Begin Again

Chapter 13

(RYAH) 

"What are you doing here?" I asked when I saw him working on the roof. It had changed a lot since last night. Now the entire thing was almost done. I could tell that he had been working though out the night. Torin reached for the stack of boards that he had hauled up there with him as he selected the one that would fit perfectly for what he needed. He picked the right one and moved it to its place. 

"I'm putting in a roof." He said as he swung the hammer to secure the board. 

"Why?" I asked pulling my shawl tighter around me. I wished that I could just disappear into it and not have this conversation. 

Torin looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. "So you don't get soaked when it rains." He said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. I didn't want him to care what happened to me when it rained. 

"Why are you helping me?" I asked. 

"Do you know how to put on a roof?"

"Why are you helping me after last night?" 

He didn't answer me. He lifted his hammer and gave it a few more swings. I waited for him to answer my question but he didn't seem like he was going to. 

"Torin?" 

"We should both just forget about last night," he said after a moment of hesitation. 

"I can't."

The only sound was the steady pound of the hammer against the wood. I stood there for a few minutes feeling like a fool. Then I cleared my throat and took a deep breath to steady my nerves. 

"I think you should leave," I said quietly and his hammering stopped. I glanced up at him for a second then looked back down at the ground. I didn't want to look him in the eye when I said what I needed to say. I didn't want him to be able to read exactly what I was feeling. 

"Because of what happened last night?" 

"Because I don't need your help anymore."

He swung himself down off of the roof and landed on the planks on the floor. I heard his boots as he walked across the floor then jumped down onto the dirt. He walked towards me and stopped in front of me. I stared down at his feet because I couldn't force myself to look him in the eye. 

"Do you suddenly know how to build a house?" He asked and I didn't reply. He took another step closer and I could see the hammer in his hand. 

"I don't need your help anymore," I repeated. He didn't move and I knew that he was waiting for me to look him in the eye. I glanced up to meet his confused eyes then I looked down again. 

"Ryah,"

"I don't want you here," I interrupted before he could say anything.  

"You cant,"

"Go away, Torin," I interrupted again as I looked anywhere but his eyes. I didn't want to see what my words were doing to him. There was a soft thud as his hammer fell onto the ground. I heard him exhale loudly then he turned and walked away from me. It took everything in me to not watch him walk away. There was a pause in his footsteps. 

"You kissed me back," He called. 

I knew I had. That was what terrified me. When I didn't move or make any indication that I had heard him he kept walking. I waited for a few moments to be sure that he was gone and I looked up at the house. I pulled my shawl from around my shoulders and picked up the hammer as I walked towards the house. 

I didn't suddenly know how to build a house but that didn't mean that I was going to ask anyone for help. The roof was nearly finished and I had been working on the floor. After I had the floor in place I would start on the walls. I could finish the roof myself and start working more on the chimney. The work would take twice as long but it wasn't like I was going anywhere.