16. Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Jake
Eliza pointed to Jake, signaling him to start his confessional over again. He patted the hanging kitchen shelf he’d just wrapped construction on. “Storage is always a big deal, especially in the kitchen. So Evander and I worked together to come up with this design to make up for the hanging cabinets we had to take out when we opened up the kitchen.” He pointed with his carpenter’s pencil, tracing the air above each section as he gave commentary. “Nothing too crazy. Some polished brass struts to hold everything together, keeps things light enough without sacrificing too much structural integrity. Then some light oak on the shelves. Those just got a polyurethane finish to protect them. It’s food safe and lets the wood’s natural beauty shine through.” He brought the pencil down and followed the rounded edge. “Put a bullnose all the way around, and smoothed out the corners to keep things looking a little less severe.”
Eliza nodded. “Are you still good putting the plan for this up on the website?”
“Absolutely.” He nodded, took a beat, then went back in. “If you want to build a shelf like this for yourself, I’ve put the plans up on the Pine Point Fixer Uppers website, and I’ll have a tutorial up on our VideoHead channel walking you through the whole construction.” That had been Mason’s idea whole cloth, but everyone jumped on it. A great way to get more income in through the channel—they’d negotiated a sixty-forty split with Homescapes, amidst much grumbling from Aras and Ozzy—and to help boost up the visibility of the show. Plus it would help people out if they wanted to try and tackle a project on their own. There was no way they could help everyone who needed a hand in their house, but this was at least something. They’d help whoever they could.
“All right, I think that should get the job done.” Eliza looked over something on her tablet, then smiled at Jake. “Footage is good, and we can ADR if we need anything different with the audio.”
“Groovy.” Jake patted the shelving unit, then backed away as two of Linda’s workers grabbed it and took it inside to be hung up. They’d gotten the base cabinets in the day before, and the quartz countertops were due at the end of the week. This shelf would make it feel a hell of a lot more complete.
The laundry room shelf had been easy enough to finish once he got the lumber ripped down to the right sizes. He had to go with thin stuff, but it would have been wasteful to go buy more when they had so much scrap still to work through. A little wood glue and some finishing nails, then putty on the joints and holes and it looked damn good, if he said so himself.
Finishing that also freed him up to get started on the gaming room, which buoyed up his chest. He had so many plans for it, in his head and on paper, that he needed to still himself a little before he started in so he could approach it with a level head, so he walked to the trailers to grab a snack and some extra water. He snagged some apple slices and refilled his bottle from the big cooler, then sighed and turned to look at the house.
His phone buzzed and he pulled it out to check. When he saw Quinn’s number, he smiled and opened the message.
Hey. What’s protocol on me coming over to the house?
I’ve always been scheduled to come out before.
Give me a second. I’ll check.
It would sit off with Jake if he had to tell the homeowner he couldn’t come out, but this was a production and he wasn’t in charge. He headed into hair and makeup and waved down Corinne, one of the hair stylists. “Hey, could you get Eliza over here? Nothing major, just a logistics question from Quinn.”
“Of course.” She raised up her walkie and spoke into it. “Eliza to hair and makeup when you get a minute.”
Jake saluted her, then walked back out to stand by the craft services table. When Eliza got within eyesight, he waved her down. “Hey, sorry. I had Corinne ping you for me.”
“No problem.” She shifted her path and walked up to him, grabbing a croissant from the table. “What’s going on?”
“Quinn wants to know if he’s allowed to come to the house. I don’t know how you want to play that from your side.”
“Standard practice with Homescapes is, whoever we’re doing the job for can come whenever they want, up to the point where we start staging and doing final touches. Usually about the last three or four days of the job.” She took a bite and spoke around the mouthful of croissant. “Keep the final house a secret for the big reveal.”
“Cool. I’ll let him know.” And he did, just a quick message, which got a thumbs up in return. He waved at Eliza as he headed back for the tent, chomping down on the apple slices and thinking through where to start on all the built-ins for the gaming room.
Shouting from inside drew his attention away. A lot of shouting, and it didn’t sound like a celebration of any kind. He jogged across the porch and through the front door to see the commotion.
The shelf they’d brought in, the one they’d just filmed the segment on, was on the floor. No damage to that, but some red speckles dotted the floor and the shelves and the cupboards.
Mason grabbed the side of his head, staring at the floor, and the shouting had quickly gone quiet, the whole space still. No one was angry, it seemed, but he could piece together what happened easily enough. A relatively lightweight shelf like that was still heavy when it fell on your head.
He marched over. “Mason, you good?”
“Fuck. Yeah. I think. Head wounds bleed more than they should, right?”
Jake nodded, even though he didn’t actually know. “Let’s get you outside, okay? Medic should be able to take a look.” He hooked one arm under Mason’s armpits and guided him through the front door, down the steps, and over to the trailers. “Medical? Anyone?”
A young, dark-skinned woman in a red polo shirt walked up. She moved a little faster once she got close. “What happened?”
“I don’t know exactly.” Jake let her take the lead, guiding him over to a separate tent with actual flaps to close. “I think a shelving unit clipped him.”
“It’s nothing, really.” It wasn’t terribly convincing, while Mason was sitting on the little cot, still holding his bleeding head wound. “Just a bad set of circumstances. They dropped the shelf while they were trying to hang it and I happened to be walking by at the wrong time. Metal pipe caught me on the head.” He waved his bloody hand in the air. “I didn’t mean to cause a fuss, yelling like that. More shock than pain.”
The medic grabbed a small bottle and sprayed clear liquid around the wound, clearing it out and winning herself a hiss of pain from Mason. “I think you’re probably right. But we have to be safe.” She touched around it, Mason cringing, then sighed. “I don’t think you need stitches or staples for this one.” She went into a small box and pulled out some sort of bandage with little strips in the middle. “This should keep it closed, but if it doesn’t, you will have to go to urgent care before I can let you back on set.”
Jake grabbed his hand while she cleaned the wound one more time, and he certainly squeezed down as she tightened the closure, cinching the wound up and finally stopping the bleeding. Another cleanup, then she went back to the box. “You want something for the pain?”
Mason shook his head. “Just stings. Honestly, it’s not even that bad anymore. But thanks.”
“Well, I’m going to check on you through the rest of the day. If you start feeling nauseous or lightheaded or just off in any way, find me or have someone flag me down. I doubt you have a concussion if the hit was really that light, but I’m not ready to take chances on head injuries, okay?” She tucked her box of goodies away, then nodded at him. “Promise me you’re not going to be all manly and dumb about this. Anything feels wrong, I need to know.”
“Good thing I’m the one who got hurt, then. I don’t have a manly bone in my body.”
Jake nodded. “Unless it’s attached to your date.”
Mason’s jaw dropped and he smacked Jake in the chest.
The medic poorly suppressed a grin. “Well good. You have the all-clear for now.”
She walked away and Mason stood. “You should probably go make sure that your shelves are okay after ramming into a head as hard as mine.”
“I’m sure they’re fine. But are you seriously good?”
“I’m seriously good. Although I should go apologize. Didn’t use the most genteel language when it first hit me.” He patted Jake on the shoulder. “Thanks for getting me out here in one piece.” He took a tentative step and smiled, some of the tension leaking out when he didn’t immediately collapse. “I owe you one.”
“We’re good.” Jake followed, partially to check on the shelves, and partially just to make sure Mason was really all right. He couldn’t hover forever, but for a bit at least. They went back inside and the guys who’d been hanging the shelves were wiping everything up with wet rags.
Mason picked up the pace a little. “Hey, wait. I can clean up my own blood. You shouldn’t have to do that.”
While they debated and apologized back and forth, Jake turned his attention back to the shelves, currently leaning against the cabinets. He checked them by eye and didn’t see any obvious dents or warps, but he’d bring a level in once things had calmed down, make sure. Open shelves like that, they needed to be totally flat, and he’d adjusted the length of the pipes to account for variance from the aging ceiling.
“Hey, I’m sorry about that.” Linda walked up to him, frowning at the shelves. “Any damage?”
“Not that I can see. Really, don’t apologize, especially to me. You didn’t do it. Mason’s not mad. Accidents just happen on a job site.”
“I know. Still hate to see it.” She reached into the pocket of her overalls and came back out with a small level. “I’m guessing this would be good?”
“Bless you.” Jake took it and rested it against every flat surface, then sighed. “Luck was on my side with this one.”
She nodded and took her level back. “They look nice. Haven’t had a chance to tell you.”
“Yeah. Evander had the right call on this one. I think they’ll work in the space really well.”
A light knock sounded on the door and Jake turned and smiled.