Chapter Forty-Five
Jamie stripped off the wet shirt and shorts and dashed into the shower. How did I let myself kiss Mike? What was I thinking? He dried himself off. What was Mike thinking? He did kiss me back.
“Jamie?”
“I’m coming.” When he started down the stairs, he saw Joesph, Mike, and Salzy sitting at one of the tables, a sack from a local fast-food joint next to them.
“One of the guys doing the drywall was going to get some breakfast, and I got him to pick us up a few things,” Mike indicated the large bag. “I wasn’t sure what anyone would prefer, so I got a variety.”
“Tank you,” Salzy said around a mouthful of biscuit and what looked like sausage and egg.
“That... was nice. Thanks.” Jamie sat down, his coffee now cold.
Joesph dug around in the bag. “There’s a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. Just an egg and cheese biscuit, a container of grits and... oh, here, a country fried steak and gravy plate.”
“I’ll just have an egg, sausage, and cheese biscuit, please,” Jamie said, taking it from Joesph.
“Can I have the country fried steak?” Salzy asked.
Mike laughed. “Be my guest. But I can tell you it isn’t anything like Jamie’s.”
“That goes without saying.” Salzy pulled the covered Styrofoam container towards himself. “I’m starved.”
Mike stared at Salzy. “Um... how’s your head?”
Salzy looked at Mike and then the other two men. “What? My head is fine. Why’s everyone asking me that? Did I hit my head? Am I bleeding or something?”
“Honey, you had a lot, and I do mean a lot, of tequila last night.” Joesph did that thing where he tilted his head and lifted the opposite eyebrow.
Salzy shrugged his shoulders. “I told you...” He took a bite of the country fried steak. “Tequila likes me a lot. I can drink a lot of it, and I’ve never had a hangover from it. I just embarrass myself.”
“Do you remember ripping your shirt off?” Jamie asked, smiling.
“Uh, no.” Salzy’s brow furrowed. “Did I at least keep my pants on?”
Joesph started laughing and Mike joined him. “Only because Jamie stopped you from taking them off,” Joesph said, still laughing.
“Thanks, bro.” Salzy draped an arm over Jamie’s shoulder. “See, I told you we were brothers.”
“It was entertaining,” Mike added. “It was a fun night. I’ve not had that much fun in ages.”
“I agree.” Jamie finished the rest of his cold coffee. “It’s been a while since I’ve done that.”
“And we still got to bed before midnight,” Joesph snarked. “Like real adults.”
“Eww... not adults,” Salzy laughed. “I don’t want to be an adult.”
Mike guffawed, spitting out a big crumb of biscuit.
“On a more serious note,” Joesph piped in, “We’re going to need a coffee maker.”
“I’ll run out and get one,” Jamie volunteered.
“No, you won’t. We have appointments all day long. And don’t forget, you have that meeting with Payton Manley at three.” Joesph held up his notepad, the page almost full. “Send Sal. There’s not much he can do today with all the other men in the diner working.”
“You okay with that?” Jamie asked Salzy, who had just polished off the container of country fried steak, biscuits and gravy, and the grits.
“Yeah. Just make me up a list.” He looked at Jamie and smiled. “Will I need to go to Hanson’s?”
Joesph made up a list of things, and then Jamie added to it. “Come up and I’ll get my wallet,” he said to Salzy. “I’ll give you my debit card.”
When the two men were upstairs, Jamie opened up his laptop. “I’m going to get a barbecue and go ahead and pay for it, so all you’ll need to do is pick it up.” He looked at Salzy. “Then go to Hanson’s and get some charcoal. And for goodness’ sake, ask that girl out.”
Salzy grinned. “Okay. I think I will. What else?”
“Go over to Target and get us a decent coffee maker and some martini glasses. I can’t believe I forgot about Joesph not liking beer.
And then”—he scribbled something else on the list—“get us some hamburger, some buns, maybe some hot dogs too. Whatever salads they have, and maybe some chips. We’ll do a cookout tonight.
I’ll figure out what I can do from all the stuff in the walk-in for the next few nights. ”
“Do we have a timeline for how long all these renovations are going to take?” Salzy asked as he put the list in his back pocket.
Jamie stood up and handed Salzy the card. “I’m going to go over all that this afternoon with Joesph. I have to admit, it’s going a lot faster than I thought it would.”
Salzy shook his head. “I’ll agree to that. Joesph is a firecracker and knows how to get things done.”
“That’s what makes him one of the best in his field. His work is amazing. You should have seen that hotel lobby he did in Atlanta. It would blow your mind.”
“I’ll ask him if he has any pictures.” Salzy took the card and put it in his wallet.
“He will. He has pictures of every job he’s ever done.” Jamie wiped his brow. “Damn, it’s already hot.”
Jamie watched Salzy pull out of the rear parking lot in the old truck, a small cloud of dust from the gravel wafting after him, as he came down the steps.
“Have a seat,” Joesph said, patting the space on the bench next to him. “Let’s go over this schedule.”
“I was going to ask you that,” Jamie smiled. “Great minds and all that.”
Joesph smiled. “The heat and air guy will be here at one.” Joesph pointed to a list with today’s date on it.
“One of the painters will be here at two. Your meeting with Payton and Adrian is at three. Another painter is coming at four.” He looked at the time on his computer.
“It’s almost noon now, so our day is full. ”
“I bought a barbecue that Sal is going to pick up. I thought tonight we’d just have hamburgers and hot dogs. Hope you’re okay with that?”
“I’m more than happy with that, as long as we’re not going to eat that for the rest of the week.”
Jamie laughed. “No. There’s quite a bit of food in the walk-in. I just need to cook up in the apartment. I have no idea when the last time that stove was used.” Jamie shook his head, his face solemn. “I can only remember my grandmother using it a few times the entire time I lived here.”
Joesph took his hand. “It’s okay. Sometimes it’s good to remember.”
Mike came out the back door, and the screen door closed softly behind him. “I’m just in the way in there,” he huffed. “Everything is going pretty smoothly. They’ll have a finish coat done on all the drywall by the end of the day.”
“Wow,” Jamie said. “That was... very fast.”
“They’re using that quick-dry plaster. It dries in thirty minutes.”
“Okay, then...” Joesph looked at his computer. “That means that the painters can get in here...”
“What about the floors?” Jamie asked before Joesph could finish.
Joesph gave him a look, a Joesph look. “If I may finish.” He cleared his throat.
“The flooring company will start first thing in the morning. They are sending two crews. One to do the dining room flooring, and the other will first pull up all the old tile.” He glanced at Mike and then Jamie.
“They said that they could have all that tile up in one day and the floor ready for the new tile.”
“I can see where that’s doable,” Mike said, nodding his head. “Especially with two teams.”
“It’s my hope that the tile can be put down on Saturday in the dining room and have that completed since it is only an underlay and then vinyl tiles over that.
” Joesph took a deep breath. “The kitchen is another matter. They may or may not be able to get the tile laid on Saturday. At any rate, after it is down, it needs time to cure before they can grout it. I’m hoping that it will be completely done by Tuesday at the latest. Then the painters can do the entirety of the interior. ”
Jamie sat there looking at the schedule, shaking his head. “It seems fast and slow at the same time.”
Joesph chuckled. “Welcome to my world.”
“I have to admit, I’m in awe, Joesph,” Mike said softly. “I wish the Army had a project manager as good as you are.”
“Why, thank you, handsome.”