Page 23 of Love It or List It
Joe couldn’t.It didn’t fit.
Something thunked against the other side of the door.Probably Austin’s head.“So… back to those hinges.”
Joe tapped the screwdriver against the lock guts.There was a springthere, and that bit obviously attached to the doorknob, so….“This would’ve been easier if I were the one stuck in the bathroom, huh?”
Austin snorted.“Little bit.”The door shifted and the light changed; he must be looking through the hole again.“Hey… do you think you can fit a butter knife through there?”
The butter knife didn’t fit through the hole, but it did fit under the door, and a few seconds later Austin jammed the blade into the slot left by the handle and twisted.
The door opened.
“Freedom!”Austin said, mock jubilant, his hands raised in victory.
Joe yanked him out of the bathroom by the hand.“Move.I have to pee.”
By the time Gavin and Alex showed up, the dumpster was just under half full and Joe had worked up enough of a sweat to ditch his hoodie in Austin’s trailer.His work T-shirt stuck to his back.Austin had tied his flannel overshirt around his waist and the bandana back in his hair again.Joe was half tempted to offer him one of the dozens of hair ties he’d accumulated in his truck, some left there by Meg and Alex and Starling and some he’d bought to have on hand when they needed one.
He didn’t get the words out before the side door banged open.Damn kids were going to dent the plaster.Not that you’d be able to tell.
“Manners!”Joe hollered anyway.
“Child labor!”Gavin yelled back.
Austin snorted.
“You’re almost eighteen,” Joe pointed out.“Move, please.”Gavin was in the way of Joe and Austin getting the fuck-off heavy dresser from the front bedroom into the garage.
Alex held the door from the outside, because at some point Joe’s lessons on courtesy had stuck with them in a way they hadn’t with the other kids.
“Thank you, Alex.You’re my favorite.”
“Hey,” Gavin protested.
“Hay is for horses,” Joe and Alex chorused.
Austin tripped over the threshold.“Jesus Christ, youactual dad.”
Alex and Gavin stepped forward before the dresser could come to any harm, but Austin didn’t need help, even if his facial expression said he thought Joe did.
Joe only grinned at him.“If you think that’s bad, you should see the Father’s Day presents I get.”He steadied himself to take his first step down the porch stairs.“Now—lift with your legs.”
Chapter Six
EMPTYING ANDcleaning the remainder of the first floor—including the horrible kitchen cabinets and appliances—took until early afternoon.Joe sent the kids into town for pizza while he and Austin panted in the camp chairs they’d set up in the dining room.
“Septic guy confirmed for tomorrow?”Austin asked, wondering if he could get away with sneaking out to the trailer for a catnap before lunch.He’d cleared tomorrow’s appointments from the garage schedule.Frankly he was looking forward to spending the day in the trailer, possibly with the space heater cranked since the temperature was finally supposed to drop, and reading, hilariously, a couple decades’ worth ofPlayboyshort fiction.
“Yeah.”They both looked at the kitchen sink—housed in the only remaining cabinet, left in case the septic guy needed to inspect it to diagnose their issue.
“Fingers crossed.”
“Ripping up the floor next weekend?”
Austin waggled his hand back and forth.“Maybe.Could start sooner.”Especially since he had Monday off.“At least get a feeling for what we’re working with.I’m not an expert carpenter, though.”
“Eh,” Joe said, half smiling, “that’s okay.I’m pretty good with wood.”
“So your shirt says,” Austin said wryly.This one said I Like Big Birch.It had the logo for Joe’s company on the back.
