Page 3 of Hammered and Nailed
Mom sighed deeply. "Your dad went up north to open the cabin for the season. He said when he got there, there was a little tree that had fallen on the roof. He says it’s a mess. The roof has a hole in it and two windows are broken. There’s some water damage, too."
"Oh no." I sat up straighter. “That sounds awful.”
She sighed softly. “It’s not good, but it’s not catastrophic, thank goodness. Your dad says it would probably take a handyman a few weeks of work.”
"Well, at least there’s that. What can I do?"
"Do you think you can ask Mason to come take a look?"
"Yeah. Of course." Mason was my best friend of twenty years—though we’d known each other much longer than that—who worked as a general contractor in our small Virginia town. "I’ll call him as soon as I get a chance."
"Thanks, honey. Let me know what he says."
Immediately after we hung up, I swiped on Mason’s number and put the SUV into gear to head home.
"Hey, Emery," he said as he answered. "Bored of summer break already?"
I snorted. "Hardly. I just left the building."
"You headed up to the cabin or do you have time to hang out after I finish work tomorrow?"
I chuckled darkly. "That’s why I’m calling, actually. Mom called. A tree fell on the cabin."
"Yikes."
"Yeah. She was wondering if I could sweet-talk you into putting them on your schedule. It sounds like it’s going to need a few weeks of work."
Mason sighed. I could picture him rubbing the back of his neck or running his fingers through his dark, shaggy hair and frowning. "I mean, yeah, of course. But… It sounds like a big job."
"You don’t think you can fit the repairs into your schedule? Because it’s fine if not. We can call someone else.”
"No," he said in a hurry. "That’s not what I mean at all. You know I'll always make time for your parents. They’re practically my parents too at this point. I just meant that I can’t do it alone."
"What about Tommy?" I asked. Tommy was his right-hand man when it came to contract work.
Another sigh. “Tommy broke his ankle roller skating with his kids last weekend. He’s out of commission most of the summer.”
"Yikes,” I said, an echo of his reaction.
"Yeah."
We were both quiet for a moment. "I could help," I blurted.
Mason snorted. "You’re not exactly handy with a wrench."
“No… but I’m good at taking direction. You know I can follow a manual or instruction videos, so doing it with a real contractor in person is going to be way easier. It’ll bring down the cost some, too, won’t it?”
"Yeah, probably. It wouldn’t hurt to have you along. Most likely."
"Thanks," I deadpanned. Another quiet moment passed. "So what’s the plan?"
"Let’s head up there this weekend. It’ll give me a couple of days to assess the damage, make a plan, and get an estimate to your folks. We’ll go from there."
"Deal."
A few days later, I was packing for a long weekend at the cabin, including throwing a tent and tarp in my SUV, since it didn’t sound like the cabin would be livable. We’d need to be prepared to camp out if we couldn’t make the cabin work, at least partially. Mason was supposed to be at my place in a few minutes and I wanted to make sure I was as ready to go as possible. I hoped thepipes would be good, but just in case, I’d packed a case of water bottles to drink and cook with. Anything else we’d need water for would have to wait. The last thing I hauled to the car was a huge cooler full of food and snacks. There hadn’t been anyone at the cabin for months, besides my dad’s visit, and there was sure to be nothing edible in the fridge, if there was even power at the cabin.
No more than five minutes after I closed the trunk, Mason pulled into my driveway. "Hey, man," I greeted him as he climbed out of his truck.
