Building Home

by Dee Ernst

  He lifted his head. “Oh, thank God you’re here. A martini, please. Stoli Elit. Very very dry. With a twist.”

  Her smile remained fixed. “Stoli what?”

  “Elit,” he repeated slowly.

  “We really don’t do that here,” DeeDee explained patiently.

  “Vodka rocks,” I told her. “With lime. And I’ll have a beer. Bud.”

  He scowled at me. “Since when do you drink beer?” he grumbled. “And who doesn’t have Stoli Elit?”

  He could be such a spoiled baby sometimes. If we had still been together, I would have tried to charm or joke away his mood. But now, I was just trying not to laugh. “Daniel, be nice,” I scolded.

  He put his hand to his chest, fingers splayed. “I’m always nice.” His eyes lit up. “Marie, I cannot begin to express my thanks. Your information was invaluable today. As was your subtle wit and words of advice. Thanks to you, was able to keep up with that woman…”

  “Who is a dear,” I said.

  He was still looking at Marie. “Who is sly as a fox and would have happily eaten me alive if not for Marie here.”

  I glanced at Marie. Her eyes were bright and she was looking very smug.

  “So I gather you two had lots to talk about?” I prompted.

  “She showed me everything. I had to walk miles into those woods because she insisted I see the pond, which is almost a lake, by the way, and the ducks swarmed us, because, apparently, she feeds them and they must have been starving because I barely got out alive.”

  DeeDee appeared with the drinks. Daniel drank his at once in a long gulp, closed his eyes and winced.

  “Another,” he croaked.

  Off she went.

  “And then we saw her garden. And then the grape arbor. There’s also a small shed back in there somewhere with everything you could ever need to make your own wine.” He clasped his hands together. “A small meth lab in the corner would not have surprised me. And then she suggested lunch, and I thought, finally, we can go somewhere and talk like two business people, but no.” He shook his head. “She had something prepared. Actually, she had about ten different somethings prepared. So we sat in her kitchen and we ate for hours and she tried to kill me with glass of her wine, which luckily I nursed throughout the meal or I would have been flat on the floor.”

  Another drink arrived, and this time he sipped it. “She loved my ideas and wanted me to draw the plans for her, right there. She had paper and a red pencil. Very quaint. So I drew a very rough sketch, then she started changing things, then she forced more wine down my throat, and then she dragged me back outside so we could pace it off. Pace. It. Off. In ninety-degree heat, and the humidity is what, seven hundred percent? And after eating that tremendous meal and drinking that lethal concoction of hers, which I imagine has an alcoholic equivalency of grain, I felt sure I was going to pass out. The only thing that kept me upright was the fear that if I did collapse, she’d leave me there and I’d be eaten by something. Probably a bear. Or maybe a flock of ravenous ducks.”

  At this point, Stella and Karen were trying so hard not to laugh that I was afraid they were going to each burst a blood vessel. Marie’s mouth was a thin line, but I could feel her body next to mine, shaking with suppressed laughter.

  “She asked me what part of Italy my family was from,” Daniel continued. He leaned toward Marie and dropped his voice. “My family were Russian Jews who came here and changed their name from Russokov. I was afraid to tell her, so I just said Rome. That worked for some reason. And then, just to make the entire afternoon completely absurd, she said that if I built an assisted living facility back near her duck pond, and made sure she and her sister could live there for free, she’d give me back half the money. Half.” He shuddered. “She’s diabolical.”

  “That sounds like an amazing deal, Daniel,” I said, and I meant it. “So, what did you think?”

  “I think that the sooner she’s put into protective custody, the safer this entire state will be.”

  “Daniel,” I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking. “She’s a sweet lady who was trying to make you feel welcome.”

  He stared into his drink. “Yes, well…that stuff she ferments out there and puts into those bottles needs a very strong warning label,” he muttered. “I barely sobered up enough to realize how badly I needed a real drink. And then to come here, where they don’t even have Stoli Elit…”

  “You asked me lots of questions today, Daniel,” Marie said, her shaking under control. “Did you form any opinion?”

  He slowly drank a bit more and nodded. “Yes. The property is ideal for what I’d like, and there’s more than enough acreage for some sort of old-person’s home tucked back there. I’ve never actually done a project quite like that, but if she’s going to give me back half the money just so she can feed her ducks every day…whole thing is very do-able. Marie, if I can get the zoning changed as easily as you seem to think I can, I can buy in a few weeks, and start construction early next year.”

  Karen clapped her hands. “Daniel, you’re a hero.”

  “No, I’m not,” he said. “I do not do this sort of thing just to rescue wildlife, or any other kind of life. I do it to make money, and with this deal I’m going to make lots of it. That is why I do this.”

  I grabbed his hand and kissed it. If he pulled this off, in a few years Celeste and Connie were going to be right back where they belonged. “And think of all those ducks you saved,” I said, finally laughing out loud.

  He glared at me. “This Amy person had better not cause any trouble, Chris. I mean it. I do not need my reputation besmirched.”

  Marie cackled. “Besmirched? Really? You use words like that all the time?”

  He looked at her, and I saw something in his eyes. “As a matter of fact,” he said slowly. “I do. I’m quite an admirer of the English language and like to express my appreciation as often as possible.”

  Marie pointed her index finger at him. “Really? And here thought you liked the sound of your own voice.”

  Daniel’s eyes glittered. “And is there anything wrong with the sound of my voice?”

  A funny look passed over her face. “No. There’s not.”

  He looked back down at his drink, nodded, as though to himself, and downed it quickly. “I probably can’t drive myself back to town,” he said, to no one in particular.

  Marie straightened her shoulders. “I’ll be happy to drive you back.”

  A slow, satisfied smile crossed his face. “Why, thank you. That’s very kind.”

  I slid out so she could go, and stayed standing as I watched the two of them leave. He held the door open for her, and as he went to close it behind him, he flashed me a very wicked grin.

  I sat down.

  “Did what I think happened,” Karen said slowly, “just happen?”

  I stared into my beer. “Yes, I think so. I think that Daniel and Marie are going back to his place, have another drink or two, and then proceed to have some terrifically hot sex.”

  Karen swore softly. “But they just met.”

  “But they’ve been texting back and forth all day,” I said.

  “Texting?” Stella said. “Does that even count as anything?”

  “As someone who’s read many of Daniel’s texts, yes, they can count for quite a lot. He can be quite charming.”

  Stella sighed. “A casual meeting, a few melting looks across the table and, bingo! Instant attraction. I didn’t think that sort of thing happened in real life.”

  “Well it’s happening to Chris here,” Karen said. “She just doesn’t know what to do about it.”

  DeeDee set down a couple of platters of food. “You want anything to eat?” she asked me.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m good, thanks.”

  “Where did Mr. Fancy-Pants go?”

  “Off to be someone’s happily-ever-after. Or at least, happily-for-tonight,” I said.

  “What?” DeeDee frowned. “Happily what?”
/>   Stella laughed. “Never mind, DeeDee. Chris here is just jealous.”

  I stared into my beer. Was Mike ever going to issue an ass-backward invitation like that to me? Or any kind of invitation? “Damn straight I am.” I muttered.

  The next morning, Tyler slid the armoire into its place in the hallway, and it fit perfectly.

  “Of course it fits,” he said crossly, in response to my delighted applause. “Why wouldn’t it?”

  I carried the doors out to the front porch and sanded them by hand, getting into every crevice. I was wearing a bandana tied around my forehead to keep the sweat from dripping into the door. The porch would protect the doors from falling leaves or any other debris. Then I sanded the drawers, and after lunch, wiped them down with a tack cloth to remove all the sawdust, and then began to apply the stain. The fumes weren’t terrible, and it took me a lot less time that I thought it would. When I was done, I looked across the street to see if Mike’s truck was there so I could show off my handiwork.

  His truck wasn’t there. Neither was Steve’s.

  “Where’s the boss?” I asked Tyler.

  He shrugged. “There’s somebody getting married this weekend, a cousin, I think. Steve insisted Mike get a new suit, and Mike insisted Steve come and help him.” Tyler grinned. “They’re like little kids, sometimes. It’s pretty funny.”

  I’m sure it was, but that meant that I wouldn’t be seeing Mike at all day today, and I had called the Medical Center and made an appointment to talk to someone about a job tomorrow, which meant I wouldn’t see Mike until Friday…

  That kind of took the glow out of my day. But the doors and the drawers of my armoire looked great.

  After getting Tyler to swear he would bring them inside before he left for the day, I went back to Terri’s, showered off, and walked out to the beach to sit under my umbrella and read until almost sunset, then went back, ate cold salad with Terri, and went to bed.

  I drove up to the Northampton County Medical Center the next morning and filled out an application. I handed it to a rather harried-looking woman who glanced at it briefly, then frowned and read the whole thing again, much slower.

  “You ran a real estate office?” she asked.

  I nodded. “For twenty-five years.”

  “And you managed the whole thing by yourself?”

  “No. I mean, yes, in the beginning, I had to do everything. But as the business grew, I hired people to do most of the clerical stuff.”

  “You have an appointment with Mr. Stall?”

  “Yes. For ten-thirty. I’m a little early—”

  “That’s fine. I’ll be right back.” she said.

  I nodded my head and sat.

  What on earth was I doing here? I had no real interest in working in the medical field, which had always seemed to me to be shrouded in mysterious codes and abbreviations. On the other hand, I probably needed to work somewhere, because Terri hadn’t found us a house to flip and I couldn’t see myself sitting in my front porch waving at tourists for the next twenty years.

  “Christiana?” I looked up. A tall man was hovering.

  “Yes? Chris, Please.”

  “Chris? Fine. Can you come this way?”

  I followed him through a maze of hallway to a cubicle half the size of my new front porch.

  “I’m Darren Stall, and I’m the chief business administrator here, and one of our best people is leaving in September to have a baby and will not be coming back. You seem to have many of the skills required to do her job, which is very detail oriented and quite frankly, somewhat tedious. How are you with tedious?”

  “Well. Let’s see. Do you know anything about real estate? I completely memorized the regulations set forth by the Commonwealth of Virginia, so I’ve pretty much got tedious covered. I like details. I like everything to line up in a nice, neat little row.”

  He looked relieved. “That’s the kind of person we need. This position is not really on the medical side as much as on the business side. It’s only thirty hours a week, but we have a competitive salary and you’ll be eligible for benefits after three months.”

  Did that mean health insurance? That was the one thing that had been as big a drain on my bank account as my house. “That sounds good,” I said.

  “You are going to stay here on the Eastern Shore, are you not?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yes. I have a house in Cape Edwards.”

  He looked relieved. “Good. You’d be surprised at the number of summer people who have come in and applied with no intention of staying through the winter. Something rather unexpected has come up today, and I apologize, but can you come for a more formal interview, say, early next week?”

  “I’m going back to Rehoboth next week to finish up business,” I told him. “The week after? Monday morning?”

  We agreed on a time, shook hands, and I left the MedCenter is a daze. Had I really just gotten myself a job interview?

  To celebrate, I drove north and shopped. After all, if I did have a job, I could splurge a bit, right? And I’d had my eye on these two lamps in a little shop in Exmore.

  I texted Terri that I had a job interview, bought the lamps, a small side table, and a beautifully faded rug that would be perfect in the bedroom, dull green with cream and shades of rose. Then I found an antique quilt in the same colors, for way too much money. I debated with myself for about ten minutes, then went back to my mantra: Eat the cookie, take the chance, spend the money…

  And I had job interview! That was almost a job. Who could I celebrate with?

  The person I wanted to celebrate with was Mike, of course. I wanted us across the table from each other, laughing and drinking champagne, then walking out and down Main Street in the moonlight, my head on his shoulder…

  I was halfway home when I pulled over on the shoulder of Rt. 31 and called Mike. And of course I got his voicemail. I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel, trying to decide between hanging up or leaving a silly ‘just saying hi’ kind of message, when it occurred to me that taking a bit of a chance on a voicemail was probably easier than in person.

  “Mike? It’s me. Chris. I applied for a job, and they want me to come back for an interview and I just felt like celebrating, and I was, you know, wondering if you’d like to buy me a drink tonight? Or I could buy you one. After all, I might be swimming in the big bucks pretty soon. So, well, anyway, I’ll be down at Sam’s on Main if you decide to join me.”

  I hung up and took a few deep breaths. That sounded just fine. Not desperate, because I really wasn’t. After all, I didn’t need him to congratulate myself on a good job prospect. And Sam’s on Main was familiar territory—if he didn’t show, I’d probably see at least one person I knew who might, in fact, want a drink.

  I felt a whole lot better as I pulled back out, thinking I’d done a pretty good job, and then I realized I hadn’t given him a time. So what did that mean? Should I call him back? No, I wasn’t desperate. I had to remind myself of that.

  I sat in traffic on Main Street, hoping I’d catch a glimpse of him at the job site, but I couldn’t see his truck anywhere. So, I guess I’d be sitting in Sam’s on Main until…when? When was an appropriate time to stop waiting for a date that really wasn’t a date at all, just a casual invitation?

  But I’d done it. I put myself out there, and even if he didn’t show up at all, it was fine because I was just a little bit proud of myself.

  A lone woman sitting on a bar stool on an evening in summer attracts way more attention than I would have reckoned. Especially since the woman was me, and I was not young, thin, or beautiful. Granted, my hair was behaving in the air-conditioning, and I had on lipstick and even mascara, but still.

  After refusing two drinks in the first hour, I was ready to go back to Terri’s and just pretend I’d never left Mike a voicemail in the first place. I started looking around for a familiar face, and wouldn’t you know, the first one I saw was Daniel’s

  He came up and kissed my cheek. “W
hy are you sitting here alone? Are you taking another risk and trying to get picked up by a total stranger?”

  I glared at him. “No. I’m waiting for Mike.”

  “Oh? He’s meeting you? How lovely.”

  “I don’t know. He might be.”

  Daniel waved at the bartender. “Do you have any Stoli? At all?”

  The bartender nodded, and Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. “Stoli martini. Very dry. With a twist.” He turned back to me. “What do you mean, he might be?”

  “I invited him to join me for a drink, but it was on his voicemail, and I didn’t specify a time, and…forget it. Daniel, you can now officially claim the title of my last boyfriend. I do not know how to do this anymore.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “You’ll be fine. Mike is a gentleman. I think you’re very well suited. I’m sure he’ll be here.”

  He accepted his drink, took a sip, and sighed with pleasure. “At last. It’s almost perfect.”

  “Marie drinks those,” I said, just making conversation.

  “I know. I made her one or three last night.” He shifted his drink to his other hand so he could lean his elbow against the bar. “She is a charming woman. Just charming. And quite bright, you know. I like smart women.”

  “Chloe?” I said, raising an eyebrow

  He rolled his eyes. “You did know that she went to Brown, right? Granted, I don’t think Chloe has much common sense, but…well, look, it’s Mike!”

  I turned to look toward the door, and yes, there he was. His eyes swept the room, found me, and lifted a hand.

  And there I was, right next to my ex, and Mike had no way of knowing were actually talking about his current girlfriend, or possibly, his future girlfriend…

  Daniel straightened and nodded to Mike as he came up and shook his hand. He knew me well enough to know exactly what I’d be worried about and came to the rescue. “Chris and I were just having a conversation about the current woman in my life. I suppose it’s good to get a different perspective.”

  Mike shot me a look. “Chris a bit jealous?”

  I almost spit out my drink.

  Daniel just smiled. “Heavens no. More like celebrating her status as someone who no longer gives a damn.”