I rose with the sun, ready to get started on the final phase of the remodel. Oswald would be picking up the reins of his library job in a week or two, and I had to take advantage of the opportunity to have his assistance while I could. But that wasn’t what really woke me. I closed the front door softly behind me and headed for a neighborhood coffeehouse where I knew I could pick up some breakfast. They had delicious bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches on freshly baked French rolls.
The morning air was cool and crisp, the early sunlight brightening the buildings around me as I carried the brown paper bag holding two sandwiches and a couple of pastries back to the house. If Oswald was still asleep, I’d get started on the kitchen on my own, but when I came into the house, it was to find him coming down the stairs, smiling. “Okay, boss, I’m ready to work.”
“I rather thought we could eat first and go over our plans.” I waved the bag. “The coffee maker is one of the few things that works in the kitchen.”
Chapter Thirteen
Oswald
The plan to do the kitchen first came with some hiccups. New cabinets and countertops had been ordered online and were still a week or so out.
In the meantime, there were plenty of walls to be painted.
And I’d learned that my maybe mate had a theme planned for each room.
“Wait, what?” I asked as we sat on the steps of his back porch sipping on coffee number two for the morning.
“You think it’s stupid?” he asked, looking over at me.
“I don’t think it’s stupid. Not at all. You just surprised me.”
Shrugging, he looked out over his yard. It was the one place that was almost perfect. No large overhauls needed. “I thought it would be better than having six bedrooms all decorated the same.”
“But how will you refer to them when people book?”
He turned. I had all his attention and I wasn’t going to lie, I loved it. I wasn’t happy about not having a job for a few weeks, but I wasn’t sad about being here with Greg. “What do you mean?”
“What if you named the rooms after a romance novel or famous authors? The Brontë Room. The Tolstoy Room. The Christie Room. But that’s the librarian in me talking. Of course, it’s your inn. You do what you want.”
“I’ll have to think about it. I was just going to put A through F on the rooms and call it a day, but I like the way you think.”
I stood and took his cup since it was empty now. “No time like the present. Which room are we painting today?”
“The one with the window that faces the road. Suite A.”
I snickered. “See? Suite A is kind of boring.”
“We’ll think about it.”
We worked well together. He taped the rooms while I painted. I wasn’t an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I knew how to roll it on the wall and check for spots that needed a few more strokes.
The first room was painted a deep grayish blue that complemented his furniture picks. He was waiting to bring in the furniture from the barn until after the rooms were painted. The floors needed to be cleaned but they were in impeccable shape.
“What about the master bedroom?” The question popped out of my mouth and then I realized I was talking about his bedroom. He’d walked back in after finishing up taping.
“I want to change it as well, but I can’t decide how. I want it to be comfortable and someplace to relax. Especially since all the other rooms will be taken and even some of the common rooms might be occupied by guests. We will need somewhere to get away.”
“We?” I asked while prickles fingered up my neck. Goddess, I only met him but “we” sounded so damned good. He and I, sitting upstairs, enjoying each other in all kinds of ways.
“Yeah. I hope to…I always wanted to share this with a mate.”
I stopped painting. “That sounds like a lovely, quiet way to live. Of course, it might get busy during peak times but, in between, you two would have this whole house to yourself.”
Stepping back, I assessed my work. “One room done, don’t you think?”
He walked to the center of the room, hands on his hips. “You did well. I’ve taped all the other rooms, so we can just go to the next one unless you need a break or something to eat?”
“It’s a good distraction for me. I’d like to start on the next. If we split up, we could have three done today. That would behalfway through the painting. Wait, what about my room? You said six rooms, but that doesn’t count the two upstairs.”
