The Hero (Thunder Point #3)(27)

Cooper finally looked up. “Rawley, what the hell are you doing?”

The old guy stopped short, mops and brooms and stuff in his arms, and said, “Every night I beat Devon and the little one home and you know why? Cause she works all day, then takes the little one to that shit hole she rented. They eat a sandwich she packed up and then Devon tries to make a dent in the filth and damage of that house while her daughter either looks at her books or sits with that old lady neighbor next door. It just ain’t right. I’m going over there. See what I can do.”

As if he had been hit with a cattle prod, Spencer was off his stool. “I’m in that with you, Rawley. Let me get my shoes and tell Austin I’ll be gone awhile.”

“Take your own car,” Rawley said. “I’m putting in some serious time.” And he was gone.

“Can you manage Austin?” Spencer asked Cooper.

Cooper turned to Sarah. “Can you handle Austin? The bar should be quiet. It’s a weekday...”

“But I want to go!” Sarah said. “I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of it!”

“Okay, we have a problem,” Cooper said. “I can close the bar for a few hours, but we got us a kid.”

“Landon will help out,” Sarah said. “We’ll just tell him not to serve alcohol and to keep an eye on Austin.”

“Yeah,” Spencer said. “What does he get for that? Double pay?”

“He gets me to not hate him,” Cooper said. “If we’re helping out a friend, he can just suck it up.” And with that, Cooper went out on the deck and split the morning calm with a piercing whistle.

By the time Spencer was back on the deck in jeans and shoes, Landon was coming up the stairs to the deck. “What?” he asked.

“We’re heading out to help a friend,” Sarah told him. “We’d like you to keep an eye on the bar and Austin. Austin’s watching TV right now—don’t let him get away. And just don’t sell alcohol. Cooper will be back before five.”

“What friend?” he asked.

“Rawley’s cousin,” she said. “Devon. She rented a house down the street from us and it needs...help.”

“Help because she shouldn’t have to live in a completely demolished dump,” Spencer said. “Austin goes no farther than the dock. In a life jacket.”

“Gotcha,” Landon said.

They headed out in two cars and when they arrived the front door was standing open. Rawley’s old truck was backed into the driveway with the hatch down and there was the sound of pounding coming from inside.

“No moss growing under that old boy’s feet,” Spencer said as he stood outside the front door with Cooper and Sarah. Rawley was already involved in patching a hole in the wall with drywall he’d obviously brought along. There were a couple of cans of paint sitting on the floor.

“What’ve we got, Rawley?” Spencer asked.

Rawley looked up. “Bag the trash. She’s got it in neat piles in each room. We got nasty kitchen appliances and while you’re at it, pull ’em out from the wall and clean that nasty stuff under ’em. We got a bathroom that a vagrant wouldn’t use. We got walls to paint, trim to scrub and paint, windows to wash. Leave the fireplace till last—she don’t need it this summer.”

Sarah walked across the living room and peeked into each room. “Cooper, that bathroom is yours. It’s awful. Spencer, why don’t you help me in the kitchen.”

Spencer took a look at each room. “Yep, Cooper gets that bathroom.” And then he got started pulling out appliances. While Sarah worked on cleaning the inside of the refrigerator, he bagged the trash and threw it in the back of Cooper’s truck. A little over three hours later, the kitchen appliances were clean and Spencer was washing the walls so he could paint them while Sarah got started on cleaning out the cupboards.

And then they were interrupted when Landon and Austin pulled up in the Razor with a cooler strapped to the back.

“Lunch!” Landon announced.

Work stopped at once while Landon opened the cooler to reveal sandwiches and cold drinks. Austin carried a grocery bag full of chips and snacks.

“What did you do with the bar?” Cooper asked.

“Put the closed sign on the door, just like you used to do before you had slave labor,” Landon replied. “Wow, this place is a wreck.”

“And it’s already a lot better than it was,” Spencer informed him.

After some serious hand washing, they sat on the living room floor in a circle, all of them, and ate the sandwiches. And then they went back after it with a vengeance. By four-thirty Cooper and Rawley were leaving to take care of the evening crowd down on the beach. Sarah was looking over her handiwork—she’d cleaned all the windows while Spencer painted the kitchen. The floors were clean but ill-used. She scuffed a toe on the floor. “I guess that’s what rugs are for,” she said. “And, if Devon is interested, I might’ve found a home for some of the furniture I can’t keep.”

“I’d been thinking the same thing,” Spencer said.

“Looks damn good in here.” Sarah turned full-circle. “I’m going to walk down the block, let Ham out and take a shower. See you back at the beach?”

He laughed. “Remember, I still live at the beach.”