I sucked at the spot where the skin throbbed. “Finish this one for me? Carabiner is in that bag behind the toolbox.”
She nodded, so I handed her the drill and climbed down the ladder.
As I opened the slider, Molly’s phone rang, and she excused herself to answer it, hustling behind me into the house.
“Hey, what’s up?” she said. “Did you get out there okay?”
Her eyes darted to me, and my brow furrowed when I couldn’t read what I saw there.
She hummed, settling her hip against the counter. “Did you try restarting it?”
The slider opened, my mom coming in with a stray child clinging to her back. Luna laughed happily when my mom whirled in a circle. I held my arms out, and Luna leaped from Mom’s back into my waiting hands. She was petite for her age but mind-bogglingly fearless, and I stood completely still while she hooked a leg up around my neck so she could sit on my shoulders.
Molly shook her head, unfazed by her youngest child’s antics.
“Who’s she talking to?” my mom whispered.
“I don’t know.” I winced when Luna gripped my hair in her fingers. “Do you mind, Lu?”
She let go with a laugh, clamping her hands onto the sides of my face instead.
“Better, thank you,” I said dryly.
“There should be a little red button down along the bottom,” Molly said. “Sometimes it’s finicky, though, especially when it gets stuck.”
Mom and I traded a look. “The water heater,” we said in unison.
“Your father has said he’s going to fix that for the past three years,” Mom mumbled. “Must be Adaline. She got to the beach house earlier than I thought she would.”
Molly blew out a breath. “Let me call you back, okay? Mom probably has a number of a local plumber; I’ll see if they can come out. Or one of us will come up early and help.” Adaline must have argued because Molly smiled. “I know you’re not worried, but you can’t be up there overnight with no hot water, either. I’ll text you and let you know what I get figured out.”
Mom gave me a loaded look as Molly wrapped up her phone call with Adaline.
We might have shit timing, but there was something to be said for fate too. There were always openings and opportunities, and when the game clock ticked down to dangerously low territory, it was my job to figure out how to find those openings.
“That stupid water heater is off again,” Molly said.
“Stupid is a bad word,” Luna added. “My teacher said so.”
Molly smiled at her daughter. “Your teacher is very smart. But moms are allowed to call inanimate objects whatever they want. It’s a rule.”
“Oh.” She wiggled on my shoulders, and I clamped my hands down on her legs to keep her steady. The kid was going to give me a heart attack. “Is Asher inani-imaminate? He’s stupid sometimes.”
“Luna Paige Griffin,” Molly said sternly, “You don’t call your brother names, and you know it.”
She sighed, and I smothered my smile.
Mom tapped her fingers along the counter. “Emmett, how about you go up there and help her get it working again?”
“I can do that,” I said calmly like my heart didn’t jolt up into my throat at the idea of time alone with her. It was like hitting the peak of a roller coaster. I knew what was down on the other side, knew the anticipation was worth the climb to the top. “I don’t know if I should, though,” I admitted. “She may not want me to.”
Molly’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t we just call that plumb—”