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She walks over to Chance and pats his head. Chance continues to wag his tail, clearly loving all of the attention.Apparently, she likes fire dogs more than she likes firemen.
Brittney smiles at her and nods toward me. “He’s my volleyball coach. The one I was telling you about.”
Mariah looks at me. “Oh. Coach Scott. You live next door.”
“Yes. I do. I had no idea Brittney lived here.”
“She speaks highly of you. Even though she’s only been to two practices.”
Brittney blushes. “Mariah!”
“That’s not a bad thing, Brit,” Maria smiles.
I smile. “Big practice tomorrow and we have a game on Saturday afternoon.”
“I’ll be there. I’m excited,” Mariah says.
I look at Mariah. “You’re coming to the game?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Good.” I glance at the door. “I’ll get to work on the door. And I can take Chance back home if you want.”
“He’s fine.” Mariah returns to the kitchen.
Brittney leaves Chance and bounces over to me. “Can I help?”
“Let’s see. How about you hold the other side of this door knob while I take out the screws?”
She holds onto the doorknob. “So, do you think we will win the game on Saturday?”
“Of course. The only team we need to worry about is the one from North High. They’re really good. I think they have a couple of ringers from the school team.”
“That’s not fair.”
“There are no rules against it but I agree. You guys are great though and can certainly hold your own. Even against a rigged team.”
I remove the doorknob and Brittney sets it on the floor. “What else can I help with?”
“Hmm.” I remove the two broken sections of the trim and hold up the new piece I’d brought with me. “This is a little short. So, I’ll replace it in a couple of days. Let me remove the strike plate, then you can hold this in place while I nail it in.”
“Okay. Cool.” Brittney smiles happily helping.
With Brittney’s help, I finished the door and then tested it to make sure it closed properly. There is just a two-inch gap at the top corner from the trim being too short. And the wood is unpainted.
Mariah comes back into the room and I show her that the door closes and locks. “I can get a longer piece of wood for the trim and replace it tomorrow. I’m off for two more days.” I hand her the key.
“Seems you fight fires even on your days off,” Mariah says jokingly.
“Only if they’re at my neighbor’s house.”
“Again, thank you,” Mariah says more seriously.
“Well, you owe me, now. If my house catches fire, I expect you to come kick my door in.”
“You can count on it.”
“And get Chance out,” I plead.
