They worked in silence for a little bit with their natural division of labor and efficient coordination seeming to come without themthinking about it at all.
“I never thought I would be doing this at any point in my life,” she said at one point.
He was working on straightening up one of the shutters, and she was standing guard, to make sure that she didn’t see anyone coming.
He grunted. “Me either. My siblings would never believe that I’m here right now doing this.”
He had siblings. She tucked that information away without meaning to.
“That’s not your reputation?”
“Not in my family. Older siblings have a tendency to look down on the younger ones and think they’re immature, no matter how old you get, you know?”
“I guess I don’t really know. I’m an only child.” Her grandma had raised her for most of her life. Her mom had been in and out, rather unsteady, and her dad had been nonexistent.
“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s too bad.”
“Actually, I enjoyed it.” She looked at his shoulder. “I guess you don’t know what you’re missing when you don’t have siblings. And actually, the idea is a little…not fun. After all, you’d have to share everything for one thing.”
“Yeah, but you always have a playmate for anything.”
“Did your siblings always want to play when you did?” she asked, knowing that it was true in the classroom—even best friends didn’t get along all the time.
“No. Good point.” He sighed. “I just can’t imagine not having my siblings. But you’re right, you wouldn’t have to share, and sometimes you didn’t have playmates, even if you did have siblings, and they did take some of your parents’ attention away.”
“Yeah. There’s that. I got full attention from my grandma, and I really benefited from that, I think. I was always a little bit more mature than other kids my age, I think.” Except for her competition with Roland, but she didn’t want thoughts of Roland to ruin her time with her Secret Saint partner, so she shoved that aside. Everyone was entitled to a little bit of immaturity, right?
“I was probably less mature than other kids my age. Although, I don’t know. There definitely were lessons that I learned in a big family that other kids didn’t learn, so it probably balanced itself out.”
If those were lessons in how to be a handyman, he certainly had learned them well. He had the shutters fixed and straightened and reattached, and the gutters all fixed, along with replacing one section that had rotted out at the bottom.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. I’m so glad that you knew that they wouldn’t be home today. It irritated me every time I saw it. Not because it was an eyesore, but because I knew I could fix it, I just didn’t want to do it as myself, you know?”
“Being a Secret Saint kind of spoils you. You…enjoy doing kind things and just clutching the knowledge close to your chest without sharing it with anyone. At least I do.”
“I agree with you completely. I wouldn’t want to do anything with my name attached to it, although…somehow you get suckered into doing different things for the community anyway.”
She laughed, thinking about how she got suckered into volunteering to head the church play. That wasn’t so bad, but doing it with Roland… She didn’t even want to think about it.
“I know what you mean. Although, I suppose it’s probably good to do things where people can watch you too, because kids need role models, you know?”
“That’s true. Your nieces and nephews and children if you have any.”
She laughed. “I’m not married. And I don’t have any children.” Unless one counted the kids she had in the classroom, which she almost said, and then she clamped her mouth closed. She didn’t want him to figure out who she was, and if she said she had kids in the classroom, that would narrow it down to the teachers at the school. It would be pretty easy to figure out at that point, because there weren’t that many teachers who weren’t married and didn’t have any children.
That was a close one. Although, the more time she spent withhim, the less concerned she was about him knowing her identity. She…trusted him.
“All right, I think that’s pretty much it,” her partner said just a half an hour later.
She was a little disappointed that their time had come to an end, although she was getting tired again.
“I have a few ideas of what our next project could be.” He rattled off a few people who they could help. “Let’s think about it and meet tomorrow night at midnight to talk about it. Okay?”
She nodded, agreeing with him about several that he mentioned and then being surprised at another one. She’d have to check that one out. “That sounds good to me. I’ll see you tomorrow night at midnight.”
He nodded. “And if I hear anything about the Kowalskis’ reaction, I’ll be sure to let you know then.”
Wow. She wasn’t expecting that. “Thanks. It’s always so much fun to hear that it was really a blessing. If I hear anything, I’ll be sure to let you know too.” Since tomorrow, or actually today, was Saturday, she wouldn’t have as many contacts as she usually did at school, but she would still be taking her walk and possibly talking to people. She’d definitely keep an ear out, because it wasn’t just her that was benefiting anymore. It was actually even more fun to work with someone and share the fun and contentment and satisfaction of making people smile with them.
