“Morning.”Mike was standing in the middle of the kitchen, Joesph having not heard him come in.“Looks like their doing a good job.”Mike inspected the jacks that had been placed to hold up the ceiling.
“Coffee?”Joesph asked from behind the plastic curtain.
“Yes, please.”
Mike took his coffee, blowing on it before taking a sip.“You ready for today?”
“Yes.So, they’ll first put in steel supports, horizontally, and then the support beam across?”Joesph walked to the furthest outside wall.
“That’s right.”Mike stood beside the smaller, slender man.“It’s all pretty straightforward from here.The hardest part is the engineering side of it.Getting the weight calculated and the loads correct.”
Joesph looked at Mike.“Thank you for teaching me all that yesterday.I feel much better about this project now.”
Mike smiled and nodded.“If all goes well today, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t, the only thing left is the finishing.”
“I can’t believe it’s happening so quickly.”Joesph laughed.“I’m going to have to light a fire under that cabinet maker.”
* * * * *
The sun was outliningSalzy’s profile as he demolished a second breakfast biscuit.“I don’t know how you can eat so much and not be as fat as a pig,” Jamie said, shaking his head.“I’m still full from last night.”
“I got a high metabolism.”Salzy smiled, looking at Jamie as he drove south.
Jamie pulled his phone from his jeans pocket.“I’m going to call Flo.”
“Why, hello sweetheart,” Florence answered on the first ring.“I was just about to call you.How’re you doin’?”
“I’m fine.Sorry, I couldn’t be there to see y’all off.”
“Don’t you give it a second thought.Hold on, I’m gonna put you on FaceTime so you can see and talk to everyone.We just got on the shuttle.”Florence appeared a second later.“Oh, honey, you look tired.”A concerned look on her face.“Please be kind to yourself.”
“I’m trying.”Jamie felt his smile was forced.“Everyone excited?”
There was a loud chorus of yes’s and a cheer from the back of the van.There were faces crowded around Florence, and everyone had big smiles.“We don’t know how to thank you, Jamie.”Hazel said, almost shouting.“This is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done!”
“M-me-me, too,” Timmy echoed.Jamie noticed he’d had a decent haircut.He looked handsome.
“We drove by the diner but couldn’t see in,” Walter stated.“The windows were covered over.”
“The old sign isn’t there either,” Dexter said.“It sure looks different.”
Florence had a smirk on her face.“I saw Mike’s big ol’ truck there.”She winked at Jamie.
“Yeah, he’s helping Joesph out with the new support beam.”Jamie wiped his face with his other hand.
“You’re on your way back then?”Hazel asked.
“Yep.”Jamie aimed the phone at Salzy.“Salzy and I emptied out my old apartment.”
“He’d been broken into,” Salzy said, and waved at the phone.
“Oh no!”Florence exclaimed, looking concerned.“Was it bad?”
Jamie shrugged.“It’s nothing that can’t be replaced.Just the TV and a few other things.Nothing all that important.”
“Not even bringing a whole load back,” Salzy added, leaning closer to the phone.The truck windows were down and between the wind and other traffic, it was noisy.
“We’ll prob’ly pass you on the way to the airport,” Hazel said, still almost shouting.“If ya see us, give us a wave.”
