Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

It was a Sunday, a month after I’d arrived in River Canyon, and I had a day off. It was the beginning of February, close to my birthday, and it shouldn’t have been as warm as it was. So, I found myself outside, assessing the beat-up steps leading up to my door. I had helped Grampa with quite a few projects in my youth, and I’d done some woodworking at Wayward. I was confident I could do something with those steps if I had the supplies, but that was another issue entirely. For now, I was only checking them out. Seeing if there was anything I could do to keep them from collapsing before I got the chance to get to Home Depot. “Hey!” I turned to the familiar voice, and there was Noah. Standing on the little porch of the trailer next to mine. “Hi, Noah,” I replied, offering a small, friendly wave. “Can I come over?” “Uh …” I rubbed my bearded chin, unsure of how to answer. “You know, I’m not sure your mom—” “Okay, hold on. I’ll ask her!” He ran inside before I could stop him, and I sighed, listening to him bellow for his mother. There’s no way that lady is going to be okay with him coming over here. She seems too overprotective. No freakin’— “She said it’s fine!” Noah shouted, running out of his house and down the steps. “Oh. Uh, okay.” I watched as he ran to stand at the bottom of my stairs. “Watch out for this, okay?” I pointed to the loose and rotted boards. “I don’t want you getting hurt.” He nodded. “Okay.” This wasn’t how I’d planned to spend my day. Sitting outside, ente...