Page 18 of Trophy
“I know. But I don’t have any.”
“I’ve got a spare pair. I’ll go get ’em.” He examined the little shovel she’d found in the shed. “I’ve got some other tools that might help too.”
Before she could tell him again she was fine on her own, he’d stridden back down her driveway and across the street.
He was dead set on helping her, and Allison told herself it was fine. It didn’t mean she was helpless or dependent. Rob was just being neighborly.
She did wish she looked a little more attractive, but she reminded herself that didn’t matter either.
She was still working on the same obstinate weed when he came back over with two pairs of thick gardening gloves, a pair of clippers, and a couple of other tools she didn’t recognize. Heshowed her how to use them, and she was delighted by how much easier it was to get up the big weeds.
They worked for about forty-five minutes, until both of the front beds were weeded. They only talked about the work they were doing, with Rob giving advice on how to keep the weeds from coming back like this. She was hot and exhausted when they were done, but she’d enjoyed working with him a lot more than she had the first forty minutes.
It was almost noon now, and the day had gotten a lot hotter. Rob was sweating even more than she was, and he kept raising the bottom of his T-shirt to wipe the perspiration off his face. Allison couldn’t help but see a tantalizing little trail of dark hair that led down beneath his low-riding waistband on his flat abdomen, although she immediately gave herself a mental lecture about looking.
“Do you want something to drink?” she asked as they took off their gloves, deciding it was only polite after he’d worked so hard on her yard.
“Sure. Thanks.”
It was only as they were going inside that Allison remembered Rob would see how empty her house still was, since she couldn’t get the rest of the furniture up from the basement.
Rob didn’t say anything as he accepted the water she offered him, but she could see him looking around. The kitchen connected to the dining room—which was empty except for a card table and two chairs—and off of that was a mostly empty living room.
He took a swig of water, turning his eyes back to her.
She waited for it, strangely nervous.
He finally said, “I thought you said you’d gotten the stuff from the basement.”
“I’d said I was fine and didn’t need you to help me.” She shouldn’t feel defensive but she did. She kept waiting for acondescending comment—like she’d always gotten from Arthur when she tried to do something he didn’t think she could do.
He lowered his eyebrows. “What’s still in the basement?”
“All kinds of stuff, but most of it I’m not bringing up. There’s a big ugly dining table and a monstrous china cabinet and a lot of stuff I just don’t need.”
“Is there a couch?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go haul it up, then.”
She stared at him. “You think you and I can do it?”
“Why not?” He looked bland, slightly curious, as if he couldn’t quite understand her.
She wasn’t at all confident in her ability to hold up half a couch, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “Okay. Let’s do it, then.”
They went down into the basement, and Rob looked around at the motley collection of furniture while Allison took the curtains and tablecloths off the couch so they could get at it. “So how are we going to do this?”
He showed her how to lift one side of the couch so she wouldn’t hurt her back, and then he went to get the other side. Allison was surprised how well she could carry it until they started going up the stairs.
Rob went first—and backward—but the strange angle and the need to watch where she was putting her feet made the task very difficult for Allison. More than once she almost lost it, and once she had to call out for Rob to stop so she could lower the couch to the stairs and catch her breath. He didn’t complain or patronize her, though—just occasionally gave her instructions about lifting it higher or turning it slightly. And finally they managed to get it up the stairs.
After that it was no trouble to carry the couch into the living room and set it against the long wall that faced the windows.Allison was so breathless and exhausted that she collapsed onto the couch, wheezing. “I can’t believe I did that.”
Rob laughed, wiping his face. His eyes were softer than usual as they rested on her. “You’re a real trooper.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that comment but decided it had to be a compliment. She remained sprawled out, trying to recover, while Rob went back down to the basement.
