The whole thing begins to tip and, despite our best effort, somehow wedges in the door frame. “Logan, a little help!” I yell.
“How am I supposed to get over to that side? It’s stuck,” he argues.
“Just walk through the bathroom. It connects.” He lets go of his side, and Poppy and I take on the weight of it.
“Hurry,” Poppy yells. “For as floppy as this thing is, it’s heavy as shit.”
“Sorry,” he says, walking out of my bathroom to join us in the hall. “Y’all move and I’ll hold it up.” He grabs our side, and we move out of the way.
“How did this even happen?” Poppy giggles, tilting her head to the side and studying my mattress.
“It started to fall, and I think when we tried to save it, we made it worse.” I shrug.
“Y’all go to the back, and I’m going to try to pull and tip it back up onto its side.” We walk through the bathroom and back into the bedroom.
“Okay, y’all each grab a handle, and then on the count of three, I’ll pull and you push. One, two, three.” The three of us follow his instructions, and the mattress flips back up right and out into the hall.
“Yes,” Poppy chimes. She lifts her hand, meeting mine in a high five. We manage to get the mattress to the front door, and then we pick it up and slowly move it to his truck. Logan jumps up, and in one swift motion pulls the mattress into the bed before beginning to tie it down.
“How was your first night at Tanner’s?” Poppy asks.
“A bit of a disaster, but then it ended good.”
“What happened?”
“I tried cooking him dinner as a thank you and then burnt it, so we ordered pizza and stayed up late talking. He surprised me actually.”
“We’ve been trying to tell you he’s a good guy,” she says.
“I know, I just hadn’t really seen it, but last night I think I got a glimpse. Now I just have to figure out how else I’m going to repay him because I think cooking him meals is definitely out.”
“How bad could it have been?”
“I almost caught the taco shells on fire.” I cringe.
“Yes, I’d say that’s definitely out.” She giggles. “Any other ideas?”
“Not yet, but I’ll think of something.” The sunlight dims, and I look up at the sky to see that a few clouds have moved in. “It’s not supposed to rain is it?”
Poppy checks her phone, shaking her head. “No, my weather app says it’s supposed to be sunny all day.”
“We’re all set,” Logan says, jumping down from his truck. “Wren, you want to follow behind me?”
“Sure. I’ve just got to drop off the keys.” We move to our respective cars. I pull out first, heading to the front office. It’s closed, but I put them in a labeled envelope and drop them into the designated drop box. I’m almost back to the car whena raindrop falls and hits the top of my head. My head swivels to where Poppy and Logan are parked, and I feel three more fall.
Shit!
“Is that rain?” Poppy asks from the passenger seat of the truck.
“Yeah. It might hold if we hurry.”
“Then let’s go girl!”
I slide into the driver’s seat of my car and pull out of Cedar Hill for the last time. If it rains, that mattress is fucked. My whole body is drumming with nerves as we drive back to Tanner’s. My eyes keep darting between the road ahead and the very dark clouds that are rolling in and starting to spit rain across the windshield.
At the next light, we turn left, and I’m met with my worst nightmare—brake lights. We’re at a complete stop. My eyes shift upward, only to find more gray clouds.Fuck.My phone rings.
“Hey, it looks like the church up ahead is letting out, so it might be awhile,” Poppy explains.
