“I have to go to Tides later on today, and I’ll ask my sister more about the advertising and how she got word out about our inn.”
“I was wondering one other thing,” Emily said softly.
“What?”
“I was hoping to hire you to oversee the whole process. It’s too much for me, and you’re so good at it.”
“Oh. Sure. I’d love to.” The truth was that Andie was planning on helping her out anyway. She didn’t know if she could take any money from Emily, but at least she knew her role.
Emily smiled, apparently relieved that Andie would help. “So all we need is to get a quote from Sally and Shane. Depending on their costs, this might even be doable.” Emily had gotten more positive the more they’d talked. “I ran into Sally this morning, and she said she might stop by.”
No sooner were the words out of Emily’s mouth than Shane’s truck came bumping down the driveway.
“I guess we’re going to find out if this is doable,” Andie said.
Shane and Sally got out of the truck. Shane’s thin gray T-shirt was a little tight, and Andie noticed that he filled it out in all the right places. He caught her looking, and Andie blushed but managed to meet his gaze. It was ridiculous that she felt awkward. She was a fifty-year-old woman, not a teen. Feeling like a teen again felt good, though.
Sally was wearing her usual paint-splattered denim farmer jeans, her gray braid pinned in a coil at the top of her head.
“So, this is the work you did?” Sally asked Shane as she inspected the stairs and spindles he’d repaired for the auction. “Looks like you went a little overboard with the hammer. There’s hammer marks in the wood.”
Shane took the criticism in stride, smiling in amusement at her critique. “I was in a bit of a hurry. Damien Carruthers was coming to inspect it.”
“Harrumph. He’s a turd. Let’s not let thoughts of him ruin our day.” Sally strode up the steps to Emily and Andie.
“So, what’s the plan? Heard you needed some more work,” Sally said.
Andie closed the folder on the loan documents. She figured Emily wouldn’t want Sally and Shane to know the particulars. She explained that Emily was getting a historical preservation loan and outlined their plans to make two boutique vacation rental units for income.
“I was hoping you could give me a quote and let me know about the payment schedule. I know you usually ask for half up front,” Emily added.
Sally waved her hand dismissively. “Schedule? How are you going to pay me when you have to get a business up and running here? You’ll need money for advertising and essentials like towels, sheets, and doo-dahs to put around the place.”
Emily looked flustered. “I… I don’t know. Everything hinges on being able to rent out those units, so I was hoping we could manage somehow.”
Sally shook her head. “Nope. I’m not charging you up front. It might make you come up short and hurt your chances. I’m deferring the payment for ninety days.”
“Ninety days? I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Emily glanced at Andie.
Andie didn’t know what to think. She glanced at Shane, but his expression was hard to read. He didn’t look surprised, so he and Sally must have discussed this beforehand. Her heart swelled at the thought of the two of them delaying their payment so Emily could have the best chance possible.
“Don’t worry about that. We have enough money to tide us over, don’t we, Shane?” Sally glanced at Shane.
“Yep, plenty. We’re used to having some on hand because a lot of our payments are delayed.”
“Besides, I owe your people. Your granddaddy did a big favor for my daddy, and this is my chance to repay it. You wouldn’t deny an old lady her chance to repay a family debt, would you?” Sally gave Emilythatlook. No one ever argued with Sally when she gave that look.
Emily shook her head. “No, ma’am.”
Sally looked pleased. “Okay then. Let’s take a look at what you want us to do.”
Emily walked them around the house. “The outside is fairly simple. You can see what needs to be repaired and painted.”
“Ayuh.” As they walked around, Sally took a small notepad from her front pocket and scribbled on it with an old number two pencil complete with pink eraser. From what Andie could see, she wasn’t actually writing words. It was more like drawings.
At one point she glanced up and caught Shane’s eye. He had been staring at the scribblings too. He simply shrugged and shook his head. Sally had her ways, and Andie had learned not to question them. Whatever they were, they seemed to work.
The interior was more complicated, and it took almost an hour for Sally to inspect every nook and cranny of the main house and make more scribblings.
