Page 24 of Raging Fires

“Jake!” Kelli ran over and dropped down beside him on the gritty asphalt. “Are you okay?” She managed to say between pants.

He had a hand to his stomach and there was a funny look in his eyes, almost like panic, but then his chest heaved and he sucked in a lungful of air. “Knocked the wind out of me,” he gasped. “I hate that.”

“Thank God!” Kelli let out a huge sigh of relief and went limp, sliding down from her knees to sit cross-legged beside him. “Well, at least it’ll shut you up for half a second.”

“Hey, Kelli! You okay there?” Tiny called, and Kelli looked over to see that he and the other movers were all standing in front of her house, watching the show she and Jake had been putting on. Whatever. She was too tired to be embarrassed.

She called back, “Yeah, we’re fine.”

Jake lifted his hand without sitting up and waved.

“Okay. We’re going, then,” Tiny shouted back.

“Thanks, guys. Come by the bar tonight, and your rounds are on me.”

She turned back to Jake and laid her hand on his chest. His heart was a little fast, but he was breathing okay. “Did you hit your head?”

“Nah. I’m fine. Only thing wounded is my pride.”

“Yeah, you didn’t look exactly graceful.”

“At least I didn’t have a 260-pound linebacker on top of me.”

Kelli sighed, tapping her finger meditatively. “What are we going to do?” She realized that her hand was still on his chest and she jerked it back.

“Judging from prior experience, we’ll do what Gran planned for us.” Jake stood up, brushing the dirt and grime off the back of his jeans.

Kelli brushed at the grit on his back. He was still all muscle, just like she remembered. She stepped away. “Well, I guess we better go look at what we’re facing.”

They walked over to the house. Jake patted the unfinished post as they went up the two steps to the tiny porch. “I’ll paint this.”

“You don’t have to.”

He shrugged. “It’ll give me something to do. It’s a long time till training camp.” He bounced on the balls of his feet on the top step. “Yeah, there’s the squeak. I’ll fix that too.” Jake paused, casting her a sly sideways glance. “Unless, of course, you’d rather have Tyler do it.”

“Oh, shut up. Tyler can’t drive in a nail straight. I hate to think what his painting job would look like. He’s a nice, helpful guy, but he is not a handyman.”

“Good thing I’m so handy,” Jake said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Kelli rolled her eyes and opened the door. She stopped just inside, looking around her in dismay. The room was filled with a couch and chair, a low coffee table, a tv, lamps, and stacks of boxes. She drooped.

“Wow, this is smaller than I remembered,” Jake said. “How big is this room, like two hundred square feet?”

“I don’t know.” Kelli wound through the boxes. There was a narrow kitchen on the right, open to the living room, and next to it a little alcove where her breakfast table and chairs sat.

“Well, on the bright side, there’s a fireplace.” Jake pointed to the small fireplace set between two windows on the back wall.

Kelli eyed it doubtfully. “It’s a good thing we live in Arizona. I wouldn’t want to actually burn anything in that.”

“I’ll check the flue.”

Kelli gave him a look. “What do you know about a flue? I’ll give you being able to paint and pound boards together, but a chimney?”

“I’m always into learning new things,” he responded.

“What is up with you? Why are you being so cheerful?”

“I don’t know, Kell. Would you rather I start whining?” And there went their moment of peaceful co-existence.