I stood there holding a glass of iced tea, trying not to smile.
He’d always been stubborn.
But he was the useful kind of stubborn.
The kind who showed up.
By noon, he had removed the rotten boards and installed a new section of railing.
His work boots sat beside the steps. Sawdust covered his jeans.
I brought him a turkey sandwich and lemonade.
He ate on the porch while we listened to somebody mowing a lawn down the road.
It felt surprisingly normal.
And that scared me a little bet .
After he finished, he started loading tools into his truck.
Then I remembered the kitchen sink.
It had been leaking for three days, and I’d been pretending the plastic bucket underneath was a permanent solution.
“Graham?”
He turned.
“Please tell me you know something about plumbing.”
He laughed.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Twenty minutes later, he was lying beneath my sink with a wrench between his teeth.
