“How does this look?” Lily said. She had a tentative hold on the painting that she pushed against the wall, vainly attempting to keep the landscape straight.
“It’s off again,” Brandon said. He was standing a few steps back, examining the frame’s balance—which was clearly off again.
Lily sighed, letting the piece drop from its slippery grip against the wall. “Would you help me hold it then?”
“I told you I’d help, you wouldn’t listen.”
“I didn’t think I’d need it. I thought I could just stick it up.”
“Well clearly you couldn’t.”
“Thanks for that,” she said, setting the painting against the wall. Her posture wilted and she walked away.
“What, you’re just going to leave it there?”
“It can wait.”
“The dog’ll get it,” Brandon muttered. He went over to the wall and picked up the painting. Lily had left the hammer and nails on a lamp stand near the window. There were eight-inch nails glinting from the sunlight. Brandon picked up one of the slim nails. “What on earth were you planning on doing with these?”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re huge, you’re gonna puncture the whole wall with these things.” He looked up and noticed Lily turning the corner and going up the stairwell.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she called, her voice carrying across the room.
He sighed, wordlessly mouthing a frustration or two. He held up the painting to get a better view in the light.
The sunlight itself was singing, stinging through the windows. Outside, it lit up the colors of their flower bed, purple-hued perennials and their emerald shrubs climbing upward into a willowing spire. It also meant their sidewalk was nearly hot enough to melt, and inside the floorboards by the window were so close to catching fire that the labrador found it the perfect place for a midday nap.
“What a great help you are,” Brandon said to the dog. The dog didn’t respond.
He held up the painting with one hand braced against the frame and settling a nail into its place. His other arm came swinging, a restless rhythm pounding the nail into its place. He repeated the process three times, and in with those few swings, he could already feel himself begin to sweat.
“I guess there’s a reason they call it ‘Do It Yourself,’” he said, staring down the hall to the staircase. “Goll-ee, we gotta get that air conditioning unit fixed.”
The dog gave a rumbling snore and turned over on its side.
“Oh, what, I’m annoying you too, bud?” Brandon shook his head. He needed to stop talking to the dog. It was getting on his own nerves now.
Brandon begrudged the list of fix-it projects he had to get done this weekend. A man works all week just to spend the weekend scrambling around the house with his tool kit and endless shops to the hardware store? These should be the days he finds relief from a taxing week of life as a construction worker. He should be outside on the porch swing with a lemonade, or something stronger, sitting in the shade during this tortuous heat wave. Instead, he was playing interior designer.
The house was silent except the resounding clack of metal on metal when he had to readjust a pipe or bang on the air conditioner or tipped over his toolbox off the step ladder. Maybe it wasn’t that quiet after all. But his wife was upstairs sleeping through it, he assumed. He didn’t intend to wake her up, but it wasn’t his fault. She was the one who asked him to get all these projects done in just two days. And don’t even get him started on—.
The front door swung open, hitting the doorstop with a dull thud. Three children swarmed through the entry hall, kicking off their shoes and shouting at their dad.
“Daddy, Daddy! Look at my new project!” That was Anna, the youngest. She flapped around a piece of paper in front of her face. She was moving it too rapidly for Brandon to get a good look, but he could make out the face of a poorly drawn giraffe.
Marcus and Scarlett weren’t much older at eight and ten years old. The swept over to their father and wrapped him in a hug, even as he was covered in soot and sweat.
He laughed, setting down his tools, and wrapped his arms around them. “How are you all? Good day at school?”
They all responded “yes” with various levels of enthusiasm.
“Alright,” he said, patting them on the back as they each passed him, “why don’t you go get yourselves upstairs and showered?”
They didn’t complain since they were familiar enough with the routine. Brandon appreciated it. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the hassle right now. If he could fix this frustrating air conditioning unit, then he’d be done for the day. Once the kids went upstairs, he began slamming at the metal joints and casing and examining the filters and looking up repair videos on the internet.
At some point in his concentration, Lily and the kids came back down the stairs. He was standing on top of the step ladder. He turned and wiped his sweaty arm across his sweaty brow. This heat was killing him.
The kids hadn’t changed, he noticed. He frowned as he noticed them all walk outside with their socks on.
“Hey!” he called. “You’re gonna stain your socks like—” His family had already passed through the sliding glass door leading to their backyard. He waved his hand to dismiss them, turning back to his work.
Once his hand cramped from ineffectually twisting and grinding a screwdriver into a stripped screw, he got off his ladder and looked outside. His kids were stumbling around the yard, chasing each other and climbing their playground. Little Anna flopped her way down the sloping side into her mother’s arms at the bottom.
Brandon shifted his eyes between the scene of his family outside and the scattered pile of tools he had nearby. Just as he stared down at the dwindling box of nails, Scarlett entered through the sliding door.
“Hey, Dad,” she mumbled. Her eyes looked heavy and tired. Her hair had been red as an infant, which is why she had the name she did, but it had since shifted into a golden yellow.
“Oh, hey, honey,” he said. He wiped his hands on his pants. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just thirsty. It’s hot out.”
“You’re tellin’ me. Hey, listen, do you have a few minutes?”
Scarlett paused with her hand on the fridge. She gave him a skeptical look. “Why?”
Brandon bit his lip, slowly walking toward the kitchen. “I thought we should do something for your mom.”
“Like what?”
“Um…” Brandon opened cupboard and caught sight of the LifeGrain Mills cake mix. “How about this?” He held it up for his daughter to see.
Scarlett shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”
A smile crossed Brandon’s face.
About twenty minutes later, the cake was in the oven and the sink was flooded with glazed, sugared, floury glassware and mixing bowls. Brandon had to stay away from the oven, which gave off a wave of heat that somehow doubled down on the actual heat wave outside.
He peered through the back window hoping his wife wouldn’t come in. Marcus and Anna, exhausted from their playful adventures, trudged back inside. Their mother was asleep in a lawn chair, tucked beneath the shade of the side of the house.
“Alright, hey, you two!” Brandon said. “I need your help on a project.”
“Project?” they said. Marcus’ cheeks already glowed with the early effects of sunburn.
The cake eventually came to a golden crisp at the beeping alarm of the oven timer. They slid out the cake, and perhaps in their misfortune, began coating the dessert with icing. Brandon had no idea to wait for the cake to cool. But the timing worked out well. Even as the chocolate icing began drooping and falling in melted streaks, the kids drew hearts of red icing on top and an oversized MOM in the center.
The door to the backyard slid open and Lily entered. She was rubbing her hands in her eyes, attempting to wake herself up.
“Oh, goodness, I’m glad you kids came inside,” she said. “You’re going to get burned something awful out there if you stay out too—”
“WE LOVE YOU MOM!”
All three of her children ran over to her, climbing her legs and jumping up and down on her arms in their grand, expressive hug.
“W-What’s going on?” she said, laughing.
Once the kids settled, they pulled their mother over to the countertop so she could see their designer cake. Lily looked over to Brandon who was leaning against the fridge with a subtle grin.
“You’re the best, Momma!” Anna said.
Lily pulled her hand over her mouth. She then reached down, wrapping her arms around the children.
“I love you kids…”
aww very sweet!!