Where there was one hole, now there are two.”
Finn stared at the ground. “You’re not gonna get this done by next weekend, are you?” He wasn’t concerned, not now he’d brought along his secret weapon.
“Hey, it’s not like I have a choice. I’m not going to have you turn up, and find we’re not ready. I’ll get it done.”
Joel’s tone was earnest, but Finn knew that even with the best will in the world, it was unlikely he would have the remaining seven holes dug. He beckoned with his finger. “Come with me.” He led Joel through the side gate, and over to where his truck stood. “I’ve brought something to help speed up the process.”
Joel stared at the auger. “What is that? It looks like a giant drill.”
“That is an auger, and it will take both of us to get it to the back of the house, and use it.” Finn reached into his breast pocket and removed the orange ear protection. “You’ll need these. This thing is not quiet.” He handed a pair to Joel, who shoved them into his jeans pocket.
Between them, they lifted the auger out of the truck, and carried it through the gate to the yard. “How does it work?” Joel asked.
“It runs on gas,” Finn told him. “You’ll need gloves.”
“Carrie left a pair here for me.”
He laughed. “Your ex is awesome.” They laid the auger on the ground, where Finn had marked out the positions of the nine posts. “Okay. This baby will have those holes cut in no time, even with the wrong kind of dirt.”
His teasing tone sailed right over Joel’s head. He frowned. “This isn’t right.”
Finn rubbed the back of his neck. “What isn’t right?”
“This wasn’t part of the deal. You did all that work Saturday, now you’re here helping me again… I feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”
Finn couldn’t tell him what he was getting out of it—the chance to be around Joel some more. “Look, normally you’d have to pay to rent one of these. I have a buddy who was more than happy to loan me his. It’s faster than the manual type, but it needs two guys to use it.” He grinned. “Trust me on that. I was on a site once, where a new guy tried to use it on his own. He sort of leaned over the middle and fired it up. Only thing was, it spun him around like a top before it threw him off completely.”
“So how do we do this?”
Finn shrugged off his jacket and his shirt. “Let me go get my gloves from the truck. You grab the ones Carrie left.”
“Here.” Joel held out a hand for his outer layers. “I’ll put them inside.”
Finn handed them over, then headed for the truck. He picked up his gloves from where he’d tossed them onto the passenger seat. By the time he got back to the yard, Joel had removed his shirt, leaving just his tee. When Finn bit his lip, Joel gave him an adorably sheepish grin. “Well, seeing as you did it first… I kind of got the impression this is going to raise a sweat.”
“And then some.” Between them, they picked up the auger and stood, facing each other. Finn gripped the handles. “Okay. This is how it’s gonna be. I’ll fire it up, then we place the tip in the middle of where we want our hole to be. But once it bites, you have to keep the pressure on, pushing downward. If you don’t, it’ll just turn. And you’d better hope we don’t hit a brick or something.”
“Why? What happens then?”
Finn cackled. “It’ll throw us off in two different directions.” He met Joel’s gaze. “You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He grabbed hold of the handles.
“Wait. You got your ear protection?”
Joel shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out the orange plugs. “Hang on.” He placed them carefully into his ears, while Finn did the same.
Finn pulled the cord, and the hundred-decibel auger burst into life. He gave Joel a nod, and they placed the auger into its position. Joel kept his gaze locked on Finn’s arms, mimicking his movement, and the spinning drill went about six inches into the ground.
Joel grinned, and that look of pride warmed Finn’s heart. They repeated the action, pushing down hard on the handles, and with each pass the drill went lower, until Finn judged they’d gone deep enough. It took them about eight minutes to dig the