Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [55]
CHAPTER 14
On moving day, ominous purple clouds swallowed the sky. Everyone involved in the move met at the Landis farm, where the furniture was stored in the barn. Katy’s car was packed to the roof with clothes, and the rest of its interior resembled a bag of puzzle pieces vying for space. Her new upright vacuum cleaner rode shotgun, and stacks of bedding filled the seats. She crawled out, careful that everything remained wedged in place, and eyed Megan. “I can’t believe that leather couch your mom found at a garage sale. What can we do to thank her?”
“Just let her come see the place sometime.”
Lil strode away from the place where David and Jake were loading furniture and joined Katy and Megan.
“Maybe we should have a parents’ night and make dessert or something,” Katy suggested.
“Nah!” They all protested, giggling and then shivering when a fierce gust whipped through the yard. It forced the girls into a huddle then rolled on across the farm’s barren fields.
Katy straightened her covering, watching the swirling snow and debris. “Wow, glad my car door wasn’t open.”
“Careful,” Jake yelled.
Looking over to see if the warning was for them, Katy saw Jake nod at David to move slightly to the right as they maneuvered a table onto the bed of his truck. Jake must have felt her gaze, because he glanced over. “We’ve almost got it, if you girls want to go on over and meet us at the doddy house in a few minutes?”
The scene drew her curiosity, Jake and David working together. Jake winked and brushed his gloves before heading back to the barn. David trailed behind. When he saw that Katy was watching them, he made sport of Jake by mimicking his walk for a few strides, probably to get even for Jake’s ordering him around like a hired lackey.
As if David didn’t know how to keep things nice, she thought, having always admired that part of his personality. But so far, the two were at least remaining civil enough with each other to have packed their first load of furniture. Katy dismissed their antics and looked back at Lil, thinking about the day’s work. “It was great of Jake to take the appliances over earlier this week.”
“I love that stainless steel GE stove.” Lil did the garbanzo shimmy.
Katy didn’t know the difference between a GE or a Viking, but as long as they had sparkling drip pans and working ovens to cook Lil’s mouthwatering dishes, they suited her. Grinning at Lil’s enthusiasm, she started toward her car. “See you over there.”
When everybody reached the doddy house, the unending trips to the cars began. Katy started with the boxes in her trunk—kitchen and household odds and ends her mom had donated—and was sweating by the time she had to struggle with the piles of clothing still on their hangers. Nearly colliding with Megan on the path of freshly laid plastic floor covering—her genius idea—she cried out, “Look out, green bean, or I’ll squish ya.”
Megan’s arms had just been emptied, and she pointed. “Here come the beds.”
Every time the guys appeared, Lil became the moving director, which was fine with Katy because Lil had an eye for furniture placement. In this case, Lil’s job was easy because the girls had already imagined and reimagined it together many times.
“Last load,” David informed her, setting some long pieces of bed support at his feet so that he could take a break. “Feeling pretty excited, huh?”
Jake tried to pass them while balancing similar bed braces on his shoulder. With an irritated huff, he said, “Blocking the way, guys, for us working fellows.”
Ignoring him, David smiled at her. “I’ll put the beds together next.”
“Great.”
Just then Jake reappeared. “I’ll help you unload your car if you want.”
Glancing uneasily at David, she told Jake, “Sure, my sweeper’s out there yet and one box in the trunk that was too heavy for me.”
“Done.”
“Show me which bed’s yours,” David said, vying for her attention. “Want to help hold the rails in place while I fasten them together?”
“Sure.”
After following him