There, on the uneven, rocky ground was a very tall, and very wobbly looking ladder leaning against the side of the house with her curly haired dog laying in the shade nearby.
“Hey, Bear.” The dog hopped up when he saw Braxton, and trotted over with his tail wagging. “You let her climb up that?”
It was possible the ladder would have been tall enough to reach all the way to the roof if it had been positioned in the courtyard, or even at the front of the house, but the ground at the back of the house was lower than any other point, making the wall of the house even longer. It left the ladder short, stopping about six inches below the roofline.
Had Millie been standing on it to hang Christmas lights or paint the trim, this set up could have worked. It would’ve been unsafe and he wouldn’t have approved, but it could’ve worked. As it was, he had no idea how she’d managed to get herself from the top of the ladder to the top of the roof without falling.
“How does she plan to get down?” he asked Bear, who whined in response. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to her. “Hello? Millie?”
Could she even hear him over all the hammering?
Braxton checked his watch again. Now that he’d seen her hazardous setup, he couldn’t leave without making sure she was safe.
“I guess I have to go up,” he told Bear, although he had no desire to climb that haphazard contraption. He gave it a jiggle, making sure it was firmly planted on the ground, then climbed the bottom two rungs to check the stability. Was he satisfied with the results? Absolutely not. But since he had no choice, he hesitantly moved up the death-trap toward the edge of the roof
“Millie?” he called again. “You up here?”
He made it almost to where his hands could touch the roof, about four rungs from the top, when her head appeared over the pitch.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” She had the same peppy tone and optimistic grin she always had and their effect swept over him like a refreshing ocean breeze, calming some of his apprehension.
“I came to ask you the same question.”
Millie held up a hammer and wiped the sweat from her forehead on the back of her arm. “Fixing the roof.”
“Do you know how to do that?” Braxton was impressed. He didn’t know how to fix a roof. He wasn’t sure he’d even be motivated to learn how to do it. But here she was, hammering away and looking content about it.
“Not as well as I probably should. But the video didn’t seem overly complicated.”
He strained to see past her, looking for someone who might be helping her. “Are you by yourself up there?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I tried to convince Bear to come up here with me, but he’s got this thing about heights. And ladders.” A joking glint flashed in her eyes.
The sight of it caused his heart to do a little a little shimmy.
“I don’t blame him.” Braxton glanced down at the dog sitting at the foot of the ladder, reminding him just how high they were. A fresh wave of fear rolled through him. “Although, in all seriousness, you shouldn’t be up here by yourself.”
“Is roof repair like swimming? Do I need to wait twenty minutes after eating, too?”
“I heard the twenty-minute rule was an old wives tale, but it never hurts to be on the safe side.”
“Interesting tip. I’ll keep it in mind.” She waved her hammer at the roof behind her. “If that’s all, I gotta get back. These tiles aren’t going to hammer themselves.”
