the Sail Cloth with the Glacier White trim.
There was no way she wanted to be late for demo day. Joe had promised that she could use the chainsaw. Oh, and there would be pictures. She had been taking pictures every step of the way, even when she wasn’t allowed to be there. She would sneak into her own home at the end of the work day. If Joe knew, he hadn’t mentioned it. All that mattered was flipping through her phone and seeing the progress made her happy. She felt more comfortable with her decision. Grumbling a little, she dressed in jeans and a long sleeved thermal shirt and pulled on her sneakers. She pulled her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head, briefly considered make up, then scoffed at the idea of wearing lip gloss while wielding power tools and headed out the door.
Keely tried to stop her to talk when she hit the entrance, but she simply shook her head as she rushed to explain. “I can’t be late today and I overslept,” she explained as she rushed to the door.
“I know,” Keely said with a laugh as she blocked the door. She held out a brown paper bag. “Here’s breakfast and lunch. And I may have thrown in a snack or two. This is for you, not Joe. Now have a nice day!” With that, she shoved the bag into Marti’s hand and opened the door to send her on her way.
As Marti drove over to her house, she marveled at how easy it had been to feel loved and wanted in this town. Keely had become her family. They dined together most nights. It was nice to have somebody looking out for her, even if the advice wasn’t always wanted…like Laurel’s. She had very nearly forgotten about that.
Then she pulled up in her driveway and saw Joe standing there with the chainsaw, getting ready to start without her. She slammed the vehicle into park and hopped out angrily. “You couldn’t wait for me? I told you I’d be here!” She stomped across the yard.
Joe looked up at her and smiled. “Guess someone didn’t have her hot chocolate this morning.”
And his response completely threw her. She stopped in her tracks, unsure of what to say after that. Just when she was in the mood for a good fight he wasn’t biting. “I want to do it,” she said quietly. “This porch needs to be taught a lesson. And I’m just the chick to do it.”
He studied her. She was all fired up this morning. And he was rather concerned about her using the chainsaw. He had secretly hoped that she would be good and late and he could have that part done before she arrived. Instead, despite a call to Keely asking her to stall Marti, she was here and a little too eager to handle the chainsaw for his liking.
“Listen, baby,” he began sweetly, “you have trouble walking. I don’t know if you should do this part. Just let me get it started. You can do…anything else.”
“I want to run the chainsaw.” She had her hands on her hips and a defiant look on her face as her chin jutted out. “And don’t call me baby.”
“It’s heavy and smelly and dangerous.” He set the chainsaw down in between his legs and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I WANT TO RUN THE CHAINSAW.” She spoke angrily through gritted teeth.
Exasperated, he made an impulse decision. “Fine, if you can start it, you can use it.” And with that, he backed up, bowed, and gestured for her to give it a try.
“Thank you.” Her voice was crisp. She walked over confidently and bent to pick it up.
He watched as she hefted it up into her arms. Her face suggested it was heavier than she anticipated. She yanked on the cord. Nothing happened. It didn’t even sputter. She yanked again. Still nothing. He could hear her muttering words that he never would have imagined could come from her mouth. “Want me to get that for you?” He asked smoothly.
“No. I can do this.” She struggled more. He could tell the chainsaw was starting to feel heavy the way she was shifting it from one arm to another. It could have been disastrous.
“We are on a time schedule here. Didn’t you just warn me that you wanted to move in next week, even though we wouldn’t be done with everything? Come on. Let me do this.” And