Chapter 5

A day off. Joel hadn't had one of those in a while. Even when Tommy stayed home on most weekends, Joel typically did an odd job or two for a client in their backlog. Often, they offered to pay extra for his work during his supposed free time. He didn't know how to tell them that they were doing him a favor too.

But today, Joel had decided to stay home. He had a few projects around his yard he wanted to work on before the coming winter turned from chilly breezes to full-blown freezes. He pulled on his work gloves and jacket before heading into his backyard in the weak autumn light to fix his leaning shed.

He'd visited Tommy, Maria, and Bria yesterday after work. They'd teased about visiting twice in one week when he hadn't visited in two years. At the time he'd decided to stop visiting, he couldn't look at Bria without seeing Sarah. They had the same dark curly hair, tanned skin, mischievous eyes. Yesterday, he still saw Sarah, but not as strongly, as if she were fading away somehow.

Something was changing. Joel didn't know why, but he knew it nonetheless. A year ago, he never could have spent a day at home, in her house. Could barely think hername. And yet here he was, humming and working on the shed they had built together. Why did it all suddenly feel a little bit easier?

"It's like the Leaning Tower of Pizza."

Joel glanced over his shoulder to see Ellie standing in his backyard, tilting her head to stare at his shed. "Pisa." He corrected.

Ellie's brow furrowed, "What?"

"Leaning Tower of Pisa." Joel replied, "Not pizza."

"Oh, shit, that's why I got that question wrong." Ellie scowled, "Isn't that tower in Italy? Don't they make pizza and shit?"

"I don't know. I've never been to Italy." Joel shrugged.

Ellie walked over and examined the shed, "Have you ever left the country?"

"Mexico. That's about it." Joel grunted as he tried to push the shed into its proper position and nail in new support boards at the same time.

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "You need help?"

"No. Yes." Joel admitted. "Hammer this board, will ya?"

She took the hammer and stared at it with fascination. Joel quickly regretted giving her a weapon, "Make yourself useful." He ordered, "I'll consider this your payment for McDonald's."

"Geez, didn't realize I got dinner with a loan shark." She held a nail up to the board and pulled the hammer back for a big swing.

"No!" Joel grabbed her arm, "You gotta hammer it with soft strokes at first, get it in where you want it. Then you can go at it with a little more force." For a second, Ellie vanished, and he was talking to Sarah as they built the shed over twenty years ago. He blinked hard.

"Whoops." Ellie followed his instructions, and the shed was standing straight within the hour.

"I can't believe I just used my Saturday for manual labor." Ellie wiped her brow with her sleeve as they both examined the shed. "You owe me so much food."

"I'm gonna have to talk to your parents before I take you anywhere else." Joel retorted. "They should know where you are."

A shadow passed over Ellie's face, "Fine, bring the food to me then." She squinted at the shed. "What's in here, anyways?"

Joel scratched his chin as he thought, "I'm not sure." He admitted. The shed, Sarah's bedroom, they were both locked in the same box of Do Not Touch.

"Really?" Ellie grinned. "Only one way to find out." Before Joel could stop her, she opened the shed.

The small space smelled like wood and dirt. Old, rusted gardening equipment lined the walls, along with several other tools one would expect to see in a backyard shed. The only thing that seemed out of place was the bright pink bike hanging from a hook on the ceiling.

Ellie snickered, "Why do you have a pink bike?"

Joel shrugged in pretend nonchalance. He was glad Ellie was shorter than him, so she couldn't see the tears rimming his eyes. "Probably got it at a garage sale or something."

"Damn, this would be so helpful." Ellie gave the bike a mock punch. "Everything in this stupid suburb is a million miles away and my parents never drive me anywhere."

Joel stared at the bike for a moment. Then he took it off his hook. "Here." He said gruffly. "It's yours."

Ellie gaped at the bike, then Joel. "Wait, really?"

"I'm not about to ride a pink bike around." Joel shoved it toward her. "I'd look stupid."

"That's true." Ellie agreed as she grabbed the bike's handles. Her green eyes flicked to Joel. "Uh, thanks."

"You're welcome." He replied as she wheeled the bike to the front of his house. Joel followed her, and soon she was riding up and down their street. "Be careful!" He called as she rocketed past him.

"Woo!" Ellie's joyful shout faded as she turned a corner and vanished behind the trees. Joel dreaded the day she could legally drive a car.

The sound of a door slamming made Joel jump. He turned to see a man with scruffy black hair and a sizeable belly walk out of Ellie's house. He yawned, then stumbled toward the mailbox like he'd just woken.

"Hey!" Joel jogged over before the man could grab his mail and disappear, "How're you doing?"

"I'm not going to yer church." The man muttered as he fished through his overflowing mailbox.

"Suits me, I don't go to church either." Joel replied, "I'm Joel, I'm your next-door neighbor."

"Oh." The man finally turned toward Joel and seemed to size him up. His eyes were a watery blue. "I'm Chuck. Good to meet ya."

"Good to meet you too." Joel replied. Chuck turned to go inside, and Joel quickly continued, "Hey, is that red-head girl your kid, by any chance?"

"Step-kid." Chuck sighed, then glared around his yard as if looking for her, "Why, what did she do this time?"

"She hasn't done anything." Joel promised, taken aback, "I wanted to mention-"

His eyes drifted past Chuck to see Ellie standing next to her new bike across the street. She was staring at him with an expression Joel could only describe as fear. Joel's stomach lurched. Ellie was loud and goofy and wild and never stopped talking. Fear had no place on her face. Yet there it was.

"… I gave her an old bike I had in my shed." Joel finished. "Figured a kid could enjoy it." Then he waved, "You like the bike, Ellie?"

Ellie's stepfather turned to see Ellie walking across the street toward them with the bike, "Yeah, it's cool. It'll get me to school faster."

"Good." Chuck grunted, "I don't want to get another email about you being late all the time."

"Yes sir." Ellie replied stoically, and for a moment, Joel saw a glimpse of the girl he knew.

"You little shit." Chuck muttered, but there was no malice behind it, "Go fetch me a beer." Ellie's face fell as Chuck turned to Joel, "You want one?"

"Probably shouldn't. Former alcoholic and all." Joel replied.

Ellie gave him a startled glance. "You are?"

Chuck cuffed her on the head, "Mind your business, girl. Now shoo." Ellie stuck her tongue out and he chuckled as she went inside, "There's no taming that one."

"Some kids are like that." Joel replied carefully, "Seems like a good kid though. I think she's going places."

"I wish I had your confidence." Chuck started back toward his porch. "See ya around, neighbor."