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"Hungry?" she asked

"Always"

He was past the age to tell hiar Most of the time he policed himself, anyway

"Where do you think we should put the Christ things away

"Christmas tree?"

"Yeah" She watched him from the corners of her eyes "In front of the ? In the corner of the living rooht at him "It’s Christ to the living room, cocked his head to the side "In front of the "

S, she said, "Jason volunteered his truck to help us out on Wednesday"

"Stranded Car Guy?"

"Yeah"

He met her eyes, didn’t look away "He likes you"

"Maybe"

"He sent you chains"

Nothing screahtful Have you given ht to tae kwon do?" She ame He said he’d think about it

"We’ll see after Wednesday If the guy ends up being a jerk, I don’t want to take anything froive back the chains She needed theht, after she and Owen had lass balls for the tree they planned on putting up, Rachel tackled the door leading to the kitchen What she first thought was char now became a nuisance It took a ha rae proved ht of the solid wooden door She cautioned herself to wait until Oas hoainst it Like every ho in, she did it herself Even if it took three ti There was a sense of acco lived in a turnkey condoto fix And if so did break, she’d always called so caretaker for Owen, she needed to watch what she spent And thatout a crap-ton of YouTube how-to videos

Em had left Ohat money she had Social security kicked in a e account The money Rachel didn’t spend on repairs was for Owen’s future car, insurance, which she kneould be steep, and all the other crap that caer At this point she wasn’t struggling, but that was due in part to frugality

She knocked at the stubborn top hinge as years of rust sprinkled to the ground Fifteenlater, the pin pulled free To her surprise, the door didn’t fall to the ground It stayed in the sa to remove it

Rachel stepped down frorasped the door with both hands She shoved Nothingthe door in place The weight of the door kept the hinges fused She used the ha the door after every swing Giving up wasn’t an option With her luck the daive her a heart attack

Finally, an hour into what should have been a ten-ht it with the side of her head She ently set it aside Her forehead above her right eye screamed When she removed her hand, she expected to see blood but didn’t

In the downstairs bathroo for to have a black eye by Monday Her first impression on the owners of the co to look like she took a punch in a bar fight

She left the door where it lay, and filled a plastic bag with ice Maybe the cold would e The ice hurt, and her forehead already felt as if a skipping stone sat under the surface of her skin

"Know your limits, woman," she told herself Her intention was to take the heavy door to the basement, but she decided the trip down the old stairs would be pushing her luck

Ice in hand, she picked up her mess, except for the door, and ad and layers of paint that needed to be scraped free The kitchen cabinets on the other side of the wallcould they go? It would work sothe cabinets would probably result in stitches