I wonder if Eve knows.
Steve brought along two guys he highly recommends inan effort to get the job done in a day. He was a little apprehensive about the timeline, but when I explained the electricity is for what amounts to a studio apartment above a barn with what looks like totally exposed wiring, he seemed more comfortable taking on the job.
He wanted to give Eve a quote, like I told her he would.
But I had a feeling that just getting the job done as quickly as possible would probably be our best move.
And hey, Eve was the one talking small town politics. Maybe if I do this one big thing for her, she’ll agree to that easement for me.
For a moment there, I thought this whole project was going to go to shit. But now that I’ve solved the rooster issue and gotten Mayor Reed on board again, the last person I need to grease is Eve herself. She’s warmed to me and seems to be in support of the development plan I submitted. I think now might be the right time to discuss an easement with her.
Steve and his guys work quickly and silently in the morning, marking out where work needs to be done once the power is switched off.
And as checkout time approaches, I herd the guys back to the truck for lunch so the guests can retain that feeling of being alone on the sunflower farm. When I see a couple meander away from the far side of the barn and down the dirt road, hands clasped between them and two duffel bags over his shoulder, I send the guys back in and give Steve the go-ahead to kill the power.
Except just as a number of wires are clipped and the remnants of knob and tube wiring are thrown onto the freshly cleared concrete floor, Eve shows up, a pile of linens in her hands.
“What the fuck is going on?” she asks, diverting from the stairs on the far side of the barn and instead storming toward me, her facial expressions ranging from confused to happy to concerned to surprised. “What the… hell? Is that concrete?”
“Yes.”
She kicks at it with one foot. “That isoldconcrete.”
“Also yes.”
She looks around us, the barn lit up with battery-powered lamps and littered with old wiring. “What the hell is going on?”
“You remember Steve,” I say, gesturing to the man standing on a ladder and pulling apart pieces of Eve’s barn. He was keen to rearrange his schedule for her. Apparently her first impression stuck with him.
He waves over his shoulder. “Nice to see you again, Eve.”
Her forehead crinkles. “Nice to see you too, Steve.” She turns her focus back to me, her eyebrows raised. “Ryder?”
I hold my hands up in surrender, taking a hesitant step toward her. “We could have gone through the whole process of calling for a quote and canceling multiple reservations and potentially needing more days to finish work that I knew Steve could take care of faster and cheaper than anyone else. But they’re hoping to get this done for you today. Including any patching that might need to be done to the walls upstairs once you give us the green light to work up there.”
She blinks, glancing from me to Steve and back again. She takes a step toward me and lowers her voice. “Look, Ryder, this is really nice of you to arrange all this, but I don’t know if I can pay for this right away. I mean, you’ve got three guys doing electrical work in here, what, all day? Thatsounds like at least a thousand dollars in labor, not to mention materials.” She shakes her head, turning back in the direction she came from and muttering under her breath. “Gonna have to pull money out of my fucking asshole.”
I follow her, falling into step with her easily now that the floor has been cleared. “I’m going to cover this one for you.”
She huffs. “Ryder! This is part of my business. I might like the occasional sweater gift, but I can’t take handouts for thebusiness.”
“Consider it an act of neighborly kindness.”
She shakes her head, then stops just as she reaches the stairs to the second floor as if a thought is occurring to her. “Maybe I can send one of the guys over to clear your property a little more?”
The guy she sent over last time cleared a path almost to the top of the hill, but not quite far enough that I could get an idea of the property lines.
I’m tempted to take this offer.
But I had another one in mind when I pulled this project together, and if I don’t ask now, I’m never going to.
I’m already worried I’ve let this go on too long.
I lick my lips before I speak.
“I was wondering if you might agree to an easement.”
She cocks her head to the side. “An easement?”
