"We’re raising them. The original transom windows are still intact up top, so I wanna keep those and put in new glazing below." I leaned over the plans and traced the window line with my finger. "Right now, this section is all boarded up so you can't tell, but the bones under there are solid."
He nodded slowly, still looking at all the little details. "What's the timeline for something like this?"
"Twelve weeks, if the permits come through on time." I straightened up and leaned against the credenza. "They usually don't."
He almost smiled at that. "Sounds about right."
I had a million questions on the tip of my tongue and none of them were related to the plans, so I stepped toward the kitchen. "You hungry?"
"Yeah, I could eat." Joshua was right behind me and then took a seat at the counter. “Do you need any help?”
“Nah, I got it.”
While Joshua thumbed through a building and decorating magazine I had on the counter, I made grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was that kind of afternoon with the fog still floating low over the tree canopy. We ate at the counter, and I told him more about the Pacifica project and an upcoming brewery renovation I would be starting in Santa Cruz in a few months.
Joshua asked questions that were more informed than I expected, showing a genuine interest and aptitude for construction. It was the first time he got animated and seemed truly comfortable. Like we were just friends having lunch together.
It was nice.
When the bowls were empty, he pulled his knee up onto the stool and looked at me. "So what do you do when you're not working or at a job site?"
"Working out, usually." I stacked the bowls and carried them to the sink. "There's a coastal trail about a mile from here that I like to run on when the weather is nice."
He was quiet for a second and then chewed on the inside of his cheek. "How far do you go?"
"Depends on my mood. Four or five miles on a good day. Less if I'm tired." I turned around and leaned against the counter. "You wanna come with?"
He looked like he was already doing the math on why it wouldn't work. "I don't really have shoes for that."
That was easy to fix. "No problem."
"Or clothes." He said it like that would be a deal breaker. It wasn’t.
"We can take care of both those things." I pushed off the counter and grabbed my keys from the hook by the door. "Let’s go shopping."
“What?” He looked at me like I'd suggested something more complicated than a drive down the highway. "Right now?"
I raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Unless you've got somewhere else to be."
He looked around the kitchen for a second, maybe checking to see if Gerald had an opinion, and then he slid off the stool. "I don’t, but…I don’t have any money. I gave it all to Jeanette, remember?"
As if I could forget. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got it.”
The sporting goods store was huge and had everything we could possibly need for any sport imaginable. They even had some pickle tennis game that people were clamoring over.
Joshua walked in behind me and was quiet as we approached the shoe wall as if he were already calculating the prices of things he couldn’t afford. "I really don't need anything fancy." He went to the wire bin of clearance shoes. "Just like, a basic pair of?—"
"What size?" I went straight to the running shoes I liked the best. I’d tried them all and learned that quality mattered when it came to protecting your knees on trail.
"Ten and a half, but seriously, the cheapest?—"
“Try these.” I pulled a pair off the shelf in his size and held them out to him.
He looked at them and then at me. "Those aren’t the cheapest."
"They're the best." I waited for him to grab them. "Just try them on."
Reluctantly, he took the box and sat on the bench. When they were on, he got up and walked a loop around the shoe aisle to test them out. “I feel like I’m walking on marshmallows.”
