Carl gave him a measuring look. “I think it’s the sparrows again,” he said finally.
“Sparrows?”
“Clothes won’t dry. Happened before—fool birds built nests in the vent to the outside. Jam everything up, lint and all. Vivian called a repair guy once, but later on she did it herself.”
“What?” Dev tried and failed to imagine his elegant mother in coveralls, with a greasy wrench in her hands. Maybe the old guy was hallucinating.
“She used a clothes hanger. Made a big hook and dragged it all out.” Carl scowled. “I’d do it myself, but I can’t bend down that far. Frank has his asthma—all that dust and lint really sethim off last time. No use spending good money on a repairman if this will solve the problem and we can do it ourselves.”
At the reading of the will, Dev had imagined needing to become some sort of pseudo social worker here, which would have been a classic case of the blind leading the blind. He had more than enough baggage of his own.
These people would probably see through him in a minute, if it came to that.
At leastthisstuff was easy.
Carl grabbed a wire coat hanger from the front closet and unfolded it as they went outside, then rounded the side of the porch to the dryer vent. “Here you go. But don’t step on the hostas.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sure enough, there was at least one bird nest and a mass of lint backed up inside. In ten minutes, Dev had it cleaned out, then he ran to the basement and turned on the dryer. A rush of hot air came through the outside vent.
“Good enough,” Carl said with a grudging look of approval. “Long overdue, but good enough.”
An image of his father’s stern expression flashed into his thoughts.An A-in trigonometry? Maybe next time you can work a little harder. You missed a spot with the lawnmower. All you do is daydream.
Back then, he’d clenched his teeth and quietly taken the criticism, knowing from long experience that it was nearly impossible to earn unqualified praise from the man everyone else in town held in such esteem.
Now he gave Carl a level look. “I didn’t hear about it until this afternoon. If you’d told me sooner, I would have come over.”
“Yes. Well. Of course,” Carl blustered. “I...we just didn’t know. We...didn’t figure you were happy about your mom’s will and all, and you haven’t been here much.”
Had he seemed as surly asCarl?
Unapproachable?
At this rate, the residents would have plenty to complain about if Nora or that other lawyer stopped by, and they would have good cause.
“I just figured someone would call if they needed anything.” Dev cleared his throat. “I’ll start coming to the house every day from now on, just to check in. Maybe we should also have a clipboard inside the back door so you can all leave me notes. Would that work?”
Carl nodded slowly.
“But I’ve got to admit something you probably already know,” Dev added. “Give me a weapon and a mission, and I’m good to go, but there’s a lot of home maintenance that I’ve never done before. So if you have any advice, I’ll be glad to hear it. Even if my pride gets in the way.”
“Deal.” The old man’s voice cracked, revealing just how much it meant for him to feel useful. A moment later his mouth softened into what might pass for a rusty smile.
“I’ll jog back to the motel to get my car. Then let’s take a look at that screen before we go after your shoes, okay? Maybe we can drop it off at a hardware store to be fixed.”
Dev changed into khakis and a navy polo shirt at the motel, clipped his phone to his belt, and climbed into the Jeep. The motor roared to life when he turned the key.
His phone rang.
He palmed it and read the ID screen. He felt his heartbeat take an extra hitch. “Beth.”
“I...um...”
The residents were wary of calling him, and he’d been too self-absorbed to even notice. Now he could hear a hint of wariness in Beth’s voice, and he felt a stab of regret.
“What’s up?”
