Thursday Sep 19

Townes arrived on Thursday and met with Frank all afternoon.

Bobbie was worried that he would get in the way of her preparations for their weekend at the homestead but he was busy and that suited Bobbie just fine. The first thing she wanted to do was go see her mom and get the keys to the place along with her blessing to even go.

“I don’t know why you all want to go down there dear. It’s been empty for about six months since Barry, the caretaker, died and God knows what you’ll find.”

“I’m sure it’ll just need a little cleaning and airing out and Johnny and Barb and I can handle that. I want to have a look around and I’ll make a list of what I think needs fixing.”

“I fear that it will be a long list. Why fix it? Nobody wants to go down there… I won’t sell it!”

“I’m not going to make you sell it! Jamie and I spent summers down there maybe we want to enjoy it again.”

“Well, you do what you like. Here’s the key.”

Bobbie hugged her mom. “Don’t worry Mom, we’ll clean it up a bit and you and I can drive down in a couple of weeks and you can see it too.”

Equipped with the key to the house, Bobbie set off for George’s store for supplies. George was not there so Bobbie chatted with the staff and came out with emergency candles, fuel for a camping stove, charcoal for an old barbecue and a couple tarps. You never know if you’ll have to fix a leak or a power outage.

She had to check in with Mark at the restaurant. He had Gina pack up some boxes that contained all the dry goods a party of seven might need. Mark had added a few more things like dairy and fruits and vegetables and he would pack some steaks and a couple chickens to cook in a separate cooler.

“Wow Mark, I don’t need to bring much else. Thanks so much.”

“No problem, Bobbie. I know you’ll make good use out of all this and it doesn’t cost that much to order a little extra anyway.”

“Thanks again. I’ll pick all up early tomorrow so it will be out of the way while you get ready for the market.” Bobbie waved goodbye and went out the back door to her car again. She was headed to the liquor store for wine and Beer. That will be all they’d need for the weekend. She decided to head down to see Johnny and talk to him about the weekend.

“Hi Johnny, are you sure you can tear yourself away from your build site for the weekend?”

“Ya, I’ve got them putting a roof on the second storey of the house this weekend. I probably wasn’t going to help anyway. Once they get it all done, they should be done by Monday, I have to get the windows in before I can commence dry walling. I’m going to try doing that myself but I’ll need to wait because my windows are not hear yet.”

“Wow you’re really progressing fast. That’s sucks about the windows, I sure hope they arrive soon.”

“I should probably stay and poke around and set up my shop. But I guess I can take the weekend off. The shop has ordinary windows and they were installed a while ago. I shouldn’t have let Lorne and Rocco talk me into fancy windows.”

“Those windows are going to make your ordinary home extraordinary.”

“You’re right, natural light and the views are everything. I actually need to go over to Rick’s old place. I’m fixing it up a bit to be a nice rental or maybe an Air BNB or something. Do you want to come see it?”

“You’re not going to sell it?”

“I don’t know yet.”

They pulled into Rick’s father’s house and Bobbie was taken back in time. The front garden was a little overgrown but the 2 smooth front doors looked great.”

“The doors were solid teak, I just cleaned them up a bit and reused them.”

“Well, they sure look nice, let’s get inside.”

The door opened into a foyer that had a large closet to the right and looked into the open plan living dining area, to the left. “You’ve changed some walls.” Bobbie walked over to a small table to look at Johnny’s plans. “You just took a few walls down and painted the cabinets and the place looks so different. Was the terrazzo floor always here?”

“Yes. I had to learn how to patch it. I painted the kitchen cabinets which were solid plywood boxes and the shelves around that low fireplace the same creamy colour, took down some half walls and that weird porch around the back door. I turned it into a patio door and it’s a lot brighter.”

“I would call this a very sympathetic renovation. How did you have enough space to put a sliding patio door at the back, there?”

“Once the wall came down I had almost enough room. I just had to get a plug and light switch moved. The electrical was in pretty good shape but we did have to replace the panel.”

“I can see the pool.” Bobbie stepped out of the new patio door onto a new deck. “You kept the patio around the pool but built this whole deck by the house.”

“Yes, there was overgrown patio here and I wanted it to be the same level as the house so you could just step out on the deck. I’ll see if I can make a pergola here.”

“You could just use a fancy awning.”

“That’ a good idea.”

“Where did you find all the time to work on this Johnny?”

“Rick was already working on it before his accident. He had the walls down and the patio removed. The pool was cleaned up and the electrical panel replaced by the time I bought it. I’ve had help from some of the guys from soccer but I’ve been sleeping here off and on doing all the finishing stuff. That’s what I like to do anyway.”

“I have to get back to the motel soon but I’d like to see the bedrooms.”

They went into the house and Bobbie moved into the master bedroom. It had dark curtains so she flicked on the light. It was completely done. There was a large built in teak bed against a wall of shelving and refinished parquet wood floor. There was a sleek tiled fireplace across from the bed with two cozy chairs arranged in front. The room was spacious with no other furniture. She walked over to a doorway and the hall to the bathroom had a walk-in closet on either side. The bath room was small; it had one sink and a shower and toilet. “It’s nice that there is a master bathroom at all.”

“The bathroom and the closets were a den before. I think there is space to put a small desk in the bedroom if workspace is needed.”

Bobbie pointed at the lady’s face cream and deodorant and hairbrush on the bathroom counter.

“You have a new girlfriend that is helping you renovate?”

“It’s not like that Bobbie, she’s kind of an apprentice… She’s a single mom and her son plays on the soccer team I coach. She’s really handy and I’m helping her a bit. She and her boy are actually living here while we work.”

“Does her son know you are her boyfriend? That must make coaching awkward.” Bobbie moved back towards the closet. She hadn’t noticed that one side had quite a few clothes. “So, she’s living here and you just drop buy for a sleepover when the kid is with his dad?”

“She’s not my girlfriend Bobbie; I sleep upstairs.”

“Is she paying you rent Johnny or are you just taking out in trade or something?” Bobbie new it wasn’t rational but she was annoyed with Johnny and if she admitted it to herself a little jealous of this mysterious apprentice.

“Bobbie! It’s not like that. She pays a small amount in rent but she’s helping me renovate too. I’m working on two big projects I need the help and I’m not taking advantage of her.”

“I’m sorry Johnny, I know, you’re helping her and her boy right when they need help. It just looks a little inappropriate. When can I meet these people anyway?”

Johnny gulped. “Well how about this evening. If you help me set up the outdoor dining furniture we can have an early dinner tonight.”

“I’d love to but Townes just texted and he’s done with his meetings.”

“Send him directions and ask him over. I’d like to show off the house for him too.”

“Is your apprentice going to mind? She actually lives here.”

“Myra won’t mind. Nether will Kirby.”

“Let get a quick peek at your room upstairs.” Bobbie still wasn’t buying it. It wasn’t like Johnny to lie about things like this though. They walked out to the living room and looked at the loft with the railing. They went upstairs and saw the two bedrooms with a bathroom at the end of the hall. The loft area had couch and TV and a video game set up.

“His room isn’t quite finished.” Bobbie made note of the shaving bag in the bathroom and walked along the rail towards the rooms.

The door opened downstairs and a woman and a teenage boy came in. Johnny leaned over the rail. “Hey guys. Bobbie is here.”

“We finally get to meet the fabulous Bobbie!”

Bobbie heard the trace of an Irish accent in Myra’s voice so she squared her shoulders and headed downstairs. She stopped in her tracks on the last step. Myra had Johnny’s eyes and they were staring up at her in a familiar way.

Johnny came right down behind her and went over to hug Myra. “Bobbie this is my kid sister Myra.”