Chapter 3
Mina
“Man, you were right. There is still a lot of stuff here.”
I glanced back at my friend Claire’s words as we stepped over the threshold into the back room of my new building. We were here to sort through all the items Mr. Shuman left behind. “Wait until you see out front. He left most of the displays.”
Claire’s nose wrinkled. “That’s just rude.”
I shrugged, tossing my keys onto the small card table I set up earlier, so we’d have a place to set things. “Maybe he thought I could use some of it. None of them are in terrible shape.” I put my tote bag down next to my keys.
“I guess that could be true.” Claire set her bag down beside mine. “It still would have been nice if he asked first, though.”
“What can you do? The displays really aren’t that big of a deal. Luke said his team would take care of them. It’s more this stuff that’s the hassle.” I gestured to the art leaning against the walls.
Glancing around, Claire nodded. Her dogs, Betty and Pebbles, strained the ends of their leashes, sniffing anything they could.
I eyed them, amused. The new puppy, Betty, was adorable. She was little more than a black ball of fluff. A ball of fluff that liked to annoy her small Yorkie friend.
As I watched. Betty gave up sniffing the floor and hopped over to Pebbles, tackling her. The little dog did a quick roll and sprang to her feet, barking.
“Pebbles, that’s enough.” Claire gave her dog’s leash a soft tug, then looked up at me. “Maybe I should have just crated Betty after all.”
“Nonsense.” I waved a hand. It didn’t bother me at all that she brought them.
I completely understood why. No one wanted to keep a dog confined to a crate any longer than necessary.
Her boyfriend, Ozzie, got called in for a burglary investigation, so no one was home to keep an eye on the little stinker.
“They’ll be fine. Let them off their leads.
I’m sure there are plenty of new smells to keep them occupied for a while.
And it’s not like it’s a problem if Betty tinkles on the floor.
It’s all getting replaced. She’s just impatient to be let loose.
” I walked over to the pile of paintings and photo prints leaning against the far wall and grabbed one in a large frame, pulling it over to block off the stairs to the basement.
The last thing we needed was either dog going down there and finding heaven only knew what.
I hadn’t even been down there yet. Honestly, I was a bit afraid to go down and take a look.
When I toured the building, there had been some boxes and furniture down there, but I didn’t know if Mr. Shuman had removed it all.
My fear was that everything that had been upstairs was now downstairs.
I’d never seen a dumpster or a moving truck here to remove the items from the store.
There could be piles and piles of more junk downstairs, and I just didn’t even want to think about that.
Claire unclipped the dogs’ leads, and they immediately ran in opposite directions, noses glued to the ground.
“Where do you want to start?” Claire asked, setting the leads on the table by my keys.
“Let’s flip through this stuff, then we can tackle the main room.” I tipped my head toward the front of the store before eyeing the basement stairs. “We can end with the dungeon.”
A wry smile sprang to life on Claire’s pretty face. “Sounds like a plan. You take that wall.” She pointed to the one I’d dragged the picture away from to block the stairs.
“So, tell me about this contractor,” Claire said, moving toward the other wall. “I thought you hired Les Decker, but you said the guy’s name is Luke?”
“I did. Luke is his son. Les had a heart attack.”
“What?” Claire gasped. “Oh my goodness! Is he all right?”
“He’s doing okay, from the way his son talked, but he’s been sidelined for the foreseeable future. Luke’s taken over the business until his dad can return.”
“Wow. That’s quite the task. He’s young, isn’t he? Early twenties, if memory serves me correctly.”
“Mid-twenties. He said he’s twenty-six. I guess he’s the company architect. Now he’s also the main project manager.”
“Do you think he’s up for the job?”
I waved my head back and forth, continuing to flip through the prints lined up against the wall. “He seemed to know what he was talking about. I guess we’ll find out.”
Letting go of the last frame, I stepped back. “None of these fit the vibe I’m going for.”
“Yeah, I’m feeling the same thing over here.” Claire flipped through the last few pictures, then turned away from the wall.
“Let’s head out front.” I grabbed a sheet from my tote that I brought to put on the floor. Anything I planned to keep would go on it.
Claire called the dogs, and we headed up front.
Unfolding the sheet, I let it fan out and settle on the floor in an empty corner.
“You know, you were right. These are in pretty good shape.”
I looked up from straightening the sheet’s edges to see Claire walking through the displays.
“You could put a notice on the windows and talk to the other shopkeepers tomorrow. Let them know they can come by and grab any of them they want.” She looked at me. “It would save some dumpster space.”
“True. But then I’d either have to leave the coffeeshop to let people in or pay someone to sit here for several hours.”
“I could probably do it. I have an open house from two to four, but I could hang out here from say, ten until noon?”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“I mean, if you want to do that, I won’t say no.” Sending her a quick smile, I headed for a bank of art. “Whatever doesn’t get taken, I can have Luke’s crew put out on Monday and hold a sidewalk sale. I’ll just put my staff on a rotation to man it.”
“That works. It’s really not a problem for me to sit here tomorrow. It just feels like a waste to—Betty! Pebbles! Oh my goodness.”
At Claire’s exclamation, I glanced over. The dogs each had a corner of the sheet I just laid down in their mouths and were backing up, pulling it across the floor.
Laughing, I moved to help Claire wrestle it away from them.
Pebbles dodged Claire’s outstretched hands, quickly circling around to grab a different corner. Betty stumbled when Pebbles let go, falling sideways.
I laughed harder. “Who knew Pebbles would be the difficult one?”
Claire’s laughter joined mine. “Me. She’s always been the problem child. It’s how Ozzie and I first met, remember?”
“True.” I wish I’d seen my friend running down the sidewalk in her fuzzy, hot-pink slippers after her little dog and stumbling into the hunk of man that was Oscar Quartermaine.
But I’d heard all about it after the fact.
It amused me how little regard she had for him in the beginning.
Now he was living in her house, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear wedding bells ring soon.
“Oh, come here, you little turd.” Claire reached for Pebbles again, but once more the dog scampered away.
Straightening, Claire sighed and propped her hands on her hips. “Perhaps the sheet was a bad idea.”
Chuckling, I nodded. “It’s fine. Let them have it. We can just pile everything right there. I can cover it up with the sheet before we leave or move it onto it tomorrow.”
With a huff, Claire gave her dog one last glare and moved toward a stash of knick-knacks in one of the display cases.
The front room took us longer to go through, but we still made quick work of it.
I found a few art prints and a flowerpot I wanted to keep.
Not even enough to be worthy of spreading the sheet out again.
It would all fit in my car. So, we toted it to the back room and left it near the door.
I would take it all home with me tonight.
“You ready to tackle this basement?” I tipped my head toward the stairs, still leery of what awaited.
She swept an arm out. “Lead the way.”
Mouth twisting, I moved the picture frame out of the way, then bent down and scooped up Betty. I figured both dogs would want to follow us, and I didn’t want the puppy to fall down the stairs.
Claire picked up Pebbles, and we made our way down the concrete steps.
A lone light bulb flickered to life when I flipped the switch. The dusty, sixty-watt bulb barely illuminated the first fifteen feet.
But that was enough.
“Wow,” Claire muttered.
Wow was right.
The basement was full of furniture and boxes, some of them open with random items peeking over the top.
My shoulders slumped. “Well, now I know where most of the stuff upstairs went.” This had not looked like this when I toured the building.
“I guess let’s each grab a box and start taking stuff upstairs. It all has to go, right?” Claire moved forward toward a box with glassware peeking out the top alongside a statue of a bear.
I sighed. “Yeah, eventually.” With so much chaos and the enormity of how much stuff was down here hitting me, my legs refused to propel me forward, my body frozen in a state of decision paralysis.
I simply didn’t know where to start. “Maybe we should leave it for Luke’s team. They can clear it all out.”
Claire paused, her hands on the box. “We should at least look through things down here and see if there’s anything you want to keep.”
I cast a skeptical look at her. “I doubt there’s much I want to keep.”
She shrugged. “Maybe so, but let’s look. At the very least, it keeps me from going home to an empty house.”
Sympathy for my friend finally set my feet in motion. “Oh, all right.” I crossed to the stack of boxes opposite Claire’s and opened the flap.
“So, has Ozzie been working a lot of long hours?” I shot a quick glance at Claire to gauge her reaction. She kept her eyes on the box and its contents.
“Some. No more than usual. It’s just the end of the week, you know? I was looking forward to unwinding with him after we were done here, then he got called in. Now I have no idea when he’ll be home.”
“You said it was a burglary investigation, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, then, it shouldn’t take too long, should it? I mean, it’s not like a murder.” Thank goodness. We’d had enough of those around here for a long time.
“True. I guess it depends on how good the leads are and if he catches the perpetrator.” She waved a hand.
“Ignore me. I’m being melancholic. It’s just been a long week, and I’m tired thanks to a certain fluffball.
” She turned her head to eye her black lab puppy, who currently had her nose stuffed in a crevice between the shelving units lining the wall to my left.
I smiled. “You’re the one who bought the dog.”
Claire huffed a short sigh, then chuckled. “I know.”
Over the next couple of hours, we worked our way through the pile of boxes and furniture, taking a few pieces upstairs that I intended to keep.
Claire found a few things for her home and office as well.
By the time we reached the back of the basement, I was happy she convinced me to go through things. I was also happy we were done.
“I need ice cream,” I muttered, rubbing the small of my back.
“Hey, that sounds good.” Claire glanced at her watch. “And the parlor’s still open. Let’s go.” Bending over, she scooped Pebbles off the floor.
Laughing, I followed suit and picked up a dusty Betty. The little dog squirmed in my arms, then looked up and licked my chin. “You want some ice cream too? I bet we can convince your new mama to get you some.”
Claire glanced back at me as she put a foot on the bottom step. “Like she needs sugar.”
I shrugged. “Make it a small and ask for two cups. You can split it between her and Pebbles.”
As if agreeing, Pebbles barked.
“See?” I chuckled. “She says, ‘Yeah, Mom. I want ice cream.’”
“Fine,” Claire sighed.