“Understood,” she told him. “If I call in the order to the lumberyard over in Newark, I can probably have all of the materials ready for pick up this afternoon. If I pour the slab now, I can start framing first thing in the morning.”
“You’ll squeeze me in your schedule?” he asked. “I know it’s busy since Megan started working part time.” He waited a beat before asking, “She feeling all right?”
Cait smiled. “She’s great and feeling better every day.”
“Good. Young women were meant to be mothers. It’s natural—”
“If that’s the case, then who would be building your horse stalls right now?”
He slapped his knee and chuckled. “Joe Mulcahy never did suffer a fool…didn’t raise any either,” he said with a nod. “You’ll give me a fair price?”
“Always, but I thought you and Pop already agreed on time and materials?”
“I talked to your dad about that, but the job is labor intensive…and the thing is, I just don’t have a whole lot of extra right now. I need to put money back into caring for the horses. I’ve got a lot of paralyzed and paraplegic kids coming to learn how to ride, and I need to find another instructor to work with them.”
“Pop says you already have the next two months booked solid, with a waiting list.” She looked over at the horses quietly munching on hay over in the corral. “You’re doing this community, and our county, a great service by starting up this riding program. How could we say no? We have to help you help these kids.”
“I’m grateful that your dad raised you three girls right…even if not one of you can cook!”
“Don’t believe everything you read in the Apple Grove Gazette. Besides, that was years ago, when I was in high school. Maybe I’ve learned to cook.”
He shook his head and pointed at the barn. “Work up your material list, get me the price, and place the order. Pour your slab,” he said. “The sooner we get things going, the sooner we’ll be up and running.”
“When’s the next session start?”
“Two weeks.”
Cait stared at the building for a moment before coming up with a new plan. “Mr. Johnson?”
He stopped halfway to the corral. “Yeah?”
“If I get my dad to help me, we can have this baby framed out with the roof on in a day or so.”
“That fast?”
“We’re pouring some concrete slab, not digging foundations, and adding on to an existing structure…it’s not like the rebuild I did over at Mr. Weatherbee’s barn.”
“Thought you’d never finish it up and get to my barn.”
“How about it, want me to bring my dad in on it?”
“Think he’d do it?”
Caitlin grinned. “In a heartbeat. Retirement’s not as much fun as he thought it’d be. About all he has to do is work on the Model A pickup when Dan’s free. Those two are thick as thieves.”
“Family should stick together. I’ll leave a tarp by the side of the barn. You can use it to cover the wood you drop off later. Tell your dad I said thanks.” With that, he left her so she could call her father and get the lumber list together.
Her father taught her to be prepared, and she would have been if she were driving the F1. She went back to the car and pulled out the bags of concrete she’d stowed in the trunk that morning. She had the hoe she needed to work the water slowly into the concrete mix. What she didn’t have was a wheelbarrow. She’d have to call her dad, because she didn’t want to take a chance and ruin one of Mr. Johnson’s wheelbarrows if she didn’t get all the concrete washed out before it dried.
“Hey, Pop,” she said when he answered. “I’m gonna get started on Mr. Johnson’s slab and don’t want to wreck his wheelbarrow mixing the cement. Can you bring one by?”
“Have you staked out the area and measured the depths you need?”
“I will.”
“Do you have any scrap lumber pieces to create the form?”
“Yep.”
“Good.”
“Um…Pop?”
“Yes?”
“Mr. Johnson was hoping I could start right away, but was worried about not having enough money for time and materials, and working by myself—”
“Just ask.”
“Will you help me?”
“I can be there in about fifteen minutes. While you’re waiting, do the measurements, and run a chalk line to the stakes. And one more thing,” he warned. “Double-check the slab in the other stalls—it would be a good idea to match it.”