Page 7

Chapter Seven

SUNNY

T he next morning, Sunny woke up to the unpleasant sensation of being wet. Then she opened her eyes, only for dripping water to hit her right between her brows. After jumping up out of bed, it took a moment for her mind to come into focus.

“No!” she shouted in vain at a new crack in the plaster of her ceiling. “I give! Uncle! What do I have to do to make things right?”

Just then, a loud crack of thunder accompanied a flash of lightning.

She blew out a breath. Nothing to do but start the day and change her wet clothes. Looked like she would be sleeping in her van again.

After clean, dry clothes and a cup of coffee, she was on her way into town to get a tarp and what she would need to patch the roof until she could fix that, too.

As she walked into Crawford’s Hardware, she saw a large familiar figure. Her heart sank as she watched Abe peruse the aisle with nails and screws. She couldn’t handle any more run-ins with the Blacks, so she quickly dodged Abe and set off down a different aisle.

Closing her eyes and steadying herself against a shelf, she pulled herself together. She could do this, just get the tarp and lumber she needed to temporarily patch up the roof.Simple as that, right?

She got everything she needed without running into Abe. He must have left , she thought with a sigh of relief as she made it up to the checkout.

“Did ya find everything ya needed?” asked Hank from behind the counter.

His thick accent and overalls made her smile. He always reminded him of her Pappaw.

“I think so,” she said with her signature smile.

“What ya got going on here, sweetheart?” he said, ringing up her tarp.

“There’s a hole in my roof.”

“Are ya staying at the old house? I’d reckon ya got a few holes in that there roof.”

“Yeah... I’m afraid I might, too. I know I’ll need a whole new roof, but right now, I’m just going to patch it.”

“Your roof is leaking?” a deep voice asked from behind her.

Abe was evaluating her with a stern expression.

“Oh... ummm. Yeah, but it’s okay,” she said, trying to push away the awkward anxiety.

“I’ll come take a look at it.”

“Abe, you don’t have to do that.”

Abe’s eyes softened, and a small smile upturned his lips. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen this expression on him before.

“I don’t mind. It would actually make me feel better knowing you weren’t up on the roof. You’d fall to your death in good weather, let alone after the rain we got last night. Please, let me come get this patch put on for you.”

“Okay.”

Her gaze lowered, and she stared at his big work boots in stark comparison to her sandals. As much as she hated to admit it, she did need his help.

“I’ll stop over this afternoon.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, finally meeting his eyes.

They both knew she was asking because of Asher.

“Yeah, Sunny, I’m sure. I’ll come take a look at it.”

“Thank you,” she said, pushing down the emotion clawing at her throat to get out.

But not here. Not in front of Abe.

When she made it home, she got cleaned up the mess and set to work on the dining room, the next room to make livable.

The first box she opened had crap, like old magazines, recipe clippings, but she also found her birth certificate.

The next was the same: an old Sears catalog, coupon circulars, and the deed to the house.

She blew a strand of hair out of her face as she took in all the boxes lining the back wall.

Great, it looks like these boxes were a hodgepodge of junk and important paperwork. Might as well get to it.

She took the scrunchie from her wrist and pulled her hair back.

It was time to turn up the music and get to work.

The next box was full of newspaper clippings.

Her dad was up to something. He’d gotten so secretive in his last couple of months.

If she had stayed, maybe she would know what he’d been up to before he died.

Maybe if she hadn’t been so wrapped up in her own grief, she could have helped.

Maybe part of making this right would be to pick up where he left off—but isn’t that also part of why she ran? She was in over her head.

A knock at the door pulled her out of the what-if spiral she had been on the brink of returning.

She put the lid on the box before brushing the dust from her pants and heading to the front door.

There, standing at the door with a toolbox, was Abe. A concerned expression colored his face.

“Did you know that step is broken?” he asked.

Sunny roughly chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, I know... there’s a lot broken here.”

Smiling and tapping the doorframe, he said, “We’ll get it fixed. It’s still got good bones.”

“Come in.”

As Abe crossed into her house, she could almost feel it sigh with relief. Like the cavalry had shown up. Maybe being able to feel your house was weird, but Sunny was used to weird.

“Wow. Are you staying here?” Abe said, taking in the surroundings and fiddling with the loose banister.

“Yeah—at least I was until last night,” she said, running her hand through her hair. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Sure, you got?—”

“Sweet tea?” they said in unison.

She laughed, and for the first time since returning, she felt a little like her old self.

“I do. Let’s go get a glass.”

He followed her into the kitchen, inspecting the house. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured him some tea.

“So... how long are you back?”

He asked it like it was small talk, but that was not a small-talk conversation for them.

“I’m back.”

“For good?” he asked, eyeing her.

“Yeah, I’m back. I’m ready to fix things.”

“Good,” he said before taking a long drink and setting the glass down with a soft clink. “Now, you said you have a leaky roof.”

“Yeah, over my bedroom.”

“I brought my ladder. I’ll get up there and put the tarp up, but I’m going to take a few measurements, and when we get a couple nice days in the forecast and get a more permanent fix.”

Abe finished his glass of tea and headed out to his truck.

Sunny watched him go. He wasn’t Asher, but he felt comfortable like Asher did.

The ladder clunked on the side of her house as Abe climbed her roof.

Like with most of this house, she was in a stop-the-bleeding situation. Next step was assessing damage to see how to best fix things, but it felt fixable.

She turned the music up and got back to work. The sound of Abe on her roof comforted her as she went through a few more boxes.

After a while, there was another knock on the door. She opened it to a big burly Abe who was wiping his brow with a bandana.

“I got the tarp secured. The roof on the main house looks good, but you need a new roof on the addition.”

“Okay,” said Sunny, trying not to panic.

She could not afford a new roof.

“We’ll get it fixed for you.”

“You don’t have to?—”

A big, calloused hand covered her own. “Sunny, stop. Let me help you.”

She smiled up at him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re happy you’re back.”

“Are you sure it’s ‘we,’ not just you?”

“Yeah, he’ll come around.”

“Thanks, Abe.” She wrapped her arms around this big bear of a man.

He gave her a short squeeze and pulled back. “Don’t mention it. I’ll see you around.” With a small nod, he headed back to his truck, carefully skipping the broken stair.

After loading the ladder and tools back into his truck, he set off down her drive. While there was still a hole in her roof, for the first time since she got back, she could breathe a little easier. Maybe she could actually pull this off.

Later that night, after going through boxes for hours, she made herself a turkey sandwich and a glass of tea.

The sun was starting to set, and she decided to eat on her porch.

As she sat on the swing, the rain started to gently fall, and she gave a thankful thought to Abe because she could sleep easy.

As the rain gently fell, she heard another rustle from her bush on the side of the forest line. She turned and, once again, saw something in the shadows.

“Hi,” she said.

The black wolf lowered its head.

“Asher...” She stood to go to him.

But as she did, he stepped back into the forest. He didn’t leave, though, which was a good sign.

She sat on her steps and blew out a breath. If this was how she could talk to him... she would talk.

“I know nothing I can say will ever make up for leaving the way I did.”

She carefully eyed the wolf staring right back at her.

“When I left,” she continued, “I just planned on getting out of the Hollow and clearing my head. I felt like I was suffocating here. After the accident, then having to watch it slowly drive my dad insane trying to figure it out, I just didn’t know what to do.

As I got farther away, it was like I could breathe.

The weight of all of it lifted. But I always planned on coming back. ”

The wolf gave a small huff.

“I did. I never thought I would be gone longer than a few days... but days turned to months, and months turned to years. The longer I stayed away, the harder it felt to return.”

The rain had stopped, and the sun was low, giving over to the eerie glow of twilight as she poured her heart out to a wolf.

“I was just driving, trying to outrun my past here. I ended up in New Mexico for a while. I was in LA for a while. I worked odd jobs and slept in my van... but I never settled anywhere. I always knew I wanted to come back... Come back to you,” she said, tears pooling in her eyes.

“I never meant to hurt you, Asher. I hate so much that I did. I was so selfish. I’m so sorry, and I hope you can forgive me.

” She swiped the tears away. “Even if you don’t forgive me, which I understand, I’m here.

I’m going to fix this if you’ll let me.”

She closed her eyes and took a breath. A cold, wet nose found her hand, nudging it. When she opened her eyes, a big black wolf was by her side. Tears streamed down her face as she scratched him behind the ears.

“Please, say I can fix this.”

The wolf licked her tear-stained face before turning and walking back into the woods.

Sunny sat there, taking in what had just happened.

While she knew the wolf was easier to win over than Asher, it was a start.

Between Abe and the wolf, she felt like she had stopped the hemorrhaging.

It was time to assess the damage, roll up her sleeves, and set everything straight.

The belief she could actually do it settled over her.

She wasn’t there yet, and there was still a lot of work to do, but she could do it.

As the wind blew, it carried a song with it. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was playing again.

Standing, she realized it was, once again, coming from her living room. She turned it off and decided to get back to the wall of boxes. She’d made it through three stacks that day so far, only one more to go.