AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He took his time collecting his shit, then walked over to Josie. “It was very nice meeting you.”
“You, too, Porter. Thanks so much for helping out. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime. I mean that. You need a hand with anything around here, just give a holler. In fact, let me give you my number in case you want to reach me.”
“Oh. Okay.” Josie walked into the kitchen, grabbed her phone from the table, and handed it to Porter. He grinned as he typed in his number, then used her phone to call his. “Now I have your number, too.”
“Thanks again.”
“Maybe I’ll stop by with that easel sometime soon.”
She smiled politely, but didn’t encourage him. Mynotemployee of the month tipped his baseball hat to me on his way out. “Have a good one, boss.”
“Yep. Later.”
Once he was gone, I went about spackling the living room.
“What can I do?” Josie said.
“Nothing. This is the last of it for today.”
She looked around the room. “I can’t believe you got all this done in only a few hours. This would’ve taken me weeks, at least.”
“It’s what I do.”
She sat on the ladder. “How did you go from hockey to contractor?”
“Blew out my knee. Wasn’t even thirty yet. Needed something to do with the rest of my life.”
“Oh, that’s terrible. Was it during a game?”
I looked away. “Nope.”
Josie was quiet for a minute. I could tell she was waiting for me to say more. “How did you learn to do everything?” She grinned. “I bet it was YouTube videos, right?”
I chuckled. “My father was a contractor. I worked for him from the time I was twelve. He wanted me to have a backup plan in case things didn’t work out with hockey. I was convinced I was going to be a superstar, so I thought it was unnecessary. Turned out he was right after all.”
“I wanted to be a ballerina when I was little.”
“Oh yeah? You’re a good dancer then?”
“No. I’m terrible.” She laughed. “I have no idea why I just told you that.”
An energetic knock on the old metal screen door made Josie jump. I hadn’t heard anyone come up the driveway either.
“Is this Forty-Six Rosewood?”
“Yes?”
“I have a dumpster delivery. You want it in the driveway?”
“Oh. Yes, I’m sorry. Let me move my car for you.”
Josie grabbed her keys and went outside. When she came back, the sound of a backup alarm chirped as the delivery truck positioned a small dumpster up the driveway in reverse.
“What’s the dumpster for?” I asked.
She motioned to the newspaper piles in the kitchen. “The rest of this. There’s also a full room of magazines on the second floor. I misjudged how much junk was in here when I filled the first one I ordered last week. The VHS tapes from the living room filled almost three quarters of it.”
