Page 27 of August
“Well, what couldyouhelp me with?”
“I can rebuild the kitchen cabinets for you. They look a little–”
“Old and ugly?” Elisa interjected.
Myra picked up the wood and said, “Yeah, that.”
“They do need work.”
“I can do that,” Myra said. “I can either replace them or refinish them for you and make them look brand-new. And you want that swing on the porch, right? Well, I can give you the guy who made mine, but I can technically make one for you, too. I’m not a carpenter, exactly, but I can make a porch swing.”
“I can’t afford any of that right now, so maybe we just finish the work you’re already doing and see about the rest later.”
“Sure,” Myra replied.
They walked inside after that, and she pointed at where Elisa could screw the wood in place. She knew doing the work herself would’ve been much faster, but watching Elisa learn something new, having her ask questions about when Myra used nails versus screws, and discovering that anchors helped keep things like heavy pictures in walls was worth taking a little longer. By the time they finished with the first big task of the night, though, it was after six, and Myrawashungry.
“I’m going to take a break, if that’s okay. I’ll head home and come back in about thirty.”
“You’re going home to eat dinner, aren’t you?” Elisa asked.
“Yeah. I have some leftover pizza from the other day.”
“Myra, please stay here. I’ll order us something. Maybe not pizza, since you had that this week. What do you want?”
“How aboutIorder us something? I can get us some good Southern barbecue.”
“Fine. If that’s what it takes to get you to stay, then yes. Whatever you’re getting is fine. I’m getting us both a beer.”
“Well, I don’t have to drive home, so that works.”
Myra pulled out her phone and ordered them dinner, which would take thirty-five minutes to get there.
“I’ll just keep working until it arrives,” she said when she was done putting her phone away.
“Come on,” Elisa said, handing Myra a now-open beer. “Let’s sit down and take a break. I could use one; you’ve been working me really hard tonight.”
Myra swallowed because her very attractive neighbor-and-possibly-friend definitely meant that comment about the work on the kitchen, but Myra took it to mean something else altogether, and it made her want thatsomethingright now.
“No more power tools tonight, then, if I’m drinking,” she said.
“You said that last night when we had wine at dinner. I know the rules now,” Elisa replied and took a drink of her beer from the dark-green bottle.
“Just testing your memory,” she lied and took a drink of the one Elisa handed her.
“Sit down in the living room and wait for dinner?”
“Or, we could sit on my porch swing. It’s a nice night,” Myra suggested.
“I could consider it research, seeing if I’m comfortable on the swing enough to buy one for my own porch,” Elisa said with a smile.
“Exactly,” Myra replied.
“Let’s go,” Elisa added and nodded for Myra to go first.
CHAPTER 10
“So, your divorce was easy? I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone describe their divorce as easy,” Elisa said.
