from launching a stream of expletives at whoever stood behind me, but didn’t stop the guttural groan growling up my throat.
First my face. Then my toe. Now my finger.
I was starting to believe the Monroe house was cursed.
“Oh my God. I am so sorry.” Fucking Penny Dreadful crouched beside me, genuine concern flashing in her eyes, and I officially knew the house was cursed. “Here. Let me see.” She reached for my finger, which I had clamped in my uninjured hand.
I jerked away and stood, pacing to outrun the pain. “Thanks, but the swelling just went down from our last interaction.”
Kennedy sucked in her lips. “I feel terrible. I really do.” Ignoring the wisdom of not approaching a wounded animal, she put a gentle hand on my arm.
A spark shot through me at her touch.
Assuming it was the feeling of evil entering my body, I yanked out of reach. “I don’t need a mother.”
“You might need a doctor.”
“Don’t need one of those, either. Charge me two hundred dollars to put on a bandage.” Releasing the grip on my finger, I assessed the damage as Kennedy murmured, “The man continues to have a point.”
“What did you just say?” Thrilled to have a target for my anger, I hit her with a death stare. “After causing me serious bodily harm for the second time, are you actually making fun of me?”
She huffed a sigh and mashed her lips into a grim line. “Never mind. Ignore me. Just a momentary lapse of judgement. Do you want me to take a look at your finger or not?”
“Not.”
“Suit yourself.” Kennedy stalked up the stairs, cursing as the third one shrieked under her weight. “Missed a spot,” she hissed, and I swore by the set of her jaw that she doubled down on her plan to talk Maxine into selling the house.
“I haven’t gotten to that one yet.”
“Whatever.” She shut the door behind her—it closed gloriously, might I add—and I lifted my middle finger, flinching as the nail throbbed in protest.
More determined than ever, I took my frustration out on that squeaky stair.
Wrenching away the rotten wood felt fucking magnificent.
Tossing it onto the pile proved every point I’d ever made.
Cutting the new step and fitting it into place was a triumph.
With every bang of the hammer, I imagined Kennedy flinching as she tried to talk over the racket. If I had any doubt I was an asshole—I didn’t, but let’s just say I did—the smile on my face settled things once and for all.
When I finished, I marched up and down the steps several times, bouncing on the third one, enjoying the solid silence, then slathered them with paint. Those damn stairs wouldn’t spend any time exposed to the elements. They’d squeak and squeal over my dead body.
An hour later, I wiped my brow and admired my work. The pristine white paint stood out like a beacon against the faded handrails and broken balustrade. I had supplies in my truck and the fire to keep going, but the front door whispered open and Kennedy and Maxine tumbled out in a cloud of giggles and conversation.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I held up my hands as the duo approached the still-wet steps.
Maxine glanced down and her face lit up. “Are my stairs quiet now, too?” She made a move to test the squeaker but I raced forward.
“They are, and the paint is still very much wet.” Relief sagged my shoulders as she gripped the handrail and stopped herself from stepping down. The thought of a footprint ruining my first day’s work after taking a hammer to the finger just about did me in. “I’m really sorry, but you might want to exit and enter through the back for the rest of the day.”
Maxine quirked her head. “I guess this means I forgot to show you the back door.”
I furrowed my brow. What delight waited for me back there? “I guess you did.”
She tossed Kennedy a grin over her shoulder. “Looks like we’re making a jump for it.”
Maxine was in great shape for her age. She took Judo. Stayed active. And yet, judging from the pictures I saw in the guesthouse, she was somewhere between sixty-five and seventy. Jumping off her porch seemed risky. “Let me help.” Bracing myself on the rail, I extended my hands as if reaching for a child. Fearlessly, Maxine jumped into my arms and I placed her safely on the ground.
Her grin grew even bigger as she waggled her eyebrows at Kennedy, who scoffed.