Tiny House, Big Fix

by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

  I laughed, as I was familiar with building and zoning codes. “I imagine the city doesn’t know what to do with tiny homes.”

  “That’s an understatement. The bylaws weren’t written for them.” He lifted his beer at the house behind us. “A buddy let me park it here on his land for the moment. But he wants me out in the spring, as being here isn’t exactly legal. I expect town officials will kick me off this property at any time. I’m not sure where I’ll go if they do.”

  “I guess that idea is out then,” I said. “No tiny house for me.” I sighed. “I really don’t know what I’m going to do. There just aren’t any places to rent that I can afford.”

  “Yeah, I hear it’s bad out there,” said Liam. “One of my friends had to move to another city. He couldn’t find a place to rent here. And he’s single, with no kids.”

  “I’ve heard that from parents at Maggie’s school too. Families are leaving town because there’s no affordable housing here.”

  “But you’re not thinking of moving, are you?” Liam asked again.

  “I don’t want to. The kids grew up here. All their friends are here. And I like my job.”

  “Even with Bruce for a boss?”

  I laughed. “I could do without him. But I like the rest of the crew.” I smiled at him.

  Liam blushed. “I’d sure hate to see you go,” he said.

  I pulled my gaze away. “Look, Liam—”

  He took a step back, holding out both hands. “It’s okay,” he said. “I understand. You brought Alice so I’d get the message that this isn’t a date. You’re not interested in me.”

  “You’re great, Liam. And the more I see of you in your home, the more I like you. But I admit I felt awkward when you asked me over for dinner. I wasn’t sure what to think. We work so well together. I guess I didn’t want to jinx that.”

  “I doubt going on a date would bring us bad luck.”

  “But if things didn’t work out, framing together would be tough.”

  “Maybe you’re overthinking,” he said. “We’re both grown up enough to figure that one out. I am anyway.” He grinned at his small joke.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you have nothing to do with it.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I mean, maybe I’m just scared.” I fiddled with my beer bottle. “My marriage ended when my husband had an affair with a woman he worked with. I felt hurt over that for a long time. I still do.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Liam said.

  “And it’s been a long time since I’ve been out on a date. I haven’t seen anyone since my divorce. I’ve just been so focused on making a new life for myself and the girls.”

  Liam nodded. “When my ex moved away with the boys, I worried I’d never see my kids. I stopped having any kind of a social life. I spent my off time driving to see my boys or bringing them here. That’s all I was—Dad.”

  That about summed up my life too, I thought. I was Mom. When I wasn’t at work, I was ferrying my kids around or running the house. There was little time for anything else.

  Liam put down his beer and took my hand. “If you’re not into starting a new relationship right now, that’s okay. I’ll be sad for a while, but I’m a big boy. It’s not going to get in the way of us working together.”

  “And if I am interested?” I asked.

  “Then I think we may have something here. You and I click together, you know?”

  I nodded. I knew what he was talking about. Almost from the first day we’d worked together, I’d felt comfortable around Liam. Like I’d always known him. Maybe it was because he reminded me of my dad. Liam was solid. Dependable. Skilled. And he had a great smile.

  I squeezed his hand and let go. “Listen, Liam, I have to find a place for me and the kids. I can’t think about anything else right now. Once I get that out of the way, we’ll go out to dinner and see what happens. Okay?”

  “Okay.” He opened the barbecue lid and flipped the burgers. “Just hurry up and find a place to live, all right? I don’t want to wait too long for that date.”

  I laughed. “All right. I will!”

  EIGHT

  I PROMISED NOT only Liam but also my kids that I’d find a place to rent quickly. But at the end of September, I was no closer to finding us a home. Every morning I phoned about the rentals listed in the local paper and online. But most cost more than I could afford. The rest either didn’t take kids or had already been snapped up.

  Every evening I checked out the few places that were available, but most were too small. In many cases, the girls and I would have had to share a bedroom. The one-bedroom suites were the only rentals I could afford, and even they were overpriced.

  So when Alice told me about a two-bedroom basement suite going cheap, I jumped on it. I took the girls along to see the place right after work.

  “The basement suite is in town?” Maggie asked as we drove to see it.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “But I don’t want to move into town. We talked about that.”

  “I know, honey. But we’re running out of time. We need to move out of our house this weekend.”

  “I don’t want to leave my school.”

  “Stop whining,” said Zoe. “We need a place to live, don’t we?”

  “It’s okay for you,” said Maggie. “Your school is in town. Your boyfriend is in town. You want to move there.”

  “I don’t want to move at all,” said Zoe. “I’m sick of moving.”

  “Both of you be quiet!” I demanded. “Stop arguing.”

  Zoe slumped in her seat. I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Maggie wiping tears from her eyes. I hated this. Trying to find a place to live was hard on both of my daughters. It was hard on me too.

  We drove in silence until we reached the place. The street was in a poorer neighborhood that was literally across the tracks. It was near the town’s sewage-treatment plant. I could smell the foul odor of sewage in the air.

  “You sure this is the place?” Zoe asked. She peered out the truck window at the old house. The siding hadn’t been painted in years. The lawn hadn’t been mown in a while either.

  “It’s the address Alice gave me,” I said.

  “You phoned ahead, right?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  We walked into the small, unkempt yard, and a woman opened the front door.

  “Mrs. Phillips?” I asked.

  “You’re Alice’s friend?”

  “Yes,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’m Sadie. These are my daughters, Maggie and Zoe.”

  Mrs. Phillips didn’t bother to say hello to the girls. “Come this way. The basement entrance is around back.”

  We followed her. She unlocked the basement door and let us inside.

  “I don’t want to live here,” Zoe said. “It’s too dark.” She sniffed. “And it stinks.”

  “Zoe, please,” I said.

  “It’s a basement suite,” the woman said. “They always smell funny.”

  “It smells like pee!” said Maggie.

  Mrs. Phillips gave my kids the once-over. “Are your kids always this rude?” she asked me.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s been stressful trying to find a place.” I frowned at the girls. “They usually behave themselves.”

  “Three of you, eh?” Mrs. Phillips said. “There’s just the two bedrooms, you know.”

  “We’ll have to share a room?” Zoe asked.

  “I can share with Maggie,” I said.

  “But I want my own room too,” said Maggie.

  Mrs. Phillips pursed her lips. “If the number of bedrooms is a problem, I’ve got plenty of others interested in the suite.”

  “It won’t be a problem,” I said. I eyed the girls, warning them to be quiet.

  “If you want the place, I’ll need a check for the damage deposit and first month’s rent today,” said Mrs. Phillips. “And no pets.”

  “No pets?” cried Maggie. “What are we going to do with Mr. S
nuggles?”

  “You said we would never get rid of our cat,” said Zoe. “He’s family.”

  “Of course we won’t,” I said. I looked back at the woman. “Can’t you make an exception? I’m happy to pay a pet deposit.”

  The woman shook her head. “That’s what the last tenant said. But now I have stains on this carpet. As your kid pointed out, you can smell the cat pee. And the former tenant’s cat scratched the door. That creature was yowling at all hours of the day and night.” She crossed her arms. “No pets.”

  I turned to the girls. “Maybe we can find someone to take care of Mr. Snuggles for a little while. Just until we find another place. I’m sure Alice wouldn’t mind—”

  “Hang on a minute,” said Mrs. Phillips. “If you’re not going to stay, I don’t have any interest in renting to you. This isn’t a flophouse, you know.”

  “I didn’t mean we would just leave.” I looked between Mrs. Phillips and my girls, feeling trapped. “I just meant—”

  “I have half a dozen people lined up to see the place this evening,” the woman said. “My phone’s been ringing nonstop. Seems like everybody is hunting for a place to rent. I can pick and choose who I want. And I don’t want you.”

  “Surely we can come to an arrangement,” I said. “I can pay three months’ rent in advance, if you like.”

  Maggie pulled on my coat sleeve. “I don’t want to live here, Mommy.”

  “Me neither,” said Zoe.

  “Like I said, I won’t be renting to you,” the woman said. “Better find yourself another place.”

  “But—”

  She walked back to the door and waited by it until all three of us had filed out. Then she locked the door from the outside.

  I nodded at Mrs. Phillips. “Thanks for your time,” I told her. She only grunted in return.

  I led the kids back to the truck. The smell of the outside air wasn’t much better than the odor inside the suite. Everything here smelled like sewage.

  Maggie climbed into the back and Zoe sat in the front with me. For a time, I sat still, holding on to the steering wheel with both hands.

  “Are we just going to sit here?” Zoe said. “This place stinks.”

  “Don’t talk to Mom like that,” said Maggie.

  “Well, are we?”

  “I just need a minute,” I said.

  “I want to get home,” said Zoe. “I’ve got things to do.”

  I slapped the steering wheel. “We don’t have a home,” I said. “Don’t you see? That basement suite was our last option. There are no other places to rent. And we have to move out this weekend.”

  “Where are we going to live?” Maggie asked. Her lower lip trembled.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “There must be some other place we can check out,” said Zoe. “What about that great house we all liked on Wilson Street? The one with the cool office in the attic.”

  “I liked that place,” said Maggie. “Let’s live there!”

  “The rent is way too high,” I said. “If we lived there, I couldn’t afford to pay utilities or buy food. The rent would use up almost my whole paycheck. I’d have nothing left.”

  “What about that condo?”

  “It’s already taken,” I said. “I’ve checked out all the places we can afford. Now we’re out of time.” I turned to Zoe. “You just had to make an issue out of the cat, didn’t you?”

  Zoe blinked away tears.

  “I’m sorry, Mommy,” Maggie said from the back seat. “I didn’t mean to mess things up. But we can’t leave Mr. Snuggles behind.”

  I took a deep breath, willing my anger away. “Neither of you is to blame. This one’s on me. I just don’t know what to do. We need to move out this weekend, and we have no place to go.”

  “You’re not going to move us to a different town, right?” said Zoe. “I mean, all my friends are here. I know kids who’ve moved away because their parents couldn’t find a place—”

  I shook my head. “We’re not moving to another town. I won’t make you leave your friends. My work is here.” I reached back and took Maggie’s hand. “And we’re not getting rid of Mr. Snuggles.”

  “What are we going to do?” Zoe asked.

  I glanced up the street, trying to think of an answer. The street was lined with one house after another. Why couldn’t I find a home for us? Then I spotted a motorhome parked in someone’s driveway.

  “I know what we’re going to do,” I said. I started up the truck and pulled out into the street. “We’re going camping.”

  NINE

  I DROVE our travel trailer to a campground just down the road from Maggie’s school. It was one of those places with both an older motel and campsites on the same property. It being the end of September, there were lots of sites available. I booked the largest they had, nestled between trees for privacy.

  I backed the trailer into the spot and turned off the truck engine. “There,” I said. “Isn’t this a great spot?”

  Zoe hunkered down in the truck seat and started biting her nails. “This is so embarrassing,” she said.

  “It’ll be fun,” I said. “We’re camping. You always liked camping.”

  “Not when the travel trailer is our home.”

  “I think it’s cool,” said Maggie. “It’s like we’re on vacation. Isn’t that right, Mr. Snuggles?” She hugged our cat. He’d yowled in panic all the way here.

  “This isn’t a holiday,” said Zoe. “We’re at school, stupid. And Monday is October first. It’s fall, not summer.”

  “Don’t call your sister stupid,” I said.

  “Whatever.”

  I checked my temper. The last thing I wanted right now was another argument. Zoe’s behavior was getting worse. But I knew she was only acting like this because she was upset. We were all unsettled at losing our house.

  I tried to put a positive spin on things. “We’re so close to Maggie’s school,” I said. “It’s just a five-minute walk. Zoe, you can take Maggie to school and catch the bus into town from there.”

  “What if my friends see us leaving the campsite every morning?” Zoe asked. “They will, you know. The buses drive right by here. I don’t want them to know I live in a travel trailer parked at a campsite.”

  “It’s only for the month,” I said. “Not even that, if we’re lucky. I’ll find a place for November.”

  “You said we’d have a place by now.”

  I put a hand on her arm to comfort her. “Listen, I know living here for the month embarrasses you. It embarrasses me too. I never thought I’d be in this position.”

  “Homeless, you mean?” said Zoe.

  I felt my stomach drop.

  “We’re not homeless,” Maggie said. “We’ve got a travel trailer. We’re camping.”

  “That’s the spirit,” I said. “Let’s make this fun.”

  But we were homeless—or nearly homeless. I suddenly worried that school staff or social workers might look on our living situation as child neglect. Could I lose my kids because we’d moved into our trailer?

  “How about we keep this to ourselves for now,” I said. “We don’t need to let your dad or your teachers know we’re camping. We’ll just pretend we’re still living at our rented house.”

  “You want us to lie to Dad?” Maggie said, surprised. “You told us we shouldn’t lie.”

  “We’ll tell him we’re moving when we find our new place. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Maggie sounded doubtful.

  Zoe didn’t say anything to that. She just scowled at me and turned away. But then, I thought, she should be mad. I had just asked my daughters to lie to their dad about living at the campsite. How had I gotten to this place?

  “Where are we going to put all our stuff?” Maggie asked.

  “We’ll have to get rid of a lot,” I said.

  “I’m not giving up my stuffies,” said Maggie.

  “And I’m not giving up my books,” said Zoe.

  “I’ll r
ent a storage unit,” I said. “We can put our furniture and other items in there. But we’ll also have to take a load to the thrift store today.”

  Zoe sighed in disgust. “I already gave up a pile of stuff when we lost our house after you guys got divorced.”

  “You had outgrown most of those things,” I reminded her. “And you’ve outgrown a lot of things in your room now. Think how happy some kid will be to find those toys and books at the thrift store.”

  “But it’s my stuff.”

  “I wouldn’t mind giving my Barbie dolls to another girl,” said Maggie. “If it made her happy.”

  “Well, I’m not giving away my things,” said Zoe.

  “You will have to get rid of some of it,” I said. “I will too.”

  “Like all those dresses in your closet that you hardly ever wear?” Zoe asked. She meant it as a gibe, but I let it go. She was right. I rarely wore them.

  I nodded. “Many of them, yes.” I wasn’t quite sure why I had hung on to them. My life had changed so much since my divorce. Now I wore jeans, T-shirts and work boots most of the time.

  But maybe I would hang on to a couple of those dresses. Once I finally found a place, I had at least one date coming up with Liam. I smiled at the thought. Then I shook my head. I was getting ahead of myself. I had to find a home for my kids first.

  “Zoe, I know this is hard. But things will turn around. We’ll find a place. We’ll get settled. It will all work out. You’ll see. And in the meantime, we’re camping! You love camping!”

  “I used to love camping,” said Zoe. “When I was a kid.”

  “And you’re so grown up now,” said Maggie.

  “I’m fourteen,” said Zoe. “That’s a lot older than you.”

  “She thinks she’s so grown up because she’s got a boyfriend.”

  “Shut up. Do not.”

  “When am I going to meet this Jason?” I asked.

  “Like, never,” said Zoe. “I’m not inviting him over to our travel trailer.” Then she muttered under her breath, “I should have gone to live with Dad when he offered.”

  “You don’t mean that,” I said.

  “He’s got a nice house, and he lives in the city. We’re stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. And you’re moving us into a travel trailer on a campsite!”