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ASHER

When the early-morning rays found their way into Sunny’s room, Asher slowly sat up and stretched. His muscles were a little tight from last night’s rendezvous, and he thought Sunny might have been feeling even worse. He gently tossed back the covers and got out of bed with a stretch.

It was almost seven. Abe would be there soon to get started on the roof, but he wanted Sunny to get as much sleep as possible. On the way to the kitchen, he tried to avoid all the creaky spots so Sunny would stay asleep. He brought her back a muffin from the mountain and a glass of water along with ibuprofen and left a note.

Hey, Sunshine,

I thought you could use this. I’m probably up on the roof already. I hope you slept well.

Asher

He set them quietly on her bedside table and stopped to watch her sleep. The night before was magical, and he hoped they could do that again next month and maybe the month after that.

Abe’s roaring truck coming down the driveway pulled him from his sleeping beauty. By the time Asher made it out onto the porch, Abe was already climbing out of his truck on the way back to start unloading the supplies.

“Is Sunny up?” he asked.

Asher shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m sure she won’t sleep long, considering we’re replacing the roof right over her head.”

They unloaded the supplies and took them to the back of the house.

“Bridget’s back, so I think she’s coming today. Her, Julie, and Ruby will be over around lunchtime.”

Before long, they were on the roof shoveling off the old shingles into the trash can.

“It’s a good thing it’s just this back section,” said Abe before dumping the last shingle. “We would have had to get help.”

“Hey,” a sunny voice called from the ground.

“Hey, Sunshine!”

“Sorry if we woke you up,” Abe said.

“Please, you’re fixing my roof. Wake me up!”

“If I toss down this rope, will you tie it around the roof paper?”

“Oh yeah,” Sunny said as she sat her cup of coffee down and walked to the supplies.

Asher couldn’t help but notice how gingerly she was walking.

“How are you feeling?”

“Just fine,” she said with a big grin as she tied the rope around the package.

Abe looked between them with a discerning expression, but Asher couldn’t be bothered with that with Sunny around.

“I’m going to head back inside and fix some food. When are people coming over?”

“I think they’ll be over in the afternoon,” Abe said. “Bridget’s coming.”

“Good! I have about a million questions for her.”

Sunny made her way back in the house, limping as if in pain, the kind of pain after a hard workout.

Asher would be sure to check back in with her later to make sure she was feeling okay. Maybe he would need to give her another hot shower to relax those muscles.

Then maybe I can give her a massage, then?—