CHAPTER 9
“I ’m heading out to the Benedetti job,” Myra said.
“Oh, are you sure? I can have Mark or Emmanuel take that one for you. It’s pretty basic, from what you had me put in the computer,” her customer rep said.
“Yeah, it’s good. She’s a neighbor and a friend, so I’ve got this one.”
“Must be why you’re hardly charging her anything. Just materials at cost and no labor.”
“Family discount.”
“I don’t even think you give your family this big of a discount,” the woman replied.
“I’ll be there for the rest of the day, but call me if anything comes up,” she said, ignoring the comment.
“I will, but we should be fine. Two crews are hard at work today, and all the materials have arrived on time, for once, so we’re on schedule.”
“Great,” Myra said.
She checked her email one more time to see if she had missed anything and headed home.
It was just after three in the afternoon, so this would give her at least three extra hours to work on Elisa’s project.
She estimated that if she was able to proceed on Saturday and Sunday for a few hours as well, it would take about two weeks to finish the interior work on her own, and the roof would take another week or two, depending on how bad the leaks were.
From what she had seen, though, they were only just beginning and not bad in most places.
One trouble spot would require more work, but they would be able to handle it.
Her only concern was that they were in hurricane season right now, so she didn’t want Elisa to be without a roof, even in part, while it was being repaired since the heavy rains could hit at any moment.
Myra, being a contractor, had to check the weather constantly, especially this time of year.
She needed to know if there was anything to worry about and how to alter her schedule if so.
Nothing was on the radar for a major storm so far, but they might have some light rain this weekend, so she would wait to start the roof work until after it passed unless there was something that popped up between now and then.
Myra pulled into her driveway, got out, and locked her truck, deciding not to go inside and change into a fresh shirt again since it would mean that she cared what Elisa thought about her, and she didn’t, obviously.
Okay… That was a lie. But she needed to be herself, and when she came home from work, she was usually at least a little bit messy.
Sometimes, she had sawdust all over her clothes, while other times, she smelled like paint or paint thinner, as was the case today.
“Hi,” she greeted when Elisa opened her door.
“Hey,” Elisa replied, offering her a smile. “Come on in.”
“Are you sure? I kind of just dropped this on you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Elisa said.
Myra walked in and followed her back into the house.
“Are you hungry? I have some lunch leftovers. I made sandwiches. I thought I’d eat two, but I only ended up eating one. Not that I usually eat two. I just skipped breakfast, and– You know what? I thought I was hungry enough to eat two sandwiches, and that’s fine.”
Myra chuckled and said, “Yes, it is. You can eat as many sandwiches as you want.”
“Well, I only ate the one, but I have a turkey sandwich with mustard and cheddar, if you’re interested. I was just going to have it for dinner later, but if you want it, it’s yours.”
“I had lunch earlier, but thank you,” Myra replied. “And you don’t have to feed me every time I’m here. I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. At this point, I think I owe you a meal.”
“I doubt it. I did my research, Myra. I know you’re giving me a sizeable discount here. I feel like I owe you a meal every time you come over.”
“You don’t,” Myra said. “Really, it’s fine. Like I told you, I can come over after my normal workday, so I’m not losing money or anything. ”
“But you’re not really making money, either, are you?”
Myra didn’t want to lie to her, so she shook her head and said, “It’s really not a big deal.”
“Can I at least help somehow?” Elisa offered. “I know I’m not super handy, but I can maybe pass you things.”
“You want to help?”
“Can I? Or will I just be in the way?”
“Depends, I guess,” she said. “But if you want to hand me things, that can be helpful.”
“I can do that. Let me get us something to drink first, and you can tell me what you need,” Elisa replied.
“Okay,” Myra agreed, liking that she would have more time with her.
When Elisa returned with two glasses of water for them, Myra walked her through the basics of the toolbox to make it easier for her to know what to hand her.
Then, Myra began measuring. She’d already brought the lumber she would need last night after dinner, so now she had to take it out back to cut it down to size using the saw and the sawhorses she pretty much always brought to work with her in her truck.
“So, that’s going to go there?” Elisa asked, pointing.
“Yes. I need to cut it down first, but I’m going to measure all of them before I go out back and do that.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever sawed anything.”
“You want to try?”
“God, no.” Elisa laughed. “I’d do it wrong and ruin a piece of wood.”
“No, you wouldn’t. I have extras here, and it’s not that hard. I’ll draw the lines and set everything up. I’ll even help you hold the saw.”
“Help me? Like, stand behind me or something?” Elisa asked with a flirtatious smile.
It was flirtatious, right? Elisa was flirting with her again .
Myra had thought that had been the case over dinner the previous night as they had shared pasta and wine.
Elisa had forgotten to cook the chicken, and the garlic bread had been a little burned, but Myra had had a lot of fun watching her try to scrape the burned cheese off the bread as she continued to apologize for not cooking the chicken that Myra hadn’t cared about at all.
“Yeah,” she replied. “If you want to try it.”
Elisa just nodded, so once Myra had finished measuring and marking her lines, she carried the two-by-fours outside, and Elisa followed her.
Having set up the first piece of lumber on the sawhorses, Myra explained the rules of the saw first. Elisa would have to wear the safety goggles since Myra hadn’t brought her face shield, and she would need to let the saw reach full speed before she started her cut.
“I look weird,” Elisa said after Myra took her through the rules and placed the goggles over her eyes.
“No, you don’t. Do I look weird?” Myra asked, pointing to her own goggles.
“No, but you look like you know how to do this stuff, so you can pull those off. I probably look like an amateur who shouldn’t be wearing safety goggles for anything.”
“It’s really not that hard. These are basic cuts. I’ll do the more difficult ones at the shop, where I have the rest of my saws and supplies. I’ll bring those pieces over this weekend. These are straight lines. They teach these cuts in high school woodshop classes.”
“Making me feel worse? Really?” Elisa joked.
Myra laughed and said, “Here. We’ll practice. The saw is still unplugged, so just hold it first; feel its weight a little.” She held it out to Elisa and moved behind her.
“Heavier than I thought,” Elisa noted.
Myra pointed to the different parts of the saw and explained their purpose.
She didn’t have to do this. Elisa could saw a straight line just fine, she guessed.
But being behind her like this gave Myra a chance to breathe her in and touch her on the back as she attempted to keep Elisa steady with the saw in her right hand.
“You should just do this. I’ll watch,” Elisa said, trying to hand Myra back the saw.
“Probably,” she replied with a little laugh. “I’m not exactly insured to have you saw something.”
“What?” Elisa turned to her, and the saw bumped against Myra’s side. “Oh, shit.”
“It’s okay. The blade is covered, and it’s off, but yeah, I think that about wraps up our saw lessons for the day. I’ll do it, and you watch. Maybe you can learn a little, too.”
“Sorry,” Elisa said. “I got really nervous.”
“Why? It’s just a saw.”
Myra took it from her and stepped away.
“Um… I’ve never done it before.”
Myra nodded for Elisa to stand aside and said, “You can plug it in from very far away, and I’ll take it from here.”
“Sounds good,” Elisa replied with a laugh and moved over to where the extension cord leading to the outside outlet and the cord for the saw met.
Myra moved into position, and after Elisa plugged in the saw, she checked that Elisa had stayed several feet away and looked down, checking her line and her saw blade.
She turned it on, let it get up to speed, and began cutting.
Five more cuts later, she was done for the night, so she turned off the saw and set it down.
Then, she turned to Elisa and took off her goggles.
“You can take those off now,” she said to Elisa.
“Oh, right,” Elisa replied and pushed the goggles onto her forehead. “You’re… very good… at that.” She pointed to the stack of two-by-fours on the grass.
“It’s easy,” Myra said. “And when you’re less nervous about giving it a try, I can show you for real.”
“No, I think I’m good with not using the saw. I’d love to learn other stuff, though. Not that I expect you to teach me on top of the massive discount you’re giving me, but I’ve always had someone do stuff for us around the house, so now that I’m on my own, I want to learn how to do it myself.”
“Why? You have a contractor living next door,” Myra said with a smile.
“Well, I can’t expect you to always drop everything and come over here if my sink is leaking. ”
“No, you can’t because I’m not a plumber. I can probably still fix it, though, but you’d want to call a professional for that. I know one if you need one. I know a few , technically.”
“Well, what could you help me with?”
“I can rebuild the kitchen cabinets for you. They look a little–”
“Old and ugly?” Elisa interjected.
Myra picked up the wood and said, “Yeah, that.”
“They do need work.”
“I can do that,” Myra said. “I can either replace them or refinish them for you and make them look brand-new. And you want that swing on the porch, right? Well, I can give you the guy who made mine, but I can technically make one for you, too. I’m not a carpenter, exactly, but I can make a porch swing. ”
“I can’t afford any of that right now, so maybe we just finish the work you’re already doing and see about the rest later.”
“Sure,” Myra replied.
They walked inside after that, and she pointed at where Elisa could screw the wood in place.
She knew doing the work herself would’ve been much faster, but watching Elisa learn something new, having her ask questions about when Myra used nails versus screws, and discovering that anchors helped keep things like heavy pictures in walls was worth taking a little longer.
By the time they finished with the first big task of the night, though, it was after six, and Myra was hungry.
“I’m going to take a break, if that’s okay. I’ll head home and come back in about thirty.”
“You’re going home to eat dinner, aren’t you?” Elisa asked.
“Yeah. I have some leftover pizza from the other day.”
“Myra, please stay here. I’ll order us something. Maybe not pizza, since you had that this week. What do you want?”
“How about I order us something? I can get us some good Southern barbecue. ”
“Fine. If that’s what it takes to get you to stay, then yes. Whatever you’re getting is fine. I’m getting us both a beer.”
“Well, I don’t have to drive home, so that works.”
Myra pulled out her phone and ordered them dinner, which would take thirty-five minutes to get there.
“I’ll just keep working until it arrives,” she said when she was done putting her phone away.
“Come on,” Elisa said, handing Myra a now-open beer. “Let’s sit down and take a break. I could use one; you’ve been working me really hard tonight.”
Myra swallowed because her very attractive neighbor-and-possibly-friend definitely meant that comment about the work on the kitchen, but Myra took it to mean something else altogether, and it made her want that something right now.
“No more power tools tonight, then, if I’m drinking,” she said.
“You said that last night when we had wine at dinner. I know the rules now,” Elisa replied and took a drink of her beer from the dark-green bottle.
“Just testing your memory,” she lied and took a drink of the one Elisa handed her.
“Sit down in the living room and wait for dinner?”
“Or, we could sit on my porch swing. It’s a nice night,” Myra suggested.
“I could consider it research, seeing if I’m comfortable on the swing enough to buy one for my own porch,” Elisa said with a smile.
“Exactly,” Myra replied.
“Let’s go,” Elisa added and nodded for Myra to go first.