Waiting on the Rain by Claudia Connor
19
Zach made his cut with the circular saw then waited for Luke to finish screwing in the first vertical piece of window trim.
“We’ve already got his mattress as low as it will go,” Zach said. “And he’s still getting over the crib rail like it’s nothing so Nora’s like, we gotta baby proof his room, make it safe for when he climbs out.”
“And what if he decided to go rogue around the house?”
“Exactly. And since we really don’t want to close him up in his room, I put up a baby gate across the doorway, three feet high. He goes over like it’s nothing. And I’m thinking, one day this kid’s going to be fifteen, sixteen, and if we can’t outsmart him now then we’re in deep shit.
“So we put up another baby gate over the first one. Now it’s six feet high and even though there’s no way he’s getting over, Nora puts a twin mattress in the hallway just in case. Guess what happened?”
“He went over,” Luke said, taking the wood from his brother.
“Damn right. We’re in the bedroom, doing… you know and I hear this little voice in the doorway. Scared the shit out of me. I’m telling you,” Zach said. “The force is strong with that one.”
Luke smiled, picturing his little brother as Daddy and all that went with it. “He’s probably laughing at you.”
Zach sighed. “Damn it. He probably is.”
“What’s your next move?”
“We’re working on it.”
“How about a screen door? With a latch.”
Zach paused. “Huh. That’s not a bad idea.”
They worked another fifteen minutes in silence before either of them spoke again.
“Anything from Dallas?”
“No,” Zach said. “Nick is asking around. Quietly. Only thing for sure is he’s undercover. And if he can’t get word out or if they’re too cautious to get word out for him, he must be deep.”
“Yeah.” And deep was synonymous with dangerous.
“Ava seemed nice,” Zach said, taking measurements of the next window.
“Yeah.” Luke lined up the next piece, pulled the drill from his tool belt.
“Definitely easy to look at.”
Luke looked at him but Zach didn’t raise his head from the board.
“Noticed you looking at her quite a bit.”
Luke turned again and caught his brother’s smirk.
“Anything going on there?”
“Nope.” And he’d been expending a good bit of energy trying not to be too disappointed about that. “And don’t come off your honeymoon and start trying to pair me off.”
“Okay. My bad. Thought you were interested.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t.”
“Okay. Good talk.”
Was that hurt he heard in his brother’s voice? Frustration? Did his little brother really care that much if he opened up and talked to him? But Zach had always been the one to fill the silence. Luke reminded himself he wanted to connect. If so, he needed to make an effort.
“She put the brakes on.” He shrugged like it was no big deal but the gesture felt forced. Because he did care. He cared a hell of a lot which was way past smart.
Zach didn’t say anything else for a minute and Luke thought, well, that wasn’t so bad.
“Any particular reason?”
Damn it. Should have known Zach wouldn’t let that be the end of it. “She had a few, one of which is that she’s going back to New York soon. And be careful with that nail gun. She’s a little testy.”
“I got it,” Zach said. “And I guess that’s understandable, her going back to New York. Though in my experience, women rarely have one reason for anything. It’s not even a list, more like a damn web of reasons and reasonings.”
Luke sank the next screw with too much force and had to back it out and do it again.
“So, you just going to let her blow you off?”
“I didn’t say she blew me off.” Luke wrenched it, tightening it harder than it needed and heard the start of the wood splitting. “Shit.” He was too pissed to look up but thought he heard his brother snicker.
“And what difference does it make? She is going back to the city soon. Hell, she’s doing her best to get a job in another country.”
“Oh. So you want her to stay here and she doesn’t want to. Huh.” Zach stood there, peering up at Zach’s finished window. “Makes sense.”
Luke glared at his younger brother. “What makes sense?”
“You want her to stay and she—”
“I heard what you said, you’re just so far off base, I’m—forget it. Just drop it.”
“Sure. Pass me that tape measure.” They worked in silence another few minutes.
“And I’m sure if you did want more and she didn’t, that would have nothing to do with why you hung half that trim finished edge up and the other half, finished side down. Since I’m way off base, I guess you’re just a dumbass.”
Luke stepped back, looked at the window. “Fuck.”
Zach stopped what he was doing and Luke could feel his curious stare.
“You know, if this isn’t about the girl, then… we could… you know. Talk or something.”
“What else would it be?”
“Hell, I don’t know. God knows a woman is enough to get a guy tied up. But if it was something else… I’m just saying. I’m here. Ya, know?”
Luke stood scowling at the glaring mistake he’d made, trying to take his little brother’s offer at face value. It was just an offer, not asking him to unload all his troubles. “Thanks, man. I’m good.”
Luke threw himself into the chore of tearing off what he’d done and starting over while Zach made cuts for the window he’d measured.
“Okay, man,” Zach said three hours later. “Time for me to call it a day.”
Luke stopped, hung the cordless drill in his belt. “Thanks for the help.”
“You got it.” He paused at his truck door. “Think I’ll go screen door shopping on my way home. I’ll you know how it turns out.”
Huh. He was going to let him know.
Luke figured that was reconnecting in a way and it hadn’t even been that hard. He watched his brother drive off to his wife and baby and daddy stuff. He had a passing thought about what that would feel like. Seemed like a hell of a lot of worry on top of ultimate responsibility.
He didn’t let himself wonder about it long, instead throwing himself into the next step which was the front porch. While he worked, he got the idea to hand cut the ladder rungs, make it more rustic and he liked to whittle. He could sit out here at night, keep his hands busy.
The rest of the week passed without seeing Ava and it was driving him crazy. And crazier still that he couldn’t bring himself to ask Hannah when she was coming out to ride again. Was she not riding because she didn’t want to see him? Or was he just missing her by chance?
He worked until he lost the light. His back and arms ached with the satisfaction of hard labor. Next on his agenda… Shower. Dinner. Ladder rungs. And a long night of quiet. Maybe too much quiet.