Page 118 of Story of My Life
“What are you doing up here?” I demanded, stepping in front of Hazel. It was one thing for me to see her like this—again—but it was a whole different ballgame for my brothers.
“You mean besides investigating all the crashing and shouting?” Gage asked.
“Your brother is a pain in my ass,” Hazel announced on a grumpy yawn.
“No arguments,” Levi said.
“Try growing up with him,” Gage added.
“Well, now that we’re all awake for the day, we can get to work,” I said, giving her a helpful push into her bedroom. “Mornin’, sunshine.”
She held up her middle finger and opened her mouth.
I beat her to the punch by slamming the door.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Gage said in a whisper.
“Come on, boys. Let’s go figure out a game plan,” I said, putting an arm around each of my brothers. “I’ll even spring for breakfast burritos.”
“Oh, goddammit, Bertha!” Hazel yelled. Her bedroom door opened, and a fat fuzzy raccoon waddled out. It paused in the middle of the hall and stared us down.
“What. The. Fuck?” Levi whispered.
The raccoon gave a half-hearted snarl before waddling into the bedroom across the hall.
“I needa picture of you doing something manly for my social media,” Hazel announced, appearing in the doorway of the space that was going to be her new closet. At least she was dressed now.
It was afternoon, and we’d had a productive day of demo and cleanup and walked the cabinet guys through the kitchen, laundry room, closet, and bathrooms. “Fuck. No,” I said succinctly.
“You owe me for that wake-up ambush this morning.”
“Excuse this Neanderthal, who was clearly raised by wolves,” Gage cut in. “What canIdo for you?”
Hazel’s eyes sparkled wickedly, and I realized I was strangling the handle of the push broom.
“I was wondering if I could take some action pictures of the demo. My readers would really get a kick out of seeing an attractive man swing a hammer, especially if it’s in my future walk-in closet,” she explained.
“My dad always said, ‘If the customer asks for something and you can do it, always say yes,’” Gage said with one of those charming grins that made me want to relieve him of his front teeth.
“Ourdad,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but clearly I was the only one listening,” Gage said. He turned back to Hazel. “So where do you want to do this? Shirt on or off?”
“Need help?” Levi asked, appearing in the hallway already shirtless and covered with sweat and plaster dust.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath.
Hazel gifted them her brightest smile. “You guys are the best!”
“No, they aren’t,” I insisted, but no one was listening to me. They were too busy taking art direction from Hazel.
I stomped out of the room and left them to it. It was the end of the day, so I checked on the cleanup downstairs and started hauling tools and materials out to my truck.
Gage and Levi, wearing shirts, joined me.
“Good day,” Gage said, staring back at the house. “Roofers are starting soon, and the framers will be here tomorrow. Plumbers and electricians Monday.”
“Progress,” I agreed.
