Something bright and shiny propped up against the side of the house catches my eye. A ladder. My gaze follows the line of it up and up and up, until I reach the end. And there near the top of the roof is a lone, solitary figure.
The person is crouched down near one of the holes, though that hole seems a lot smaller than I remember it.
Relief trickles through me. Someoneisfixing this place up. For a moment I’d been worried that whoever bought it had just planned on scrapping it for the land, but if someone’s working on repairs then this place still has a chance.
I squint up, lifting a hand to block some of the sun’s glare, but I still can’t fully make the person out.
I almost call out again but stop when I see the figure move. It’s a quick, sudden swing of an arm and then anotherclang.
I wait until they’re done, then give it a try. “Hello,” I say, louder than before, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Can you hear me up there?”
Silence for a beat.
“Yes?” a man’s voice calls back.
My body almost sags at the staggering joy I feel. I’m not too late. This madcap, absolutely absurd plan might actually work.
“Hi! I’m sorry. I know you probably just bought this place. Or maybe you’re working on it for the person who did, but I need to talk to the owner. Or if it’s you, I guess I need to—”
“Hold on a sec,” the man shouts back. “I can barely hear you. I’m coming down.”
He shimmies across the roof, and something about the movement seems so familiar. I guess Ihavewatched Nikhil do this a lot, back when I used to visit him while he was working. It’s a pretty distinctive kind of dance, which requires you to move slowly and carefully, making sure to find the right footholds. And I imagine it’s even harder on a roof like this. One so fragile, with shingles missing here and there.
With his back toward me, the man swings one foot onto the top rung of the ladder, and I rush to hold the base.
There’s a pair of ropes tying the bottom of the ladder to a stake, so he must have secured it properly before climbing, but I still feel the need to keep it steady.
We’re both quiet as he climbs down. At first, I track his progress, but that means I’m basically staring at his ass, which seems impolite. I shouldn’t be ogling some random guy’s butt, even if the millisecond glimpse I caught of it made it seem like it’s a very good one.
I look at my feet instead, then at my hands clutching the ladder.
“So,” I say, no longer able to handle the silence. “Sorry about before. And sorry to make you come down. I didn’t mean to take you away from your work. I’m just looking for the owner. I saw the house was listed recently and I was hoping to put an offer in, but someone snatched it up. Or if you’re the owner, I guess you did. Andyou probably wouldn’t be interested in selling if that’s the case, but I do want to make an offer. And it would be a competitive one, so maybe we could—”
“You’re right,” he says. “I don’t want to sell.”
I startle, my heart thudding fast. His voice is so close, and Iknowthat voice. I peer up, and realize he’s hovering just above me.
I back away from the ladder, giving him space to swing down. He does, then bends over, dusting something off his jeans before straightening to his full height.
Even though I’ve just figured out that the mystery man on the roof was Nikhil, the sight of him is a shock to the system. Electric and sudden and jarring.
My eyes greedily run over his face, cataloging all the features I haven’t seen in days. His stubble is longer. I guess he’s let it grow out a little. But otherwise, he looks the same. Though his eyes look a little tired. Fatigued.
I want to wrap my arms around him. I want him to draw me close. I want to feel his heartbeat against mine and his chin resting on top of my head. I want to tell him that I’ve missed him. That I love him. But his expression stops me in my tracks.
More accurately, hislackof expression.
He doesn’t look happy to see me. And I can’t blame him for that. But he doesn’t look angry either. Or confused. His face doesn’t reveal anything at all.
“I came because…I wanted to—”
“You wanted to buy the house,” he says evenly. “I heard that part.”
I swallow. “Right. Well, I didn’t realize…I thought you sold it.”
He crosses his arms. “I didn’t.”
I scramble for words. My barely-thought-out plan is falling apart. I suppose I should be used to that by now, but this wassupposed to be my moment. My way of showing Nikhil how much he means to me. Without the plan, I’m not sure how I’m going to do that. I’m not sure what I can say.