Page 82 of More To Us

"Okay, I will. Bye."

A half hour later, I'm still cutting branches and have a lot more to cut.

Kira comes out of the house and stands at the base of the ladder. "How's it coming?"

"Slow. It might take me another hour or two. You can take my truck back to your place and pick me up later."

"I'd rather stay here. Harold's wife made us lunch. She sent me out here to get you."

"Tell her I'll just stay here and finish. I don't need lunch."

"Yes, you do. You said you were starving and she really wants you to come inside. She has the table set and everything. Her name is June. She's so sweet. She reminds me of my grandma. Harold's a little grumpy, but I think all old guys are. Anyway, get down here. We'll have lunch and then you can come back out and finish."

I climb down the ladder. "You sure you're okay with this? We'll probably be here the rest of the afternoon."

"I don't mind. They need the help." She looks back at the house. "If we hadn't stopped, Harold would probably be in the hospital right now. He passed out. That's why he fell off the ladder. His wife said his pills make him dizzy. So I don't care how long it takes. He's not getting up on that ladder again."

I take her face in my hands and kiss her. "You're awesome."

She pulls away. "Come on. Let's go."

We go inside the tiny one-level house. It has an old person smell and is cluttered with dog figurines. Beagles. Some are dressed in costumes. I don't see a dog anywhere but I'm guessing they used to have a beagle.

The old lady comes up to me. She's tiny. Less than five feet tall. "Aren't you a handsome young man?" She winks at me. "I bet you're hungry. Right this way."

We follow her into the eat-in kitchen. Harold's already sitting at the small square table, eating a sandwich.

"He couldn't wait," she says, motioning to Harold. "He had to take his pill and he has to take it with food."

"That's fine," Kira says.

We both sit at the table, our food already arranged on our plates. There's a sandwich, some potato salad, and a square of green gelatin. A small dessert plate is off to the side with a brownie on it and we each have a glass of milk.

Kira smiles at me, then picks up her milk and takes a sip.

"Go ahead," June says, encouraging me to eat.

"Thanks for lunch, but you didn't have to make us anything."

"Don't be silly. You saved my Harold from killing himself with that tree."

"I would've been fine," he barks from the end of the table, his mouth full of potato salad.

It's a struggle to eat the lunch. I hate mayonnaise, can't even stand the smell of it, and the sandwich is chicken salad made with a ton of mayonnaise. Same with the potato salad. And then the gelatin, another food I don't like. I almost gagged getting it down. But I ate everything on my plate and washed it down with the milk. At least the brownie was good.

"I should get back to work," I say as June takes my plate.

"So you do construction?" Harold asks. He hasn't said a word all through lunch. June did all the talking, mostly asking Kira about Michigan and her family.

"Yeah, I work for my dad," I tell him. "He owns Wheeler Construction and Renovation."

His brows pop up. "Wheeler, huh? I've heard of them. They do those historic buildings."

"We do some of those, but we also do residential work and office buildings."

He smiles. "Bet your father's real proud of you."

I shrug. "I think he is. I at least try to make him proud."

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