His feet pushed the ladder away and it fell to his right. Billy hung on to the gutter but not for long. It gave under his weight and tore away, but at least his descent was slower. After dropping a few feet, he let go so he wouldn’t tear the whole damn thing off, and fell the rest of the way. It wasn’t all that far.
The ladder crashed to the ground with a loud clatter and he hit the ground right after it. He landed on his feet first, then fell back on his ass. He let himself roll back on the grass and lay there for a second, thinking, First, that was so stupid, and second, what I do not need right now is an injury. He didn’t move, assessing his hips and spine. He let his eyes briefly close and thought, There is no one better with a ladder than me; that was idiotic.
“Billy!” He heard Julie yell from inside the house. He could hear the tempo change as she yelled while running from the kitchen to the back patio doors. “Billy! Billy! Oh, God, Billy!”
He lay there, a very slight smile on his lips, thinking this was probably mean, keeping his eyes closed. She knelt beside him, lifted his head in her arms and said, “Billy! Are you dead?”
He opened his eyes. “You should never do that. Move a person like that. I could’ve had a spinal injury.”
“Are you all right?”
“Do you love me?” he asked.
“What happened?” she asked, her eyes wide and fearful.
“I fell off the ladder. I was lying here wondering if anything was hurt. I didn’t know you were home. Do you love me?”
“You’re an asshole,” she said, dropping his head with a thump.
There was a sound, a sliding sound. Billy grabbed her and rolled to the left, putting himself on top of her, covering her to protect her. The toolbox clattered to the ground about six feet away, a couple of tools bouncing out. When the crashing subsided, he lifted his head. “That’s two stupid things in one day,” he said. “I think I’m too tired to be doing this stuff.”
“Let me up,” she said.
“No. First you have to tell me if you love me.”
“No, I hate you! You took ten years off my life!”
He pressed his lips against hers. She didn’t respond, so he lifted his head and grinned into her eyes. “I cleaned the kitchen,” he said. “I put Clint and Stephie down for a nap. I picked up dog shit and trimmed the hedges.”
“And fell off the ladder.”
“That’s right. And I’m not getting back on it today. Did you have a nice lunch?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did you get to dump on the girls about your little condition? About your bad, bad husband?”
“I haven’t said a word to anyone. And don’t you, either.”
“Okay. Then can you help me into the bedroom?”
“You’re hurt?”
“I’m horny. You could lie naked beside me for a little while, then after I’ve put you in a good mood, I can have a little nap.”
“Is that all you ever think about?”
“When I’m on top of you like this, that’s all I think about. I’ll be very, very sweet to you. Very careful. Well, not too careful.”
“This is the root of all our problems,” she said. “Right now all I want to do is clobber you, and you still get to me.”
He grinned handsomely. “If that’s the biggest problem you have, Jules, you have it pretty good.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” she said.
“You feeling okay, baby?” he asked sweetly, gently brushing her blond hair over her ear. “You’re not feeling sick or crampy or anything, are you?”
She shook her head.
“I worry a little bit about that IUD, in there with the baby.” His brow furrowed. “If you don’t think it’s okay…”
“I still want to clobber you,” she said, shaking her head.
He just smiled. “I know.” He got off her and pulled her to her feet. “Come on. Let’s take advantage of nap time.”
A little while later, feeling calmer and more affectionate, Julie said, “I ran into Chelsea in the ladies’ room at the restaurant today.”
“Yeah?” he responded with a yawn. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
“I talked to her for a while. Did you know she left that insurance company to sell Hummers? And that she’s a sales manager now?”
“So she said,” he replied, bored or sleepy.
“So…I don’t like Chelsea, but what she did makes sense. Before making a change, she worked for that dealership on weekends for a while until she could see the potential, then she quit her old job. Good idea, huh?”
“Hummers,” he snorted, rubbing his head back and forth on the pillow tiredly. “No one wants a Hummer right now…”
“Chelsea says they’re selling as well as ever. People like them. It makes them feel rich.”
“Not for long,” he said, his eyes still closed.
“But that’s not the point, the point is it’s very smart to find a business opportunity and work at it part-time to see if there’s any real possibility there, and then make a move. There’s absolutely no future in cutting countertops—it’s just part-time work and the pay is good, but never gets better. Right now you have all your eggs in one basket, but you’re so smart. You have a degree. You could check around, see if there’s a place to go where you can really put your education to use, be successful…”
“Hmm,” he said. And then she heard him softly snore. She leaned over and put a gentle kiss on his cheek. “What if you fell off a ladder at work?” she whispered. “What would we do?” She was answered by a light snore.
When she had looked out the kitchen window and seen the ladder on the ground and Billy beside it, motionless, eyes closed, her very first thought was, Oh, no! Not my Billy! No! No! Soon after that came relief. Then what quickly followed was that old fear. Firefighting, paramedic work, cutting granite—none of this was low risk. If something happened to him, their strapped lifestyle would become catastrophic. Julie and the kids and no income, and after the insurance and small fraction of pension ran out…she would lose the house. Her mother would be forced to look after the kids so she could work, just to keep her from sinking out of sight. And what work could she do? She’d done a little waitressing and secretarial work after Jeffy while Billy was working and going to school, before the next two kids—and neither job had paid a damn.
And now there would be four children?
Billy didn’t have accidents like that; he was too sharp. His reflexes were good; he was strong. But he was also tired from working all the time.
