He sighed and tried to keep it to himself. Katie was already upset. What initially looked like an easy fix had now grown into something mammoth. That meant more money. Money she had already allotted for other things in this project. It would now have to be used to fix the roof.
“This was a mistake,” she said quietly. “What was I thinking when I thought that I could take on a project like this. And alone.”
“Hey, you have somebody here with you. At least, I thought I was helping.”
Her shoulders sagged, but it was clear that it wasn’t what he’d said that gave her the defeated stand. “You’ve been a huge help. I know I wouldn’t have even gotten this far if you hadn’t been here to give me advice and some muscle.”
He grinned and flexed his biceps. “You like my muscle, huh?”
She tilted an eyebrow and glared at him, and then she laughed as he had hoped she would.
“I have a friend at the station who just had his roof repaired. If the guy you called can’t get out until next week, maybe his roofer will be able to get out here sooner.”
“It’s worth a try.”
“I can give him a call to get the roofer’s number. And you might want to talk to Ash. He might have a few recommendations being that he’s working with construction people all day at the lumberyard.”
Katie nodded. “I suppose I should hold off on ordering any more supplies. If this roof goes, then anything we bring in here will all get ruined, too.”
“I suggest you get a dumpster first and maybe a trailer to hold supplies until you can bring them inside. Let’s head out. I’ll just make sure this area below the hole is taped off with caution tape before we go. I don’t want anyone coming in here thinking they can look around and then get hurt.”
She nodded again. Then she walked away with her head hung low. It pained him to see the defeat in her after so much enthusiasm.
Caleb couldn’t deny that he’d had plenty of reservations about Katie Dobbs taking on this project. Lots of women worked on construction. That wasn’t the issue at all. But Katie had no experience in it even though Caleb knew her brother had made a fortune investing in real estate. But Kasper was in New York City and that meant things fell on Katie’s shoulders until Kas came to visit.
Caleb heard the sound of boards being dropped on to a pallet outside and he smiled. That was Katie. She’d been defeated for the moment, but she wasn’t going to leave her property looking like a war zone with boards and materials thrown about the property.
She had heart and she had vision. He could see it now even though he questioned it plenty going back to that first night he found her sitting in the chapel alone.
One of the windows that had broken was big enough and low enough to the ground for someone to crawl inside. So Caleb picked up a leftover piece of plywood and brought it over to the window. He had just a few nails in his pocket to bang the board in and prevent someone from crawling through the window and injuring themselves. It wouldn’t hold up to any major kicking if anyone really wanted to get in. But the few nails he’d used would hold them back and possibly change their mind.
For a split second he questioned nailing into the window molding. But there was some dry rot there, so the wood would need to be replaced anyway. Once he was satisfied the board was secure, he took a few steps back and glanced around the room to see if there were any other new openings someone might be able to climb in through.
A few clumps of snow hit him on the head and he glanced up to see where it was coming from. He realized he was standing directly beneath the hole in the roof. He hadn’t had a chance to go out to the truck to get the caution tape so he hadn’t realized where he was standing. Before he could move, a large chunk of snow slid off the dangling beam and came down upon him. He quickly dropped the hammer and shielded his head with his arms from the onslaught of the heavy, wet snow. The cold seeped through his sweatshirt and chilled his skin.
He was just about to move toward the door when he heard a snap. Glancing up quickly, he saw the beam that had been hanging precariously above him let loose and was now falling. He bolted toward the door but only got a few feet before something hit him in the back of the head and forced him to the ground. He didn’t know how long he’d been out, but as he blinked he turned to the doorway and saw Katie standing there. Her mouth was agape and her hands flew to her face in horror as she saw him on the ground.
“Stay there,” he forced himself to say. “Katie, don’t come in...” His head became fuzzy and he felt a sharp pain on his head. And then in his world went black.
Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Four
Katie heard the crack in the beam from outside the chapel. She dropped the wood she’d been carrying to the pallet and raced to the side door that she and Caleb had just built. There she watched in horror as the large beam from the roof fell down with a cascade of snow right on top of Caleb. Caleb collapsed beneath weight of the snow and broken beam, and lay on the cold floor on his stomach, buried beneath the debris.
“Caleb!” she screamed.
He’d tried to warn her to stay back,
