the other side so they could move it out of the way so it would dry while she worked on the rest of the pieces.
“You starting to get a little hungry?” Libby asked.
“Yeah, I am. You?” Travis answered.
“Yep. I could run inside and make us something real quick. If you don’t mind, I mean,” Libby offered.
“I will never mind you being in my home. I’m sorry that I made you feel that way in the past. It will never happen again. You are always welcome here. Okay?” Travis said, looking intently at her.
Libby nodded. “Okay,” she finally agreed.
“I was thinking as long as I’m cutting things out, I’ll do another arch and the bases. We could use them for Halloween,” he said.
“Yeah, that’d be great. And if I get a chance, I’ll paint them; if not, I’ll do it after Christmas.”
“Anything in particular you want, or just like these?” Travis asked.
“Umm, give me a second,” she said, grabbing her pencil and walking over to where his band saw was set up. “This one?” she asked, pointing to one of the leftover sheets of plywood.
“Yeah, that’ll do.” Travis said, watching as she leaned over the plywood and began to sketch, moving down the length of the wood as she went. A few minutes later she was done.
“Can you cut out this shape?” Libby asked.
Travis walked over to see what she’d drawn. “Wow. Just like that,” he said, “an autumn archway is created.”
“It’s not much. The arch will be the same shape as the Christmas one. But instead of candy canes decorating the supports, we’ll cut out a totem of pumpkins. We’ll decorate with some fall leaves painted on and actual leaves strung from the arch itself.”
“I couldn’t do it without you. You have a gift,” he said, moving the board she’d sketched on to the jig saw. “I’ll get the pumpkin totems cut out right now and out of the way so we can keep painting the Christmas stuff,” Travis said.
“Okay, I’ll get something together for lunch,” Libby said, brushing her hands on her jeans.
“See you in a bit,” Travis said, putting his safety goggles back on and firing up his saw.
Libby walked out of the workshop and over to the house. She let herself in and went to the kitchen to wash her hands. Then she opened the refrigerator and dug around a bit. “Ground beef,” she mumbled, taking it out, then she opened the vegetable crisper. She was pleasantly surprised to find bell peppers. She straightened up and looked around the kitchen, spotting what she was looking for in a wicker basket sitting on the counter top. “Hamburger steaks and fries smothered in brown gravy,” she said, grabbing the bell pepper from the refrigerator, then moving triumphantly to the basket holding the yellow onions. She pulled down a large frying pan from the hanging rack above the stove and set it on the burner, turning it on to get it heated. Then she started forming her hamburger steaks. She chopped up the bell pepper, and an onion, then cut the potatoes into large steak fries. She mixed the pepper and the onion and some seasonings into the meat before forming them into large, thick, hamburger steaks and placing them in the skillet to start cooking. Once there was enough beef fat in the skillet, she dropped the potatoes in the skillet with the hamburger steaks, and salted them, too. “Yum,” she said, standing over the pot watching the food cook. “I hope he likes it,” she said on a smile.
~~~
Riley and Lazarus took a right off the highway onto the drive that led to Riley’s house. Riley watched in his rear view as the truck driven by Roman turned off in the opposite direction and drove into the trailer park Riley’s Pride owned. They’d finished the gutters which were the final step of the roof they’d rebuilt for their customer. The customer had paid them, and Riley had cashed the check and paid each of his males before they ever left town and headed home. Now they were planning on some time off before the holidays unless someone called with a job that couldn’t wait. They’d put off two larger jobs until after the first of the new year, but if someone had an emergency, Riley would consider it.
“You want to get out here so you don’t have to walk so far back to the trailer park?” Riley asked Lazarus.
“Nope. I don’t mind the walk. Maybe by then both