Page 92 of Axe Backwards
“I should have said no.”
“Nope.” He squeezed my side. “You did the right thing.”
“Henri made some modifications to the plans you found online. I’d be shocked if it’s not a luxury chicken penthouse when he’s done.”
“It’s a big ask…” I hedged.
My friends were giving up an entire weekend to help me.
“Ignore her,” Noah said. “Her first instinct is always to people-please. But we still love her.”
My stomach did a weird swoop in response to that word.Love. He hadn’t meant it in a deep, heartfelt way, but I couldn’t help but read more into it. Especially since we hadn’t defined our current situation.
I shook off the thought and focused on the chickens. On what having them here could mean for the food pantry. I started to do the mental math.
“Guys,” I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet. My mood had done a total one-eighty in a matter of seconds. “Each of these chickens will lay four to five eggs per week. That means I’m looking at adding more than one hundred and fifty to what I can give out every single week.”
Noah beamed at me as I did my chicken math.
Henri waved Alice over, but before she went, she poked Noah in the chest. “We haven’t had a chance to get to know each other, but I’ve got this one’s back.” She thumbed over at me. “She’s incredible. Don’t fuck it up.”
As she walked away, Noah broke into a grin. “She’s awesome.”
I swatted at his chest. “Get back to work.”
We spent the morning measuring, cutting, laying out the foundation, and planning.
Mid-morning, a giant truck rolled up, and Henri’s sister and Finn’s wife, Adele, hopped out.
“Someone order a backhoe?” she asked, her blond ponytail swishing.
“Just in time.” Alice waved at a patch of grass. “We’ve taped off the area.”
A backhoe? For what? With a frown, I looked between Henri and Alice.
“We’ve got to bury wire mesh,” Henri explained. “So predators can’t burrow in.”
Burrow? Shit. I hadn’t even considered that. God, I was already a terrible chicken owner.
“Henri did all the research when he built my coop.” Alice beamed at him. “Though we only have six. Plus you know Adele.That girl has never met a piece of heavy machinery she didn’t want to play with.”
The woman herself strode over, wearing a bright smile. Goldie rushed toward her. Tucker followed, moving quicker than any thirteen-year-old boy typically would, but according to Alice, he was Adele’s biggest fan. She often let him come into her shop and work on equipment with her.
Within minutes, she was in the cab and digging while Henri directed her and Goldie cheered.
“You’ve got quite a team,” Noah said, surveying them.
I bit my lip, suddenly overcome with emotion. These people, my friends, were giving up their weekend to help me. That thought hit me hard. For so long, I had felt alone. I assumed it would always be that way. That I’d be on my own.
But at this moment, I knew that wasn’t true. I just hadn’t found my people until moving back to Maine.
And for better or worse, the citizens of Lovewell were my people.
Henri, Noah, and Tucker stretched the wire and anchored it, then Adele covered it with a layer of dirt and drove over it in a zig-zag pattern to pack it down. I marveled at their efficiency.
Then the whole lot of us held the posts as Henri nailed the frame together. It was hard to hold still. I’d been dreaming of chickens for so long, and with every minute that passed, my excitement grew, making it hard to contain.
I was in charge of measuring and double-checking the plans as we went. Alice was surprisingly good with a hammer, and the kids were great at finding the right pieces of wood.
