Miss Fix-It

“Wow,” she whispered. “Can I had a go?”

The way she spoke killed me. “At pulling the paper?”

“All of it.”

I shook my head. “The scraper is sharp. Come see.” I bent to one knee and held it up. “Much too sharp for little girls. Why don’t you have a go with the sponge, I’ll scrape, then I’ll let you rip some paper off?”

She clasped her hands in front of her body, swayed, and looked away. Contemplation crossed her tiny features before she grabbed her dress. “My dwess might get dirty.”

The princess room made a lot of sense.

“Nope. And if you’re careful, it won’t even get wet.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure as sure can be.”

She sighed. “Okay, but if my dwess gets wet or dirty, I’m telling Daddy.”

“I can’t argue with that. Grab the sponge,” I instructed. “And squeeze it really, really hard.”

Ellie lifted the sponge as high as she could and squeezed.

Water splashed.

Everywhere.

She squealed as it splatted her dress.

“Okay, not that high.” I lowered her hands. “Right there. It’s okay, it’s just water. It’ll dry.”

She looked at me dubiously, but tried again, albeit with a few scathing looks at the wet spots on her very pretty dress. “Like this?”

“Yes!” I smiled as she squeezed the sponge’s excess water out a couple inches above the bucket. “Now, rub this bit of wall here and get the paper wet. You might have to do it a couple times.”

She scooted over.

She kicked the bucket.

I just caught it before it splashed everywhere—not that it saved my booted feet, of course.

Awesome. I now had to spend the rest of the day with wet shoes and wet boots.

“I’m sowwy!” Ellie looked at me with wide eyes. “I didn’t see it!”

Reason number two I disliked kids. They didn’t “see” anything.

“It’s okay,” I said, moving the bright red bucket out of the tiny tornado’s path of destruction. “It’s just water, right? You should wash the wall now before the sponge gets too dry, okay?”

“Okay. Here?”

“Right there.”

Ellie wiped the sponge across the wall a few times. “Wet enuss?”

I touched my fingertips to it. Only just. “Perfect,” I said to her.

She grinned.

“Fingers out the way,” I instructed. “Just in case.”

She held her arms above her head…And dropped the sponge into the bucket. Water splattered up my leg, but I ignored it and scraped the damp paper down the wall until it was big enough for her to grab.

“Okay, now, grab it.” I gently held it out.

She pinched it with her finger and thumb. Slowly, she pulled, leaning backwards as she ripped the paper from the wall.

“Careful. You’re going to—”

Thud.

She hit the ground with her full weight, her butt slamming into the floor and rocking the already-unsafe floorboard. She stared up at me with wide eyes, the bit of wallpaper tucked safely in the palm of her hand.

Footsteps thundered up the stairs.

“What the—” Brantley stormed into the room, stopping in the doorway, gripping either side, and staring at us both before his gaze homed in on Ellie. “Ellie!”

“Look, Daddy! I helping!” She grinned and held up the bit of wallpaper. “Kawi said I could pull the paper offt!”

He blinked at her—again and again. Finally, he turned his gaze to me. It wasn’t angry or annoyed, just…mildly amused and curious.

“She wanted to pull the paper off. I tried to tell her she’d fall, then she fell. She tore it a little too fast.” I pinched two fingers together.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Damn,” he breathed. “That girl. I swear.”

“Are you angwy?” Ellie whispered.

“No, princess. No.” Brantley came over to her and crouched down, kissing the top of her head. “I heard a bang and got scared. Maybe you should come down for a snack and let Kali finish her work now.”

“What if Kawi’s hungry?”

“I have a lunch date with my best friend,” I reassured her. “Don’t worry. I’ll go for an hour then I’ll be right back.”

Ellie looked at me. “Can I help you aster?”

I looked to Brantley for confirmation. I wasn’t a fan of the idea, but if she agreed to pull the paper slowly and carefully, I couldn’t say no.

“Paper only,” he said to her. “And you do exactly what Kali says.”

I nodded to agree.

“And you eat your fruit snack and all your lunch up before I say yes,” Brantley agreed, sliding her hair behind her ear. “Is that a deal?”

Ellie sighed heavily before holding out her little hand. “That’s a deal.”

Chapter Five

And that was how I ended up with two helpers on Tuesday morning.

Apparently, just taking one twin wasn’t enough. Thanks to Ellie’s help yesterday, I’d barely gotten through her room, never mind starting Eli’s the way I’d planned to.

However, today was a new day, and that new day involved Brantley joining me with a scraper and sponge while the kids used their face cloths and plastic, toy knives he’d dug out of one of the mountains of boxes.