As she drove, her thoughts filtered back to the evening she’d met Matt at the church. Then, at Angel’s Rest in the ice storm. And then again, here at his house warming up by the fire.
She turned into his driveway. A tiny chipmunk poked his head up from the flower bed, then raced across the sidewalk as she parked. Probably stocking up for the next winter storm.
As she walked up the stairs, his big dog watched her through the glass storm door. A fire blazed in the fireplace, orange flames reflecting in the glass. The air smelled of charred wood and spice.
“Hi, Elvis,” Liz called out.
The dog’s nub of a tail wiggled.
Matt walked toward the door, and motioned to her. “Come on in.”
She entered and gave Elvis a pat on the head. “How’ve you been, Elvis?”
“He really likes you,” Matt said. “Look at his tail wagging.”
“I like you too,” she said to Elvis. “So why’d you name him Elvis anyway?” She placed her hand under his chin. “Do you sing?” She lifted his paws in her hands and hummed a few bars of “Hound Dog,” but the dog didn’t seem dazzled by her Elvis impression.
“He’s been known to howl a time or two, but I named him Elvis because his lip over his left canine will get tucked and hung up under there and it gives him that Elvis lip sneer. Then, if you ever see him get excited you’ll see his hip action. It doesn’t happen often, but when he gets that little nub of his wagging, his whole rear end helicopters. I’m telling you, Elvis is in the building.” Matt made his own best Elvis impersonation. The lip, the hip, and then, “Thank you very much.”
Liz couldn’t stop laughing. “You two are too much. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. That was a very good impersonation.”
“Thank you very much.” Matt ran his hand back through his hair to smooth where he’d shaken it forward. “I’ve got everything laid out on the dining room table.”
She followed him. The amount of paper the two of them had collectively on this project already was a little overwhelming. So much so it made her laugh again. It was like she had a sudden attack of the giggles and everything was funny. “And all of this is before we even get started?”
“I was thinking the same thing when I spread all of this out. We may have to go out and plant a tree this afternoon.”
“Good idea.” She took her laptop out of her tote bag, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
“Let’s get right down to it,” he said. “None of the windows are broken in the house, so unless you have any objection, I’d say step one is removing all the boards from the windows so we have some decent light in the place, especially until we get the wiring checked out and some overhead lighting in place. That and clearing out those faux walls and anything that needs to be hauled away.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
“I’ll have a dumpster on site, so if you can go through all of that stuff in the cabin farthest from the house, and make sure there’s nothing you want to salvage, we’ll get it all out of there at one time. That’ll give us a clean slate to work with, and save you some expense if we do it all at once.”
“I can do that. If there’s anything that belonged to my grandparents, I definitely want to go through it.”
“That’s what I figured.” He checked off an item on his legal pad. “Have you given any thought about staying up here once the work starts?”
“Yes. The Goodwins have been great about letting me stay, but I’d like to see about getting that guest cabin back in decent order so I can stay there as quickly as possible. I was hoping there might be a temporary or quick way to get the water resolved.”
“I noticed that in the RFP. Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve got a plumber and we’ll see if we can get him out there this week.” Matt shuffled through some papers and came up with his copy. “Yes, so I’d like to get a crew on cleanup and also get our plumber and electrician out this week.”
“If you help me with the timeline and what permits and inspections we’ll need,” she said, “I’ll do whatever I can to keep things moving. Oh, don’t let me leave without giving you a set of keys.”
“This isn’t Charlotte. You’ll pull a permit for any new construction, but for the renovations they don’t require anything. Once we’re done they’ll do a new assessment of the property for tax purposes, though.”
“No inspections?”
“Sadly no. That’s kind of why you’re in the pickle you’re in with some of the stuff the former owner did. It’s nice because you can get things done quickly, but when shortcuts are taken, someone ends up paying for them.”
“This time I guess that someone is me.”
“Yes, ma’am. Afraid so.” Matt suggested splitting the kitchen up a little to add the butler’s pantry. “So you can keep the mess out of view of your guests.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“Good. I’ll measure it out and get you all the dimensions by the end of the week so you can start working on the kitchen layout design and get the cabinets ordered.” He slid a business card toward her. “I’ve used this guy over the years. He sells high-quality cabinets, and he’s great to work with. Tell him I sent you and he’ll give you a contractor’s price on the cabinetry. They can take a while to come in so I’d recommend getting those decisions made and them ordered. A functioning kitchen will make a lot of things easier, and the bottom line is it’ll be better to have the cabinets waiting to be put in, rather than your workers waiting on work to do.”
“That’s for sure.” She tucked the card in the front pocket of her tote bag. “I called the electric co-op, but since there hasn’t been electricity to that address in so long they want to come out and do an inspection before they turn on the meter. I’m meeting them tomorrow morning.”
“Good. You don’t want to burn the place down.”
She was ready to relax in front of a fire at Angel’s Rest, not watch it go up in flames. “I’ll let you know what they say.”
Together they filled in a rough timeline and created milestones for the project, breaking it out into two overlapping projects: the guesthouse and the main house were phase one. She had as many tasks as he did the first couple of weeks, with all the phone calls to be made.
“I think we have a good plan. You’re good at this.” He pushed his chair back from the table. “I made a big pot of chili. Are you hungry?”
“I do love homemade chili. What can I do to help?” She followed Matt into the kitchen.
“You can pour us some tea. Glasses are in the cabinet next to the fridge. I’ll get the chili.” Matt grabbed two large soup mugs and carried them over to the fireplace. He ladled the chili from the huge cast-iron pot into the mugs and brought them into the kitchen, where he had small dishes of onions, sour cream, and cheese already set up for them.
“That smells great.” Her mouth was already watering.
“I thought we’d eat in front of the fireplace if that’s okay with you. A little less formal.”
“Sure.” She set the drinks on the oversize wooden trunk that served as a coffee table. The heavy metal straps, hinges, and latches had aged to a deep patina. It would probably take three strong men to lift the darn thing. It looked like something she imagined you’d find on an old pirate ship.
She bowed her head and said a quick silent blessing. When she lifted her head, he was doing the same. She dipped her spoon into the bowl and lifted it to her lips.
“Do you like the chili?”
“I like it a lot. I’d love to tell you that I’d reciprocate when we get the kitchen done at Angel’s Rest, but the truth is I’m not a good cook. I never date anyone I work with either. So there’s that.” It was a not-so-subtle way to make sure their roles were clear.
“That suits me just fine. As friends, maybe I can give you a hand with a couple of easy recipes so you don’t starve up here. There’s no delivery in Antler Creek.” He tapped his spoon against the side of her bowl. “Add it to your project plan.”
“I just might,” she said.
After they ate, she collected her things and he walked her out.
When she opened the backseat door to put her computer bag inside, he said, “Wow, you really made quite a haul at Flossie’s.”
“I sure did.” She pulled out the quilt. “Isn’t this beautiful? It’s like the quilt that used to be in my room at Angel’s Rest. I can’t believe I found it.”
“Nice. Blue is my favorite color,” he said.
She hadn’t noticed until just now that the quilt was about the same color as his eyes. “It’s a Counting Stars pattern.” She pushed it back into the car and slammed the door. “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m dying to get moved in. Even if it is just one of the cabins for a while.”
“I can understand that. We’ll get you in as soon as possible, and we’ll get those cooking lessons going too. Pick a night.”
“Thanks, Matt.” She backed out, waving as she drove toward the road.
He stood there watching from the porch as she drove off. Taking a few lessons from Matt on the fine art of cooking for one wasn’t the worst way she could spend her spare time.