“No way.”
“Good. I think we should talk to Eric and let him know that Cuckoo threatened you. And I also think we should start searching for the necklace.”
Jane yawned. “Okay. Maybe tomorrow. I need to figure a few things out.”
I put down my glass. Now wasn’t the time to bother Jane with a list of things to do. “I should let you take that nap.”
She laughed. “You know I don’t take naps. I almost smacked you when you said that.”
“I could tell. But I didn’t like seeing Cuckoo barreling toward you the way he did. He’s such a jerk.”
“He really is.” She was quiet for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. “I know you’ve got more than enough work to do, but I would so love to get Jesse’s house rehabbed and ready to sell. I don’t want any more crazy people breaking in and ripping down the walls, looking for a necklace that was probably sold years ago.”
“Good idea.”
“So you’ll do the rehab?”
“Of course.” I was happy to have some concrete way to help Jane. “I’ll rearrange a few things on the calendar and try to get started in the next week or so.”
“Thank you, Shannon. I’ll have a cleaning crew go through and get rid of the mess in there as soon as Eric tells me it’s not a crime scene anymore.”
*
The next day, I held an early-morning meeting at my house with my two foremen, Wade Chambers and Carla Harrison. We had worked together for years, so I knew that Wade would be happier attending an impromptu meeting with the boss if I made blueberry muffins to go with our coffee.
As we munched on muffins, I went over everyone’s schedules and then I mentioned that I’d added Jesse’s house rehab to our workload.
“Wow, we’re going to be busy,” Carla said, counting items on her calendar program.
“I would never turn her down,” I said.
“Of course not.”
“We can handle it, boss,” Wade said, making notes.
“I know, but now I’ve promised both Jane and Emily that we’ll get their projects done quickly.”
“Working with friends,” Wade muttered, shaking his head.
“Your friends are wonderful,” Carla said, smacking Wade’s knee. “We’ll make it happen. He’s just grumpy because Sandy’s away with the kids, visiting her sister.”
I gave him a sympathetic look. “Cooking your own meals, huh?”
“I’m starving,” he moaned.
Carla and I snickered at the sound of whining from such a big, tough bear of a man.
“Don’t laugh. I tried to make spaghetti but had to throw it away. I think I poisoned myself.”
I smiled. “Well, you can take the rest of the muffins home if you’d like.”
“Yeah?” He looked pitifully grateful. “Thanks, I will. These are great.”
Carla grinned at me. “He wangled an invitation to have dinner with me and Chase tonight. I promise I won’t let him wither away on my watch.”
“I appreciate that.”
After we finished rescheduling the jobs and reassigning the crew, I gave Carla and Wade the payroll checks to hand out to the guys. They took off for their jobsites and I spent the day doing more paperwork, my least favorite thing. I went over Mac’s blueprints and began a preliminary list of tools and supplies we would need for the electrical redo on his place.
At the end of the day, the telephone rang and I grabbed it. I was desperate for human contact, even by phone.
Jane said, “Eric called to let me know he’s finished with Jesse’s house. It’s not a crime scene anymore.”
“Great.”
“I’m going to call a cleaning crew, and as soon as they’re done, you’re free to start. No pressure. I know you have other jobs.”
“I’ve already talked to Wade and Carla. We plan to get started as soon as you give us the word.”
She thanked me and we talked for another minute, then ended the call.
I spent Wednesday and Thursday working at my various jobsites, filling in for Sean, who was sick in bed with some kind of icky flu. It felt good to be back on-site after a full week of mourning with Jane and helping arrange things for Jesse’s sendoff. Wade and Carla kept me busy at the sites, too busy to worry about anything except the job at hand.
For me, one of the best aspects of construction work was that sense of accomplishment you got from starting a project and seeing it through to the end. When you put down your hammer or nail gun, you could look around and see a finished room, or a new deck, or a sparkling-clean new bathroom. Sure, it was just a bathroom and not the Nobel Peace Prize, but what the heck? It made me feel good, especially when I saw the homeowners smiling with delight at what my guys and I had just done for them.