Wednesday Sep 4 Down around Johnny’s Place

Bobbie’s phone dinged and it woke her up even before Fossie could. It was a text from Trixie explaining she was coming home for a few days while her hotel suite was getting packed up and moved to her newly renovated apartment. She’d arrive Thursday night and wanted Bobbie and Townes, to come to supper with them at Greg’s place.  Bobbie answered that they would love to.

She looked over at Townes who was still sleeping. He was moving his stuff over to her apartment today. He had to leave his room by 11. She couldn’t believe she liked him so much. He had only been there a week. They had been together a lot. Townes stirred.

He opened his eyes. “Good morning, whacha thinking about?”

“I was deciding which drawer I was going to empty for you and also thinking you move really fast.”

“Oh, I was thinking about taking that little pink room, with all the beds, and turning that into my dressing room.”

Bobbie punched him in the arm and he grabbed her arm and wrestled a bit. He jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom; she went to the other bathroom and then to the kitchen and started coffee. Townes popped his head out of the bedroom. “I just checked the shower and the water’s fine. You should join me.”

Bobbie clicked the coffee on and went to join him. They were clean in an hour.

They came out of the bedroom and he stopped her and gave her a long, passionate kiss. “You are such a good kisser.”

I’m putting on my work clothes because Johnny has a lot stuff for us to help with.

Did you see my new work clothes. I went to see that friend of yours with the work wear store and he hooked me up.” Townes did a little half turn and batted his eyelashes.

Bobbie laughed. “I’m sure you’ll be able to work twice as hard.”

They started towards Johnny’s place and walked through the garden. Bobbie grabbed a couple cherry tomatoes and went through the gate. Johnny was standing near his finished pool talking to a couple of workmen. He turned to look at Bobbie and Townes. “Hey guys it’s nice to see you out. I appreciate the help. I’ll be working on the main house today but I though you guys could finish the pool pump house and outdoor shower.”

“Ooh that sounds fun.”

The foundation and studs for the little building were already in place Bobbie and Townes found the plans to assess what to do the next. They found plywood sheets and Bobbie held them in place while Townes nailed and then they measured everything out for board and batten siding and air gunned the battens on. They saw the little roof trusses and Johnny came over and explained they’d have to do the roof trusses later because they were heavy. He seemed surprised that Bobbie and Townes had gotten as far as they did. Bobbie dug around for the outdoor shower kit and they had their heads together figuring it out. Townes went over and lifted the end of a truss. I think we can do this Bobbie.

They saw Roger coming down the hill towards them. “Hi guys I can help lift those. If Bobbie can get on the roof with the nailer we can do it.”

Bobbie was a little nervous but really wanted to look competent and she agreed right away. She climbed up and straddled one wall and helped guide the truss into place. She bent down and Townes handed her the big nail gun and she did a pretty good job of nailing the edge onto the little roof. “It’s going to be slow going because I have to jump down to get the one on the other side.”

Townes looked at the other side. “I think I can just stand on a box to nail this side. Give me the gun.”

They were done in an hour with no problems. Roger said he had to go and Bobbie and Townes were left to nail the plywood for the roof to the trusses. They both put it up in place and then Bobbie climbed up and nailed it to the top beam and Townes could reach the other edge standing on the box. Bobbie put the last nail in and sighed.

Johnny came over. “You guys are a great help; I’ll get the guys to put the roofing over the plywood later. Are you interested in painting it?”

“Sure Johnny, why don’t we prime it right now and paint it tomorrow.’

“If you’re not around I can paint it whenever. I think the house is going to be grey with dark wood accents so I think the pump house should be orange. The side closest to the house will be blue, like the pool, because I’m using marine paint. I’m putting the outdoor shower there. I’ll be collecting rain off that roof you just built.”

“Blue and Orange are nice, it’ll be nice to have a shower for rinsing off around the pool. After you’re done, do you want to come up later for supper? I’ve got some cabbage rolls in the fridge and maybe I’ll steal some desserts from the tea service.”

“Sure Bobbie, after we wrap things up here, I’ll come for supper.”

They finished priming and Townes was quiet as they went back up the hill. They turned to take in the progress on the main house and saw the main floor was almost finished. “That’s going to be a nice large house.”

“He’s only going to be living on the top floor, He wants a recording studio on the first floor.”

“It’s pretty amazing to have a vision and a dream and actually build it with your own hands.”

“Johnny will do what he can but I think he’ll end up paying people to finish it in the end.”

“I’ll have a work crew here soon to build Stargazer Condos soon. Maybe they can help him too.”

“You’re naming the project Stargazer Condominiums?”

“It’s kind of perfect, don’t you think. Look at that little pumphouse you and I built. There was nothing there except a few studs and now there’s a whole building. They came to Bobbies’ steps and they trudged up. Bobbie looked at her reflection in the door. “Why don’t we tidy up and go down for tea. I’m a little hungry?”

“Ugh, maybe you can bring me something.”

Bobbie nodded and went in the bathroom. She kicked off her sweaty clothes and washed her face. She also gave herself a good sponge bath and found clean underwear. She put on a light chemise and one of her linen suits and pinned her hair up. Next, she put some mascara and lipgloss on and went back into the kitchen.

Townes was there, nursing a glass of water. “My new work boots gave me blisters.”

Oh no, come in the bedroom and I’ll fix you up. He limped over to the bedroom and carefully removed his socks. Bobbie brought out a big square, shallow bucket full of warm water and Epsom salts. “Soak your feet until the water cools, then pat dry and put on this stuff and cover with that stuff. She handed him a towel, antibiotic cream and big bandages.” She kissed him and left.

She walked down to the restaurant. He must have had sore feet the whole morning thought Bobbie. She walked by SPOKES and smiled at Lock. He was the new guy helping while Chase was sick and she went to talk to Mink. “So how is Chase feeling? Is he ready for his procedure?”

“Yes. It is tomorrow and he is nervous he’s in the room right now obsessively playing solitaire on his phone. I wish he had a more productive distraction.”

“Maybe I should teach him to knit. How’s tea going? I see that we are pretty full. I had something I wanted to run by you Mink. I want to hire a general manager. As the owner, I’ll always be here but I feel like I’m letting things go a little too much and should hire someone that keeps track of everything.”

“We came here because we like your energy, Bobbie.”

“Aww, thank you Mink but I’ll still be here. I just want someone here to help with procurement and who can call the plumber or pool guy when things need repair. I guess you’re not interested in the job?”

“No. I like where I am and with Chase being sick and the house still not finished, I can’t take on what you describe.”

“I’m going to talk to Mark and Effie before I decide but I think I’d be looking outside the staff for the new hire. I’ll grab a coffee pot and go around, OK?”

“Good idea.”

Bobbie moved away from Mink to the coffee station and grabbed a pot. The crowd was thinning and Bobbie put on her game face and went around to all the tables chatting and topping up coffee mugs. When the last table left, Bobbie helped Sipho carry the desserts back but stopped him from throwing any out. I’ll rescue some for my dinner tonight. She got a little box and squirreled away some gluten free treats. Sipho grabbed some day-old cheesecake too and so did Mark.

“I hate to see anything get wasted. I wanted to talk to you guys. I’m thinking of hiring a general manager and I really just wanted to give you a heads up. Mark, I’d ask you if you wanted to do it but you are so valuable here unless you really want it…”

“No, I’m fine right here Bobbie. I really like the new brunch we have on Sunday. And our lunches are good. We really have a special thing going here. I hope you don’t bring someone in who doesn’t fit.”

“This is just a heads up, I am really thinking hard about this and will find someone who is perfect.”

She said ta and headed to the back stairs and to the apartment. She went in and put her box of treats in the fridge. “Townes are you awake?” she called.

Hi Bobbie, I’m in here. Bobbie went into the theatre room and Townes was there watching the news. “That foot soak really helped. I’ve got the band aids on and I got socks on no problem and they don’t hurt much anymore.”

“That’s good. I got a text from Trixie and she’s coming to town. She wants us to go to dinner at Greg’s place tomorrow. Do you want to go?”

“Sure, I wanted to ask you about renting rooms for my crew. Three people are coming to get things started with building site prep. Looking at environmental regulations, land registry issues land surveys, power and water all that. They’ll be here tomorrow and I told them to reserve rooms here.”

“That should be no problem, will there be a lot more people coming?”

“No. Mostly they’ll hire people from around here.”

“Creating jobs, building housing; they’ll be after you to run for mayor if you’re not careful.”

Johnny appeared in the door with a bottle of wine. “Who’s running for mayor?”

“Not me, I’m retired. I wanted to tell you guys about a decision I made. I talked to Frank and I am starting the search for a general Manager for the motel to do all the things I don’t want to do.”

Johnny Laughed. “What stuff do you not want to do?”

“I don’t want to sort out maintenance issues or procurement issues or budgets, all that stuff. I just want to be the hostess with the moistest, when I want and get free desserts.”

Townes clapped. “We should drink to that.”