Short Story--Easy Peasy--Day 2

​Thanks so much for joining us this week to read my birthday gift to you, a short story. If you need to catch up, the first day is here. Have fun!

Jane shouldn’t hover. But much as she tried to convince herself to back off, she remained seated at the table, watching Chris unbox her new microwave. Maybe hooking up appliances wasn’t romantic or fun, but ever since they’d moved into their house two years before, the microwave already installed over the stove had deteriorated with a rapidity that led her to believe its demise was imminent.

She was simply being proactive.

Chris gave an extra-loud grunt as he lifted the thing from its Styrofoam cushion and plunked it onto her grandmother’s dining table. Jane bit back a groan as the possibility of scratches in the antique oak zipped through her mind. Not worth it. He was doing this for her.

“Okay. Now what?” Jane rubbed her hands together.

“Now, you let me look over the instructions.” Chris glanced at her above the new appliance and then returned to perusing the paperwork spread out in front of him.
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“Right.” She plopped back into her seat.

Every time he shifted, she readied herself to help, but then he’d resettle and read some more. The YouTube video had only taken ten minutes to watch, tops. How could the written instructions take seven minutes longer?
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“Give me time, Jane. I want to make sure I do it right.” Her husband of five years startled her out of her mental complaining. Chagrin settled in her belly. He was doing this for her. And she was being less than helpful.

Six minutes later, he stood, but held up a finger. “Hang on. I’ve got to go find some screwdrivers.”

“Garage. Top shelf to the left of the door. In the red toolbox.” Jane called after him.

He waved over his shoulder. Several more groans and grumbles sounded through the open doorway, but she stayed where she was. No telling what had been stacked up in front of those shelves, considering how they tended to use the garage as a catch-all. Another project that hadn’t been accomplished this summer.

Chris walked back in, a screwdriver in each hand. Jane jumped up, ready to do whatever he needed, but he motioned her to stay seated.

“It was my idea. Why can’t I help?” Jane’s voice came out petulant, but she couldn’t help it. Sometimes he turned into a bit of a caveman when he was working on projects she’d suggested—as if she needed him to do it by himself since she was just a girl.

“You will help when I get to a step that needs more than one set of hands.”

She sank into the chair as he started fiddling with something on top of the new microwave, maneuvering a metal plate over an opening. Then, he meticulously cut the edges off a large sheet of paper that was supposed to help line up the bracket. Just when she thought he was finally ready, he headed to the garage once more, returning a few minutes later with a level and a roll of painters tape.

Now?

He scooted the stove out of the way and then climbed up on a chair to empty the cabinet above the microwave. “What is all this?”

“Wedding gifts.” She accepted the crystal pitcher and a couple of vases as well as the Christmas china someone thought they’d love.

“And why do we still have it?”

“I might need a vase someday.” The rest of it ... she just hadn’t decided what to do with yet. She was always afraid those family members might visit and be upset if they found out she’d gotten rid of a gift they’d wanted her to have.

Chris offered a noncommittal sound and yanked the plug out for the current microwave. “Okay. Think you can brace this while I unscrew it?”

She tucked a shoulder under it and grinned up at him. “I’m ready. Let’s do this thing.”

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How's it going so far? Any of this sound like your house?
​Stop by tomorrow for Day 3 to find out how things progress.