“Hi, my name is Riley Breton and I noticed you just moved here, I wanted to say welcome to the neighborhood.” He wiped his hands on his dirty jeans. Looked like oil or something. “Hello.” He looked at me.
“Hey.” I said, and walked away. I sat at the top of the stairs where they couldn’t see me.
“I’m Riley Breton.” He trailed off. “Ok then.
“Don’t mind her. That’s Trinity, my Daughter.”
“Oh no problem, I’m one of the teachers at the local high school, and thought maybe I should introduce myself. Also I noticed your porch and a few other things could be fixed up, I’m a part time construction worker, I could help you with that.”
“Oh really? I’d love that, thank you. I know nothing about fixing stuff.”
“You’re very welcome.” He paused as he didn’t know her name.
“Oh, right, Michelle. Grant. Michelle Grant.” Mom was genuinely nervous. I hadn’t ever known her to be this nervous.
“Ok, Michelle Grant. It’s very nice to meet you. What grade is your daughter in?”
“Tenth.”
“Alright. Well, I should go. I have some papers to grade. It was very nice meeting you Michelle.”
“You too. Riley right?”
“That’s right. I’ll talk to you soon.” He turned and walked off.
“Well he was nice.” She looked up the stairs.
“How’d you know I was up here?” I stood up.
“You’ve done that since you were 4.” She laughed and went into the kitchen to finish unpacking.
We slowly started to make a dent in the unpacking over the next few weeks. While we unpacked Riley worked. First it was the porch. There was knock on the door.
“Hey Riley.” Mom said opening the door.
“The porch is finished.” Mom wrapped her sweater around her self and stepped out onto the porch. It was done really well.
“Oh my goodness. Riley, it’s amazing!” She was astonished that he had done this is such a short time.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Simple porch job.” He sniffed, wiping his red nose.
“Dinner’s ready. If you’d like to stay.” I just stood by and watched my mom become a teenager.
“I don’t know, I’ve got some papers.” My mother cut him off.
“I insist.”
“Well, if you insist, then I guess I should stay.” He smiled and came inside. “Wow, the place is looking great!” He took off his hat, coat, gloves, and boots. His blackish grey hair sticking up all over. Mom giggled. He turned around.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing at all.” She turned and giggled some more. He looked at me.
“What’s up?”
“Your hair.” I walked upstairs. He looked into the mirror by the door, and gave a chuckle.
While we were eating he kept making statements about what should be done in the house, improvement wise.
“Should really replace those pipes. Don’t need those bursting. Who sold you this place?” He asked taking a bite of meatloaf.
“It was Sally, Sally something Realtor.” She giggled. “I’m sorry, I don’t really remember her name.”
