Page 5 of Deacon

“If you need me, holler.” She left them in the office and went to see what Cowboy needed. She’d spent more time showing them where things went and answering questions than unpacking, but things were going swiftly despite that.

“What do you need?” she asked as she stepped into the bedroom where he and Deke had carried the pieces to her bed frame.

“Where do you want this? I want to put it together in place, so we don’t need to move it later.”

She stood for a moment, thinking about the room and the furniture she planned to put in it.

“There. Center it under the window.”

He looked at the window then back at her.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. I’ll put the bed there, then the dresser here.” She motioned to each spot. “And a chair there in the corner so I can read in comfort.” She couldn’t help glancing over to see how Deke was taking the exchange. He wore an amused smile. He’d probably spent enough time around her and Cowboy to know they bickered like kids half the time.

Cowboy gave her a long blink then shook his head.

“As long as you’re sure. I don’t want to move it a dozen times so you can look at it all the different places.”

“I’m not Mom. It drove me nuts when she did that. I was like, dude, just make up your mind!” She threw her hands in the air. “No, I know where I want it. The bed under the window, the dresser here, chair in that corner.”

“Ma’am!” another strange voice called.

“I’m going to go see who needs me for what now.”

“Okay. If we need you, we’ll call.”

Lisa hadn’t imagined being so busy, even if she wasn’t lifting a thing, she’d planned to help them get stuff put where she needed it and unpacking boxes while they did that, but found herself spending more time telling different people where to put things and going from one room to another than anything else. Not that she was going to complain.

The group of men Cowboy had brought in had gotten more done than she likely would have in more than a week. Still, she knew she would fall into bed exhausted tonight. At least it would be her own bed with her own sheets and pillow. She just wished she could figure out a way to get Deke to join her there.

Later that evening, she sat in her nicely arranged living room and marveled at how quickly her brother’s friends had gotten everything done. Sure, she still had a bunch of boxes to unpack and some of the nicer things like her lamps and photos hadn’t been put out yet but for a single day’s work, this was amazing.

An odd tapping noise drew her attention. Her heart seemed to jump into her throat before she had a chance to think about it.

After a moment she realized it was probably a branch knocking against a window and went looking. At the very least, knowing where it was coming from would set her mind at ease. Tomorrow, when the sun was up and there was plenty of daylight, she could figure out how to make the noise stop.

It took several minutes, and Lisa jumped several times as the sound stopped then started again before she found the source. Sure enough, a branch was hitting the bathroom window. She’d take care of it tomorrow, when the sun was up, and she could see what she was doing.

Exhausted from the hunt and moving all day, she took a shower and went to bed. Lying in the dark, she once more wished she had someone there with her. Deke was her preference, but at the moment, she’d take almost anyone to hold and reassure her she wasn’t jumping at shadows. She was still wondering what Deke was doing as she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, she had to drag herself out of bed and to work. Lisa loved her job, both dealing with patrons and the more mundane elements like shelving books. She had always loved libraries. That was what had sent her to volunteering as a teen, then eventually getting a paying job in one, then to major in library science when she’d gone to school.

Today though, it took everything in her not to call in. Not only would it look bad being her first week, but she couldn’t admit defeat. And that’s what calling in would be.

She powered through and by the end of the day, she was glad she had. She’d sat in on the children’s reading hour, unable to resist the shining faces of the kids. She’d also helped an elderly patron figure out how to use the ereader they’d been gifted by their grand kids. She knew better than to ask but guessed his age somewhere north of eighty. The joy on his face as she showed him how to download old westerns and how to make the print large enough so he could read it, had reminded her why she loved the job so much.

By the time she left at the end of the day, her whole body hurt, but she hoped it would help her sleep tonight.

She hadn’t gotten out to clip that branch this morning, so when she got home from work, she changed clothes and went out to get it done. But as she stood under the bathroom window, staring up at the tree, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to do this. Not on her own.

With a sigh, she pulled out her phone and dialed her brother.

“Need another house full of furniture moved?” he asked as he answered the phone.

“No, thank you very much. I need a branch cut. I tried to do it myself, but it’s about ten inches too high for me reach. Even with my little stool I won’t be able to get to it.”

She heard his sigh echo across the line.

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