The Trouble With Falling

“I had grabbed burgers for us but they got pretty cold in the car,” I say as Brennan looks around the bakery.

Hartley seems to catch on and she nods slightly at me.

“Let’s see if we can make something better to eat then, shall we?” Hartley asks, gingerly stepping through the minefield that is the bakery floor.

Brennan nods and takes Hartley’s outstretched hand and follows her outside. I trail after them, trying not to stare at Hartley’s ass in her tight black yoga pants as she walks up the stairs in front of me. I wonder if she knows that yoga pants are to guys what sweatpants apparently are to girls?

She lets us into our apartment and Brennan freezes when he sees all of the baked goods lined up and piled on the kitchen counters. There’s even more in Tupperware on the coffee table and desk in the living room.

“This place is awesome,” Brennan whispers and Hartley laughs, leading him over to the kitchen.

“Let’s make dinner and then you can taste test some of the things I’m thinking of selling downstairs.”

“Okay!” Brennan says excitedly and I smile as they head over to the fridge and stick their heads inside.

I use their distraction to look around her place. It’s small but tidy. Well, tidy aside from her baked goods piled everywhere. The couch and other furniture are a little outdated and I’m assuming it was either here when she moved in or was her and her grandma’s from back in Georgia.

“Homemade macaroni and cheese alright with you, Eli?” Hartley asks, and I turn and nod.

“Sounds good.”

Brennan and Hartley get to work in the kitchen and I smile as she shows him how to test that the noodles are done and lets him stir in the cheese and some milk. By the time that they’re done, Brennan is beaming with pride. He carries a big bowl over to me and I thank him before I join Hartley and him in the living room.

“Sorry, the table is a bit of a mess. I can try to clean it off if you’d rather sit there,” Hartley offers but I wave her off.

“The couch is fine,” I assure her.

We all dig in and I play it up, groaning and telling Brennan that this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten. He grins, shoveling more of the creamy macaroni and cheese into his mouth but I can tell that he’s happy that I like it. I’m sure that Patrick will be hearing about this for days and probably eating macaroni and cheese for weeks.

We eat quickly and help Hartley do the dishes before we all head back downstairs. Hartley grabbed a few different treats from upstairs and she clears out a spot for him at the counter. Brennan has some homework to finish up and I grab his backpack from my truck as he digs into his desserts.

We leave him to his homework as we look around at the mess that is the bakery floor.

“So it’s separated into legs,” she says, pointing to one section. “Seats, and backs.”

I nod as I look around at the piles.

“The parts and tools are over there,” she says, pointing to a section of counter where a bunch of screws and a screwdriver lie.

“Do you have a power drill?” I ask, knowing that we’ll need that if we want to finish all of this tonight.

“Nope, but I do have a Phillips head screwdriver,” she says proudly.

“That’s good, but I think we’re going to need a power drill if we want to get all of these done in the next month.”

“Do you think the hardware store is still open?” Hartley asks, chewing on her bottom lip as she studies the parts.

“No, but I have a drill at home. How about I bring it tomorrow? Tonight we can just do the lights since those will be easy.”

“Sounds good. Is Brennan going to be okay sitting there?”

“Yeah, we can work around him. I should probably mention that I might have him tomorrow too. Patrick caught the flu so I’ll be watching Brennan until he’s better.”

“That’s fine. He’s a good helper,” she says and I notice Brennan perk up in his seat.

We get to work, pushing all of the parts to the side of the room and working together to unbox the new lights. I grab the ladder and start taking down the old light fixtures and passing them to Hartley. I already told her that I would take these lights and donate them to the local church who was looking to replace a few of their fixtures.

We work quickly together and have all of the new lights up in a few hours. Hartley helps me load the old lights into the truck bed as Brennan packs his homework back into his backpack. I smile when Brennan walks over to Hartley and gives her a hug.