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Zoe
Zoe stared at Rachel blankly. She was making more sense than Zoe wanted to admit. But Zoe didn’t believe that there was some sparkly, magical future waiting for her. She looked around the sanctuary. She was too full to move and wanted to do nothing but go to sleep.
She was desperate for her couch, but she didn’t want to face her grandmother. Her eyes landed on Rachel’s. “Are you going to tell Gramma?”
Rachel hesitated. “I’m not sure. I’m tempted not to, but I’m still struggling with whether that’s dishonest.”
Zoe managed to not roll her eyes. “It’s not dishonest.”
“All right.”
“Do you think I could take a nap on a pew?”
Rachel sighed. “Sure. But we’re not counting these hours.”
Of course not. Did Rachel think she was an idiot? “Thank you. If you can, I’d love it if you’d wake me up in a few hours.” Zoe got up and was headed toward the closest pew when she saw the expression on Rachel’s face. Suddenly, a nap seemed shameful. She stretched and tried to open her eyes wider. “What were we supposed to accomplish today?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m supposed to be doing my community service, right? But the sign’s done. What were we supposed to do next?”
Rachel folded her arms across her chest. “I was hoping to get started on cleaning out the basement.”
Oh no. Images of the basement flashed through her mind. “That’s going to take forever.”
“That’s why I wanted to get started.”
Zoe took a long breath. She didn’t know long she’d last, but she didn’t want to further disappoint Rachel. “All right. Let’s go then.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” She headed toward the stairs.
“Wait!” She heard Rachel hurrying after her. “Watch out for the third step. It’s broken.”
Zoe’s foot hovered over the third step, and she grabbed the railing to steady herself. The railing was not as firm as she’d expected, and she started to pitch forward. It occurred to her that this was the fall that was going to kill her, but Rachel’s strong hands grabbed her from behind.
“Easy, girl.”
Despite her thick misery, Zoe chuckled. “Thank you.”
“Maybe I should have gone first.”
“No, it’s okay.” Gingerly, Zoe continued down. “Just stay close.”
“That’s my intention.”
They made it safely to the basement floor, and Rachel flipped on the lights.
Zoe groaned. “Why is there so much stuff down here?”
Rachel stepped around her, and Zoe saw for the first time that she had a roll of giant black trash bags stuck under one arm. “I imagine that there was quite a bit of stuff in the basement when it was a church. Then it was bought by a woman who wanted to open an antique store.” She looked around, her face twisted up in disgust. “I’m guessing that she was planning to sell some of this stuff.”
Zoe guffawed. “I don’t think this stuff is sellable.”
Rachel picked up a ceramic rabbit, looked it over, and then set it back down. “Maybe that’s why she never hung the open sign.” She pulled the trash bags out of her armpit, ripped one off the roll, and shook it out. “We’re going to throw most of it away. But if you see anything that someone might want, we’ll just put it out on the lawn.”
“And then what?”
“And then we hope that someone who wants it takes it.” She handed Zoe a trash bag and then started to rip off another one.
“I think we need to find someone with a truck.”
“I’ve already got one lined up for tomorrow.” She pointed toward the opposite wall. “Things that are supposed to go into the pickup truck, we put right there against that wall.”
Zoe looked at the wall. “There’s no room to put anything against that wall.”
“Exactly. That’s why we start there.”
