that’s why she usually stuffed whatever she needed in whatever article of clothing she was wearing and moved on with her life.
It was also why her tools were never where she thought she’d left them and more often than not wound up in terrible places.
Remind Asa to tell the story about when he found a socket wrench where his toothbrush should have been.
After a bit of fidgeting and only a handful of curse words, she installed the new light.
“Where did you get that one?” Asa asked.
“Home Depot. This morning.”
He hissed. “How long have you been awake?”
