Xander drove up thinking the old house looked like it was made to loom on the bluff on rain-washed days. The day sloshed along gloomily, so the lights glinting against some of the windows added to the atmosphere. Maybe the giant Dumpster out front took some of that away, but he imagined Kevin and his crew were having a hell of a good time filling it.
He got out, hunched against the wet, strolled up to the house.
Inside the noise was amazing, but you’d have that on job sites. He smelled sawdust, coffee, wet dogwhich meant Molly’d been out running around. Drop cloths and cardboard paths covered the floor.
The interior, as far as he could see, just looked sad. Dim, dingy, neglected. Maybe the high ceilings gave it some class, the natural stone fireplace some character, but he saw a lot of space to fix and fill.
He thought of the long, tall blonde with the sexy pixie hair and the don’t-make-me-kick-your-ass attitude. He couldn’t see the connection. She said city to him. Big city.
It made her and her choice of living arrangements all the more interesting.
He made his way back, following the noise. He saw stacks of lumber, tools, cords, wheels of wiring.
He wondered what people did with all these rooms. What the sexy blonde meant to do with them.
When he reached the kitchen, he had a partial answer. Here, at least, she meant to start from scratch.
They’d gutted the place, taken it right down to the studs, were now putting up new ones. A blue tarp shuddered from the windy rain over a big hole in the back wall. He knew enough about plumbing to read the rough-ins, get a sense of where things would go. Just as he could read that at one time there’d been a john in the far left corner.
“Hey, Kev, you planning on putting both kids through college on this place?”
Kevin, hunkered down with the plumber, glanced back. “It’s going to help,” he called over the noise.
He pushed up, crossed the tarped floor. “What brings you out here?”
“New tire for that FourRunner.”
“Right. I’d’ve picked it up for her, saved you a trip.”
“No problem. I wanted to see the place anyway.”
Satisfaction covering his face, Kevin looked around. “It’s coming along.”
Shoulder to shoulder, Xander looked around the same space. “To what?”
“You need vision, man. You just need vision.” He crooked a finger, stepped over to the dining area and the plywood set on sawhorses. “It’s coming to this.”
Hands in pockets, Xander studied the blueprint of the projected kitchen. “That’s what the hole’s for. What was there before?”
“Standard door. Total waste. I knew Naomi had that vision when she said to open it up.”
“Vision and deep pockets.”
“Lucky for both of us. Lucky for this place. She’s got an eyeyou know, photographer and all that. And she gets the feel of the place, the character. She’s not looking to go all sleek and polished. This space here and the master bath, those are the biggest projects. You add in new windowsgot them coming in tomorrowrefinishing the floors, the plumbing, the wiring, trimshe wants crown molding here and there, and some of the original trim needs to be replicatedpainting, installing, it’s all mostly cosmetic, but it’s a lot of that.”
“How many rooms in this place?”
“Eighteen, plus five and a half baths now that we took the one out in here. Not counting a granddaddy of all basementsunfinished.”
“She’s single, right? Lives alone?”
“Some people like space, some people like to live in three rooms over their garage.”
“Some people drive a minivan.”
Kevin gave him a light punch. “Wait till you have kids.”
“Yeah, let’s wait on that. Where is she anyway?”
“She’s up in the master, as far as I know, painting.”
“She’s paintinglike walls or with an easel?”
“Walls. She did all right on the prep and priming up there, but I expect we’ll be calling Jimmy and Rene in to handle the rest.”
He could’ve handed Kevin the bill, put the tire in her car, and gone on his way. But since he was here anyway . . .
“I’m going to go on up.”
“You can take the back stairs.” Kevin wagged a thumb. “Corner room, facing the inlet.”
“Buy you a beer when you knock off?”
“I wouldn’t mind it. Yeah, I’ll swing by.”
He went up the back wayand having Kevin for a friend all his life, he recognized good craftsmanship in the new stairs, the sturdy rail. The light looked like it had come out of someone’s cabin in the fifties, but that was an easy fix.
Then he reached the second floor and just stood, staring down the hallway. It looked like something out of The Shining. He half expected to see some kid on a Big Wheel pedaling along. Or a decomposing corpse leaking its way under a doorway.