Page 19 of Up In Smoke

Her father had been the one the locals looked to and making her own decisions had been foreign to her then. When she was stressed, it came back to her to take what was handed and say thank you. So Luke pressing her for a choice had felt a little odd, but she’d pulled herself together and chosen.

By noon, everyone had shown up. Ronan had volunteered the Kelly family work truck. The Kellys—as she’d learned from Luke—often did their own construction work. Ivy had even heard rumors that Patrick and the boys had built the house that Patrick and Mrs. Kelly now lived in.

From the way things had gone today, she could believe it. A-shift was off, and they were all at her house for at least part of the time. Some of B shift had shown up, too. Leslie and Ann were both here, and Jo had been waiting on the front step when Ivy and Luke returned with the truck bed full of pieces.

Ivy dove in and put pieces into place. Her new work gloves were getting broken in and the feeling of satisfaction replaced the panic of the day before.

When several of the guys said things like, “Hey! You know how to use a nail gun.” It was Luke who laughed and repeated, “Apparently, Ivy here can raise a barn.”

She’d simultaneously stiffened and tried to laugh it off. That was not the information she'd wanted to spread in Redemption. She shouldn’t have told him.

But the guys had laughed, and it passed without becoming a nose-first dive into her past. During the day, others had come and gone as they were able. Now, as the sun was starting to set, the team put the last piece into place.

She even had new gutters and drains. They’d insisted on replacing some of the eaves, too. Ivy had to fight the urge to just cry with relief for most of the day. She kept her feelings at bay by telling very heart-felt thank yous and making sure her hands were never idle.

Now, her home was safe, even if the snow came tonight. Even if it came as cold, wet sleet, her house would be protected and she’d been saved from further damage and more hassles and money.

She still had her bedroom, aired out, sheets washed, and put back in place. Her entire closet still had to be washed, but she had a place to sleep and she’d already turned the heat back on.

Jo stepped up next to her and nudged Ivy in the side with her elbow. “The way you're looking at this place, I can see you’re thinking about staying here tonight.”

Ivy laughed. “I was.”

“But you don't have a fridge,” Jo told her, still looking at the house.

“I know. And I think it's going to be a bit before I can save enough to order one.” It didn’t matter. Her home was livable again. Not great, not what it had been, but livable.

“Ah, that would suck—living here without a fridge. So I guess you’re lucky, that that’s not going to be the case.” Jo grinned oddly as she turned and looked down the street.

Ivy frowned as Jo spotted something and then jumped up and down and waved her hands to get the truck’s attention. Jo was even newer to town than Ivy and she hadn't quite yet learned that everyone knew where everything was and where everyone lived. She didn't need to wave down whoever was coming.

Patrick Kelly pulled up in the same truck they'd used that morning. Only, this time, a huge hunk of silver was strapped into the bed. Clearly a refrigerator, it stood upright like a monolith, old orange tie downs anchored it in every direction, to keep it from tipping.

Jo frowned as Patrick rolled down the window to talk to her. “Seems like you could have laid it down and made it travel better.”

But Patrick laughed and it was Ivy who explained, “You don't want to lay a fridge down, not for any amount of time. It might not work when you put it back upright.”

Jo turned and looked at her, wiggling her fingers as if to mock her knowledge. “It’s a good thing both of you know that!”

Luke, on her other side, turned and looked a little surprised. Ivy shrugged at both of them. She had raised a lot of barns, she'd helped build more than one home, and she knew a thing or two about appliances. She'd been raised to repair instead of replace. As Leo Evans was fond of trying to get them all into more sustainable living, she’d always been happy to be able to say that she wasn't throwing things in the landfill.

She now walked the few feet to where Patrick was hopping out. “What is this, Jo? Patrick?”

The older firefighter, occasional Captain, and clear leader, turned and looked at her and said, “This here is what's known as a refrigerator, young lady.”

Jo snickered and Ivy rolled her eyes. “Did you buy me a fridge, Jo?”

“I did!”

“Jo, I can't take a gift like—”

“Shut up, Ivy.”

Everyone around her laughed as Jo turned around and made a snapping, shut-up motion with her fingers. “It's a gift and you will take it. It's not brand new, it's used, so you can get off your little high horse about the money.”

Patrick turned to Ivy and bowed. “We sold it to Jo on the cheap. It’s been in our garage since Ronan and … since Ronan remodeled his place.”

Ivy understood, this was a family piece. It had belonged to Ronan and Soirse—the name Patrick hadn’t been able to say. She’d heard that Ronan gutted the house in the year after Siorse and his son Paddy had died. The family must have felt unable to dispose of it, but felt she was a good home for it.

---