A Roof Over Their Heads

by M. K. Stelmack

  Mel flattened his empty donut box and walked to them with short, concentrated old-man steps. He was always stupidly careful when he didn’t have his harness on. He ran the ropes through his hands, checking for any fraying. Every new job he tested them, as if they’d unloop themselves from one site to the next or shred on the way over. Drove Seth nuts.

  Mel pulled a section of rope taut and squatted. “You know, I should take her over a Welcome Wagon basket. It comes with coupons and brochures and whatnot. Her being a widow and all.”

  Ben shrugged on his harness. “This your idea of giving a woman a gift?”

  “Just because I’m nice to a woman doesn’t mean I want to date her.”

  That’s what Mel said, but not what he felt. More than once Seth had watched Mel reach out to a woman and be shot down. If he were Mel, he’d have given up long ago. “She’s not looking to date,” he said.

  “How do you know? Have you asked her?” Mel said.

  No point. She still loved her dead husband. All the while she told him about Matt, she’d rubbed the base of her ring finger with her left thumb as if her wedding band was still there. He’d never loved a woman as much as she loved Richard. His relationships were short, friendly arrangements, not unlike his jobs.

  Hooking up with Alexi would be a whole lot messier. He wasn’t even sure how she could go out on a date, what with all the kids to find a sitter for. If she would even leave her kids to go out. His mind strayed to her in a short blue dress to match her eyes and to show off her legs, out alone with him, maybe down by the lake, each of them the center of each other’s world for just a bit...

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “She might, then,” Mel said.

  Irritation flared inside Seth. “She doesn’t need you harassing her.”

  “I wouldn’t harass. I’d help.”

  “I’m already doing that,” Seth snapped. “I don’t need you interfering.”

  Mel’s eyes widened and he looked over at Ben. Seth couldn’t see what Ben communicated, but Mel suddenly bent his head to his rope testing and nothing but prepping the site was done for the next two hours when down came heavy rain with hail mixed in. The perfect reason to see Alexi.

  Matt opened the door a split second after his first knock. “Hi, Seth Greene!”

  One look at the boy’s excited face and Seth felt as if a chunk of wood was wedged in his throat. Playing it cool around Matt was going to be harder than he thought. But absolutely necessary. No way did he want to give the caseworker the slightest reason to dig into his history.

  He swallowed hard. “Hey.”

  “I got everything set up in my room to finish the baseboards.”

  Before the boy had gone to bed last night, Seth had vaguely agreed to let him help with reinstalling the baseboards, and then promptly dropped it from his mind. Bad move. He glanced over at Alexi who, from her frown, had no idea what was going on.

  “How about,” she said, “you help me hang cabinet doors in the kitchen?”

  “We can do that later after Seth Greene is finished with the baseboards,” Matt argued. “I know how to fill in the nail holes. Otherwise he has to do it and that isn’t making efficient use of his time.”

  Alexi darted Seth a pleading look, her wild hair looking especially electrified today. Caught between their two sets of puppy eyes, he chose the blue pair. “I’ll get the baseboards on, Matt,” Seth said. “You help your mom. There’s plenty to do. You can always fill the holes after I leave.”

  The boy’s face fell, and Seth felt himself sink, too. He handed Matt a plastic bag. “Here. For your mom.”

  Matt pulled out a pair of knee pads and beamed as if it were a bag of money. “Mom! Look. A gift.”

  “Not exactly,” Seth clarified. “Usually I do better than knee pads.”

  “You’ve only known her for a couple of weeks,” Matt said, “so this is an appropriate gift.” It sounded as if the boy expected the gifts to keep rolling in, bigger and better.

  Alexi must’ve picked up on the same assumption because she quickly said, “We’ll certainly make use of them. Thank you.” Her eyes widened pointedly at him, as she tilted her head down the hallway.

  Time for him to step into his role as kid-hater handyman.

  “Yep,” he said. “I better get at it.”

  During the frequent pauses when his power tools fell quiet, he tuned in to the sounds of Alexi and her kids. She and Matt had settled on extracting or pounding flat the exposed nails in the living room. Based on the commentary from the boys, Amy was playing minigolf, while Bryn played a mock version of Minecraft on the disconnected computer. Years and years ago when his mom and dad talked in the same living room, their low conversation drifted like background music into his room as he fell asleep.

  The sounds coming down the hallway today put him in the same state of mind. Not that he was about to fall asleep. Not that they were his family. It was just that...well...he liked this family, despite them being an odd bunch. Connie, for the first time in a long while, had made a good decision renting to them.

  Seth was driving in the last nail when the doorbell rang. He didn’t pay much attention beyond registering Alexi’s footsteps on the stairs. Then the visitor replied back to Alexi’s hello.

  “Good day. I’m Mel. Seth’s brother. Did he tell you I’m with the Welcome Wagon? Also, I brought donuts for you all. You like donuts, don’t you?”

  * * *

  ALEXI BLINKED AT the huge smorgasbord Mel was displaying. “Oh, wow. Thank you. I...uh...”

  Beside her, Matt was already doing the arithmetic. “We could each have at least three. But there’s also Seth Greene.”

  Bryn piped up before she could stop him. “Are there any gluten-free ones?”

  “No, there aren’t,” Alexi cut in. “But I can get you some later.”

  “You mean he can’t have these?” Mel said.

  Bryn sighed at the lineup of plump doughnuts. “I have sensitivities.”

  “Oh,” Mel said. He looked as crestfallen as Bryn, and Alexi immediately liked Seth’s older brother. Not that she could see much family resemblance. Seth was taller and more muscled, and—well—better looking. Though from the expression on his face as he appeared beside Bryn and Amy at the top of the stairs, not in better humor.

  “Mel, what are you doing here?”

  “Showing a little hospitality, is all.”

  “He brought these,” Amy said. Mel held the box out to her and she took a sprinkled one and quickly bit it before Alexi could say no. Not that she planned to. No way would she deny the kids a treat. Or ruin it for Mel, who shifted the box to Matt. “My brother’s been telling me all about you,” Mel said.

  “No,” Seth said, “I haven’t.”

  Mel said, “It’s just an expression.”

  Seth spoke through gritted teeth, “You come to help out?”

  It was Mel’s turn to look peeved. “I first gotta get the boy some gluten-free donuts.”

  “Dairy-free, too,” Bryn specified. “They’re at Sobeys. In the freezer. They come in cinnamon sugar or chocolate. I prefer the chocolate. I’ll show you. Let’s go.”

  Bryn hustled down the stairs and stepped into his rubber boots, as if it was settled. Alexi sucked in her breath. How to explain to Bryn why this wasn’t a good idea in a way that wouldn’t insult Mel?

  Amy stepped in. “Bryn, you can’t go with him. He’s a stranger. He won’t know what to do if you freak out.”

  Thanks, Amy, Alexi thought, for doing my dirty work.

  “No, he isn’t,” said Bryn. “Why would I freak out when I’m getting donuts?”

  “I don’t freak out, either,” Mel weighed in. “But I agree with Amy. You shouldn’t ride with strangers.”

  Amy pointed at Mel. “Wait a minute. How do you know my name?”

  “Seth tol
d me.”

  Alexi could well imagine what Seth said. She was a strung-out mom who lost one of her kids the first day here, took them camping in a storm, rationed juice boxes and relied on him, a stranger, for running water.

  “How about,” she suggested, “we all go? A little trip. Mel can come with us and Seth can stay here.”

  “You mean I stay here by myself and do the work?” Seth said. If Alexi didn’t know better, he sounded downright sulky.

  “Yep,” Mel said.

  “What about Callie?” Matt offered. “It’d be bad if she woke up and there was only him here. I should stay, too.”

  True. Callie hadn’t even allowed Richard to touch her. Someone had to stay behind. But leaving Seth with Matt—alone—was not part of the plan, either. What was she thinking? Now she’d have to cancel the trip, and Bryn would make her pay.

  Seth frowned at her and then gusted out his breath. “Amy stays, Matt goes. Matt, you deserve a break. It’s Amy’s turn to pull her weight around here.”

  Good grief, her girl was only six. How much weight could she pull? Then again, he did have a point.

  “Yes!” Amy pumped her fist in the air, took Seth’s hand and made a face at Matt. Ah. A competition among the kids for Seth’s attention. Lovely.

  Alexi sighed and slipped her phone back into her pocket, only then realizing that at some point she’d brought it out. Which probably explained Seth’s frown. She slid him a look, and he smiled. A quiet, confidential one that suggested a history between them.

  She felt herself grow hot. She wasn’t blushing in front of her kids and the men, was she?

  The worst was confirmed when he said in a voice as intimate as his smile, “Take your time, Alexi. You deserve a break, too.”

  He noticed her. Not that she’d wanted him to. No, more that she hadn’t expected him to, but he had. His simple words of awareness shot her through with a warm, fluttery updraft of pure well-being she hadn’t felt since...in a long time.

  It carried her through her chat with Mel as he rode in the passenger seat of her van with the kids in the back, through them trooping up and down the grocery aisles, buoyed her as she shopped for a carton of milk, cheese, carrots and animal crackers in case Callie woke and Amy couldn’t soothe her. On impulse, she threw in a watermelon, much to the squealing delight of the kids.

  Mel went through the checkout first with his box of donuts, chatting with the cashier about the hailstorm and finishing by handing her his business card. During her turn, she read the headlines on the celebrity mags while her groceries were rung through. Her eye was half on Bryn wandering to the exit when the debit machine declined her card.

  “Do you want to try again?” the cashier said.

  “Yes,” said Alexi. “There should be money.”

  The cashier went tight-lipped, probably having heard that before. But there really should be. She still hadn’t seen the money in her PayPal account but Connie’s rent money should still be there. She’d told Seth she wasn’t going to charge rent, right?

  Mel was following Bryn out, and Alexi willed the machine to display the approved message. Declined. Panic kicked aside her joy. At her side, Matt watched.

  “I...uh...” She scanned the pile of groceries. “...I guess I won’t be...” A customer behind her started plunking groceries from his heaping basket onto the conveyor belt.

  “There a problem?” Mel had returned with Bryn, who began to load the bag with the watermelon into the cart.

  “Wait, Bryn, no.” She hated, hated this. “I—I brought the wrong card with me. I thought there was money in this account but I guess not.” She turned to the cashier. “I’m so sorry—”

  “Nah, nah,” Mel said. “I’ll pay for it.”

  “But, I—” She stopped. She couldn’t refuse him. Like with Seth, she’d swallow her pride and let Mel pay for the sake of her kids. “Thank you. I’ll pay you back.”

  “You bet,” Mel said, already handing his card over to the cashier.

  Seth’s brother seemed to think she would. But how, when she didn’t have a cent to her name? She went cold at a sudden thought. What if Mel told Seth about paying for the groceries? If Seth confronted her, she’d have to lie, and if he could already read her face, he wouldn’t believe her. Despite him stating that he felt she was right for Matt, who in their right mind would allow a mom to keep a child she couldn’t support?

  Especially a child he liked.

  Especially when he could arrive at the exact time the caseworker was due tomorrow and expose the absolute truth.

  * * *

  ONE LOOK AT Alexi when she returned from the grocery store, and Seth knew something was wrong. Sure, she was all smiles as she cut the watermelon into triangular slabs for the kids, but from where he stood at the kitchen entrance, something in the high pitch of her voice, her darting from drawer to dish to sink as if on a timer, and the hardest to take, the way her eyes dodged contact with his, put him on edge.

  Mel must’ve said something, though Seth had no idea what. Nothing about Seth’s record. Mel wasn’t a model of discretion but even he knew that some lines weren’t to be crossed. Probably made some buffoon remark that had made Alexi uncomfortable.

  He hadn’t asked her out, had he?

  Might explain why Mel had left within minutes of their return, saying he needed to pick up a few things for the Lakers-on-the-Go event tonight. Seth had told Mel to start without him because he was too busy at the house. Alexi had insisted he attend, said she’d manage the rest, and said it all while looking everywhere but at him.

  Uh-huh. He pushed his shoulder off the frame of the kitchen entrance and turned to the bedroom to install the bifold doors when Matt caught his eye. The boy’s look was intense, his focus switched to Alexi and then narrowed on him again. Matt’s meaning was unmistakable.

  “Hey, Alexi,” Seth said, “I could do with some help putting up the closet doors when you’re done here.”

  “Oh. I, uh, I...”

  “Never mind. I can always ask Matt.”

  Full, blazing eye contact there. “Fine.”

  Now that he had her alone in the same room (Callie sat in the hallway, hosting a watermelon tea party with her stuffies), the finicky bifolds killed any chance of a friendly chat.

  Seth shoved the door’s top metal peg into the sliding bracket. “Hated these things when I lived here, and my feelings haven’t changed.”

  Alexi didn’t answer, occupied with easing the bottom post into the floor bracket without popping out the top peg. This was their fifth attempt.

  He felt the door make a satisfying give as it dropped into place. “Finally. I’ll keep holding it and you rotate the peg to lift the door up.”

  Alexi’s mouth flattened with concentration, as she contorted her body to see under the door. Her T-shirt rose to expose the naked curve of her waist. It didn’t take much imagination to see how that curve trailed up to other rounder, softer curves.

  “Got it,” she said.

  Seth shot his attention back to the top of the door. “Good. You hold the door here and I’ll get this last peg into the spring.”

  It took a flat screwdriver and three attempts but the snick of it snapping into place was like opening a tab on a beer can. Alexi reached for the other bifold door.

  Enough was enough.

  “Look, I’m sorry I played the Matt card, okay? But he gave me a look, like he wanted me to talk to you.”

  She tried to lift the door into place, obviously ignoring how impossible that was. “I don’t know why he would’ve. You must’ve misinterpreted him.”

  That was a lie, and it burned him that she even tried to pull one over him. “Was it something Mel said? You can’t listen to a word he says or it’ll drive you nuts.”

  She met his eyes. “I like Mel. He never said anything wrong.”

  “What
’s the matter, then?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No. There’s something.”

  She gave up on the door, let its long hard weight fall against her shoulder. She stared at the opposite wall. “Fine. There is. But it’s none of your business.”

  Exact same words he’d used on himself the day he met her, and look how that had worked out for him. She was his business from the day she’d asked him to help with the house. “How about you tell me and let me decide?”

  She pulled her gaze to his, her lake-colored eyes as bright as ever but rimmed with tired lines. “How about you help me with this door instead?”

  He could’ve pushed her. Could’ve tracked down Matt and found out from him, but that would only prove he was someone she couldn’t trust. And if there was one thing he wanted from her right now, it was her belief that he was there for her, no matter what she was hiding.

  He reached for the door. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  ALEXI AND MATT might be off-limits for getting answers, but Mel definitely wasn’t. Seth beelined for his brother the second he arrived at Stephensson’s pasture, a couple miles west of town. Mel must’ve seen him coming, because by the time Seth had crossed the field he was standing ankle-deep in low-lying water, out of reach. “Hey, Seth, can you feed me more wire?”

  Seth unwound wire, checking out the rest of the course as he did. It was all part of this evening’s Lakers-on-the-Go event, a short one-mile obstacle course Seth and Mel had been working on between jobs the past few weeks. Seeing Matt’s backyard matrix had spurred Seth to insert a few additions, additions that justified the waivers new members signed when joining the Lakers rec club. Barbless wire was stapled to staggered fence posts to form crisscross patterns, short wooden stakes with binder twine zigzagged at the top to give two feet of clearance, rubber tires were roped over the corner of a slough, square straw bales were stacked at the end of a relay race.

  At the far end about half a football field away, Paul was teamed with a couple of regulars pouring water onto dirt in preparation for the final event in the obstacle course: a mud flat where participants were forced to roll under the overlying wire. The kids, in rubber boots and rain gear, were itching to start.