Page 11 of Trick or Treat with the Mountain Man
A lot of the sounds were like an old house settling in on its bones. But sometimes there would be adifferentkind of sound. Particularly the loud thumping that emanated from below a specific floorboard in the bedroom.
“I’ve been under the foundation. There are no mechanical parts or plumbing pipes under this part of the room.”
“What do you think it is?” she asked fearfully, still clutching onto me tightly.
“Honestly, I have no idea. It doesn’t happen all the time. I’ve gone weeks without hearing it. It happened more when I first moved in.”
She inched out of my arms and gingerly pressed her shoe onto the floorboard where the sound had emanated from.
“It’s loose,” she exclaimed, like we were uncovering the world’s biggest mystery.
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to fix it. I just learned to walk around it.”
“Aren’t you even a little bit curious?”
“About what’s under my floorboards?”
She nodded rapidly.
The absurdity of the situation wasn’t lost on me. I was in my bedroom with a sexy woman dressed like a cat who wanted to tear my floor apart.
It might have been the whiskey talking because I said, “Fuck it. Let’s take the board up so you can see. It’s probably a family of mice or something.”
“There’s no way in hell that a mouse could be that loud.”
She probably had a point.
“Stay put,” I told her. Then I ambled down the hall with my cane, and right out the back door, to the shed in the backyard where I kept my tools. I pulled out a crowbar and headed back in.
The party was still going on at the house on the other side of the hill, but at least the fireworks had let up. Now I just heard loud voices and laughter. It was better than the booming sounds. I could handle hearing people having a good time even though I preferred not to hear it.
I made my way back into the bedroom, holding the crowbar.
Ava had stayed put for me, and I slowly eased myself down onto the floor next to her. Getting up would be an act of embarrassment, but I’d deal with it.
“Should you do the honors, or should I? I’ve been planning on installing new floors at some point. Might as well be now,” I rumbled.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
“Yup.”
“Because…”
“Because what?”
“Because I can smell the whiskey on your breath. What if you wake up tomorrow wondering how you let a fool woman talk you into tearing your floor apart?”
I laughed again. “Well, that’ll probably happen whether I’m drunkorsober. I wouldn’t get behind the wheel of a car right now, but I’m not shitfaced. I just had two shots earlier tonight.”
She assessed me, then said, “Maybe you should do it. Since it’s your floor.”
Sitting this close to her felt nice.
There was a strange part of me that wanted to lean over and plant a kiss on her mouth. But that seemed… presumptive as hell.
Instead, I focused on the floor.
I should sweep more often.
