Thursday Feb 14 2019

Bobbie wanted to rush Barb out of the hotel room but didn’t say anything. She had to get back and get ready for the pizza tasting the following evening. She texted Mark to meet her at her Mom’s place in 2 hours and asked him to have a list ready for them to go shopping. He texted her a thumbs up.

Then she texted Effie and explained she had been on a buying trip and needed her to arrange to rent 2 large storage lockers in the self storage place near the motel. She also asked her to meet at her Mom’s place.

They checked out and drove through a coffee place and each got a muffin and coffee.

“We got a lot of stuff yesterday. I don’t really understand Lorne’s vision, but I am happy with all the professional kitchen supplies.”

“I know Bobbie, who could imagine a commercial restaurant needed so much stuff. You got a lot of building supplies too. You’ll have fun organizing all that. I can tell you are a bit wound up over it. You’ll have time to get it all sorted. The trip was worth it for all those marble tiles. They are gorgeous.”

“Thanks Barb, you could always steady my nerves about things.”

She dropped Barb off and met the gang at her mom’s house.

Mark excitedly showed her a large jar filled with an off white, pasty liquid.

“What is that Mark?” asked Effie.

“It looks like a batch of sourdough starter,” said Florence

“That’s exactly right,” said Mark. “It’ll make the chewiest tangiest pizza crust ever and I have enough for the party tomorrow. I just save a bit to keep it going.”

“Wow!” said Bobbie “I’m sure it’s good. It’s sure not what people around here expect. Do you have a list for the other ingredients for the pizza?” Then she gave Mark her keys and her business credit card and suggested he and Effie do the shopping.

They were back just after lunch and they mixed dough for about an hour. They prepared a fresh tomato sauce and chopped a few other things and put everything in the fridge in the old office.

“The dough can rest in the fridge overnight. I don’t want it to proof too much; it will make a better crust that I can roll it out cold tomorrow.”

“You have been practising this haven’t you?”

“My family will never get tired of my sour dough pizza!”

Around 2 o’clock, Bobbie offered to drive them home so they could enjoy Valentines day if they had any plans. She drove them home and they thanked her for the ride and Mark called out, “See ya tomorrow.” And they disappeared around a corner. Bobbie noticed the same man step out of the shadows to talk to Effie. She pushed him away again and disappeared into the building. The blond haired man just hung his head and walked by her car without even looking up. Bobbie just knew it was the same guy. Well, Effie didn’t seem too worried so she shouldn’t butt in.

When Bobbie got home she found a box of flowers with a note. It was from George and it said ‘Happy Valentines Day’ and that he enjoyed their evening out and was looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.

Friday Feb 15

Bobbie had her pizza party on her mind but had to focus all the items that she bought and get them into their storage lockers. The trucks were there unloading and she was having a hard time cataloguing everything so she decided to take pictures so she would have a general idea and later be able to set up the spreadsheets to keep track of things. She could come back and get more details later.

She stopped off at the motel to tell her contractor about the storage containers and gave him a set of keys to the one that had the building materials like tiles, wood and gyp-rock. Rocco was a handsome Italian man, He had thick dark hair, streaked with just a little silver, olive skin and Aquiline features.

He wasn’t too pleased. “It’s better if I can order supplies myself.”

“I am working with a designer that will smooth this out and you’ll have an itemized list and photos by Monday. In the mean-time we have all the tiles we’ll ever need for the bathroom floors and they can be installed right away.”

He took her upstairs to her apartment and showed her the progress. The drywall was all hung and the kitchen was mostly installed. “We moved the wall to extend the hallway for roof access. That was a good idea as all the new heat pumps are up there. I will set aside time to do the fine carpentry for all your shelving next week.”

Bobbie was excited, “I want to build a roof deck there eventually. Can you make sure the heat pumps are pushed back a bit?”

“Aren’t you just full of good ideas! I’ll make sure the trades know of your plans.”

“When will I be able to move in?” Bobbie wondered if Rocco was flirting a bit.

“Hopefully things should be finished up by the first week of March. You know, I know a guy that has a couple of old shipping containers that I could buy for a couple hundred dollars each and we could set them on the far end of the property and then move the building supplies out of the self storage to have them onsite.”

“That’s a great idea Rocco, I can really get things organized, let’s do it.”

She checked her watch and said she had to run and drove back home to see how the tasting party preparations were going.

“Rocco, you should join us at my place for the pizza tasting party.”

“Thanks Bobbie, but I can’t tonight.”

Maybe he wasn’t flirting.

Effie, her friend Drey, and Mark were there and were all dressed in white chef jackets. Even though Drey and Effie were probably 5 years older than Mark, he was doing a pretty good job bossing them around. “We set up a couple of tables with chairs on one side, like a bar,” said Mark. There was a prep table against the wall full of glasses and an ice bucket.

Bobbie went out to Florence’s old office where party gear from the New Years party was stored and called into the house asking Mark if he wanted to make a punch. He came to the door and shook his head and said no punch but I think we could have some Sangria. Bobbie thought a second and found a sangria pitcher in one of the boxes. She also brought in a few strings of white lights.

“Excuse me Drey, can you come help me hang these lights?” Drey was a short black man and he was quite slim. A small Afro and a wide toothy smile that made him immediately likeable.

While they worked, Bobbie asked, “So how do you know Effie?”

“We’re from the same home town and I’ve known Effie since grade school. We met up here in Crow Harbour at our church, after her fire. I have alcohol problems and VLT problems but am going to gambling addiction meetings and that is helping me. It turns out when I’m not gambling, things are much better and I don’t turn to booze.”

Bobbie was silent thinking it might not be the best idea putting an alcoholic in charge of the bar and patted him on the shoulder indicating she understood. She left him with the lights and went to her car where she had about half a dozen large restaurant sized sheet pans. She pulled them out of the storage locker earlier, thinking Mark could use them tonight. She carried them to the back door and Mark helped her bring them in.

“These are excellent Bobbie, they are just what we need,” and went back to work.

With everything looking like it was almost ready, Bobbie went into her room to shower and dress for cocktail hour. She knew her Mom would wear an old school hostess gown so she just pulled on a nice shirt and a skirt with some tights. She put a bit of jewellry on and then a bit of makeup and sat on the bed. She checked her phone and saw a message from Johnny asking if he could bring anything, and she replied ‘no, just you, your gal and your Aunt.’

Then she thought a moment about Drey and Effie and hoped that if they were together as more than friends that he would treat her well. She couldn’t help but think about Effie’s story about Alex’s ring. Somebody with a gambling addiction might be pretty tempted by an expensive ring. And there was that guy in the parking lot. Then she shook her head, she remembered that horrible fire and felt bad about being judgmental and suspicious.