After seeing his mom off, Nate spent the rest of the morning wandering the entire property taking notes on what needed done.
Repair fence line. Repair chicken coop. Clean out gutters. Patch up roof on toolshed. Repaint goat shed and get it to stop leaning. Monitor she-shed/glass-cottage project. Clear brush from property line. Add more gravel to driveway...
And that was just the start of the list for the outside. This afternoon he’d begun a separate list for inside.
Replace peeling wallpaperin front roomeverywhere. Fix locks on both doors. Check gutters.
Replace vent in upstairs bathroom. Repair torn screen in front door. Figure out why light fixture in entry way is flickering...
At least Nate knew how to handle most everything on the to-do list, thanks to spending a summer break in college working at a small ranch in Nebraska, a job his mentor had lined up for him when he claimed Nate’s hands were getting too soft studying poetry all the time.
Nate didn’t mind the calluses then, and he certainly wouldn’t mind the calluses now. His only concern was whether he could get everything done before he needed to head back to Buffalo.
An extra pair of hands sure would be helpful. Too bad the only extra set of hands available belonged to Gus. And those hands typically preferred snacks over calluses.
Besides, sounded like Gus’s hands were busy enough just fielding phone calls from the check-in desk. How did his mom not have any guests when the phone hadn’t stopped ringing all day?
Nate had just loaded his plate in the dishwasher, ready to take an inventory of all the supplies he was going to need, when Gus poked his head in from the hallway. “Hey, Nate. Just got another call.”
“Airport?”
“Wacky lady.”
So that’s how his mom didn’t have any guests despite the phone ringing all day. Nate shook his head. “She just won’t let it go, will she?”
“Maybe you should just talk to her. Find out what she wants.”
“I know what she wants,” Nate said, reaching for a pen out of a Smoky Mountains mug sitting on a stand next to the refrigerator. “She wants a personal invite so she can come make winky eyes at me in person. Not happening. I already told her I wasn’t interested.”
When Gus remained in the doorway, Nate shot him another glance over his shoulder. “Was there something else?”
“Just wondering if you’re about ready to attend our meeting. We usually get started about two o’clock.”
“What meeting?”
Gus scratched the gray stubble on his cheeks. “Homeowners maybe? Never really sure anymore. I just know there’s usually cheese and crackers, and if I remember correctly, Barb said she’s bringing her homemade cinnamon rolls to this one.”
Nate stared at Gus.
Gus stared at Nate. “You’re our interim secretary.”
Nate stared at Gus.
Gus stared at Nate. “You’re in charge of handling the minutes.” More staring. “Alicia promised us that you’d fill in for her while she was gone.”
Nate blinked. He should’ve known this crew would carry on with their ridiculous meetings while his mom was gone—and somehow rope him into it. “How do you guys have a homeowners association?You live miles apart. Isn’t this town just basically one sprawled-out neighborhood?”
“Would you be more excited about filling in as our interim secretary if I told you the next meeting we’re having is the Sprawled-Out Neighborhood meeting? Because that can be arranged.”
Nate reached under his glasses to rub his eyes. “How long do these meetings usually last?”
Gus stroked his gray mustache. “In the grand scheme of things, not all that long.”
Twenty-eight minutes later Nate adjusted his weight on a dining room chair and cleared his throat because even in the grand scheme of eternity, this meeting was taking forever. Especially when he realized that after twenty-eight minutes of taking notes the official meeting hadn’t even started yet.
“Sorry to interrupt, Barb. I do want to hear more about your squash, but I have a lot of things I need to get started on today.”
“For your doctorate program?” said Gus. “I feel like you’ve been working on that forever.”
