Y’all, my temper is short and so is my fuse. I flat out suggested that Dooley find another design and contracting firm because I was done being called at all hours of the night and sick of his lack of commitment.
Well, I don’t think anyone had ever told Dooley Hutto off in his entire life, because his face turned red as a beet and he practically begged Sadie and me not to leave the project, to give him one more chance.
I found a perfect spot to house the barn, one with a field of lavender behind it. Dooley took one look and proclaimed it the most beautiful place that his money could buy.
Sold. And piece by piece, we very carefully and successfully moved the barn onto the new land.
After that, Dooley had calmed down, but apparently he was back on the rampage, angry about something or other, and I was going to be the person to deal with it. Why? Because Dooley always came to me when he had a problem. Oh, he told Sadie about it, but I would be the one dealing with it.
Just then, the sound of a truck rumbling up the gravel path caught my attention.
I took one look at the faded green pickup trolling up the path and groaned. “Great. Here he is.”
Just then, Dooley’s hand shot out of the window and he waved. “Hey, Clem!”
I groaned again. Dooley was acting happy; that meant he really had a bone to pick. I’d noticed that the nicer that man was during the greeting process, the worse his complaint would be.
Sadie pulled blueprints from a tube and spread them across the bed of my old ’58 Ford pickup. “Let’s look busy,” she said. “Make him think we’re working hard.”
I pointed to the barn where Liam and his crew were working. “We are working hard,” I countered.
Dooley parked and hopped out of his truck. Sadie pointed to a spot on the blueprints. “That living room is going to turn out great. Hey, Architectural Scavengers has some new lighting fixtures,” she said about a store downtown. “Can you go check them out today? See which ones you think will work for the main room?”
“Sure. Right after I deal with this.”
“Clem, Sadie,” Dooley said in greeting, “we’ve got a problem.”
“And good morning to you,” I said. Dooley was a short, bald man with a red face and thin lips that were just about always pulled into a scowl.
“Yeah, yeah, good morning,” he said before pointing a finger at me. “Clem, we need to discuss this whole foundation thing. I came up here yesterday and looked at those poles. They aren’t gonna hold, Clem. Now, I thought you and your crew knew what you were doing when it came to this project, but now I’m not so sure.”
So his frustration wasn’t about the location, it was about the reinforcement. I shot Sadie a questioning look and she shrugged.
Conveniently her phone rang, and she bounced up from the truck bed, flinging her brown hair over one shoulder. She snatched her phone from her purse and glanced at the number, frowning.
Which reminded me. “How’d it go with that mantle last night? You get it?”
Sadie’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “What? Oh, no. Look, I’ve got to take this.”
She excused herself and stepped away, leaving me and Dooley alone.
Awesome-sauce.
I turned to him and held out my hand. “Did Dottie give you any peaches for me?” I asked, ignoring the frustration twisting on his face.
“Yeah,” he grudgingly confirmed. “I’ve got a bag in the front seat for you. But you’re not getting them yet—not until we get this settled.”
One of the reasons why I hadn’t outright fired Dooley was because of his gem of a wife, Dottie, and the peach farm they owned down the road. Dooley, close to retirement age, had promised the farm to his son. That meant that he and his wife would retire to the country barn we were converting into a livable space.
“Listen, Clem—”
Feeling like playing with fire, I snaked my arm through Dooley’s and tugged him toward the barn. He shot me a frightened look, as if he feared that I would up and steal him from Dottie.
“Don’t look so worried, Dooley. It wouldn’t kill to you to escort a lady to a barn, would it?”
Dooley, flustered, sputtered out his next sentence. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t, but don’t you go telling Dottie. I don’t want to deal with a jealous woman. It’s not good for my home life, if you know what I mean.”
I smiled warmly. “I do know what you mean. Now come on, let’s go talk to Liam.”
