“Anyway, let’s stop dilly-dallying and get to the good stuff,” Drew says, gesturing inside. “May we?”
“Of course,” I say, stepping aside to let them in.
“Whew, this office is a cave,” Renee says as she looks around the newly emptied space, then glances at Drew. “Windows?”
“Yeah, we could put in a few if they want, but we need to look at the electrical first. Sunlight gets real sparse in the winter and no amount of windows will help there.”
He walks around the room, measuring it with his feet. He walks the same heel-toe way through the hall to the shop, then stops when he gets to the open room, whistling long and low.
“What a beauty,” he says. “Nice structure. Good bones.”
“How do you know this?” I ask.
Renee beams. “He used to be in construction, and I went to technical school for plumbing before we fucked off from the city to come up here and follow the dream.”
No wonder I like them so much. Dreamers, like me. Kindred spirits who can help lead the way when I’m fresh on the journey.
“That’s awesome,” I say. “Well, I’m really grateful for your expertise, and help, but what’s your hourly rate?”
“Rate?” Drew screws up his face. “Nah, this is just a fun summer project!”
I shake my head. “I really must insist. I have to pay—especially since we’ll be constructing an accessibility feature. I’ll need to contact the city for a construction permit, and they’ll want a professional to inspect it. I’ll need records to show I had competent people working on this.”
“She’s cute.” Renee laughs as she falls against her husband’s side in an embrace.
“So stressed, though,” Drew replies. “We can help with all that. I’m the resident carpenter for a lot of projects. City council knows me, and it’s just five people on the board.”
“Fortuitous,” Bastian says, echoing my earlier thoughts about Renee.
“Yep, y’all are in luck!” Drew says. “But for payment, we couldn’t accept more than a few hundred bucks. This kinda thing is fun to me, and I don’t want money to be a hiccup in getting it done.”
A few hundred…
“Well, we can work out the finer details later, I suppose. Do you have a contract?” I ask.
“You betcha. I can make one up tonight for just general contracting work, then we can talk about specific projects, like that accessibility ramp. Never done one of those before so I’ll want to put my research hat on.”
I smile. Yeah, I like these people.
“In the meantime,” Renee says, whipping out a measuring tape and tossing it to her husband. “We’ll get some stats on the place and talk about your vision!”
“Our vision,” I say, nudging Bastian’s arm.
He glances down at me with a strange expression, then looks at Renee. “My vision is as many books as it can hold.”
“You really do love reading, huh?” she asks.
“I live by it,” he replies.
She laughs. I join in as Bastian and I share a secret smirk.
“Oh, let me know your favorite book—any book, even fan fiction or something out of print—and I’ll bind a copy for you, as a thank you for watching Oscar,” I say to Renee.
“Well, I’m a pretty big fan ofThe Lord of the Rings,” Renee says.
“No, she’s a big fan of Legolas,” Drew quips.
She grins up at him and runs her fingers through his short locks. “What can I say? I like blond hotties.”
