Chapter 19
By the time the appraiser was due, Gunner was semidressed in a pair of loose sweats and an athletic tank top and wearing flip-flops instead of shoes, and Holly was wearing sandals, light-blue slacks, and a white summer top.
“You look beautiful,” Gunner said when he walked into the kitchen.
Holly looked up from the sandwiches she was making and smiled. “Thank you, honey. Gotta look professional for the appraiser, and look at you. Pants, a shirt, and shoes!”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Making some food so you can eat when you’re hungry.
George takes forever when he’s doing an appraisal, but he’s good and honest. He’ll be in the attic, eyeing all of the HVAC, the security system, the system for exiting the property through the back gate, the windows, and the rooms. I’ll be surprised if he finishes in two hours, and then we have Austin the inspector later.
I’ve already made the bed and put out fresh towels in the bathroom and checked your extra rooms. They’re photo-ready, but he’ll be opening doors and drawers, too.
Oh… Do you have your own weapon here in the house? ”
Gunner nodded. “Yes, but it’s a handgun in a lockbox, and he will have no need for me to open that box, because I’m taking it with me.”
She smiled. “I was mostly asking for his well-being. George once opened a closet door during an appraisal, and a loaded shotgun that was leaning too near the door fell out and went off. Shot a huge hole in the wall beside him.”
“Good lord,” Gunner said. “Don’t tell me. The guy who owned the house also had kids, right?”
She nodded. “Three. Don’t worry about anything while he’s here, okay?
It’s my responsibility to deal with him.
Feel free to grab a sandwich and a cold drink and escape to the patio.
Or, when he’s finished at the back of the house, go to bed if you want to lie down and just close the door. I’ve got you.”
He watched her spreading pimento cheese spread on both slices of bread, then adding thin slices of tomato on one slice and lettuce on the other before she put the pieces together.
She cut it in half and wrapped it up, then put it on the platter with the other sandwich she’d already made and put it in the refrigerator.
“For whenever you want it,” she said, then licked a bit of cheese spread off her thumb.
“Just enough jalapeno to make it tasty. Maybe you’ll be up to chewing steak again soon.
Tomorrow is the day you go back to the doctor for them to check your progress.
They said the risk of infection to your forearm is at its highest now, before it starts forming scabs. ”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gunner said, and when she looked up, he grinned at her.
“Okay… I could be overcompensating, but you’re the one who came home looking like you did.”
“You mean, like that last rooster standing in a cockfight?” he asked.
She was trying not to smile. “You heard me,” she said, and then the doorbell rang.
Gunner winked. “I’ll just get myself a cold drink and journey to the back patio to dry my pin feathers, okay?”
“Lord,” she muttered and took off to the front room while he snagged a pop and sandwich and went outside.
The day was hot, but the patio fan stirring air above him made it comfortable.
He eased himself down in a lounge chair, opened the bottle of pop, and took a drink before he dug into the sandwich.
The first bite was cool, crunchy, cheesy goodness.
Damn. She even makes cheese sandwiches taste good.
He finished the food and the drink and then leaned back and closed his eyes.
He could hear muted voices that disappeared as they moved farther away from where he was at, and he dozed off.
He woke as they were coming outside, and got up from the chair.
“Oh shoot, Gunner. Sorry we woke you,” Holly said.
“That’s okay, honey. I’ll just get out of your way,” he said and started to go inside when the appraiser, who’d been watching the interchange, suddenly realized who he was.
He looked at Holly in shock. “Gunner? This is the Gunner Kingston, from the video?”
“Every black-and-blue piece of him,” Gunner said, then winked at Holly as he went inside, closing the slider behind him. He could still hear George the appraiser talking. Clearly, meeting him had sidetracked his appraisal duties.
Holly finally refocused George on the task at hand. By the time he’d confirmed the square footage and the added features in the backyard, it was almost two o’clock. She walked him out the door, then started through the house, calling Gunner’s name.
He stepped out into the hall. “Yes, darlin’?”
She laughed and walked into his arms. “The sight of you sure threw George off his game. I swear to God, he had the gall to ask if he could take a picture with you. Of course I told him no. That’s all you need is to become a target for another nutcase.”
The smile slid off Gunner’s face. “You would have made a good cop’s wife, and thank you for thinking of my welfare.”
“I don’t care what you do for a living, as long as I’m along for the ride,” she said.
“You’re already on that team,” he said and then kissed her. “Have you eaten anything since breakfast?”
“A spoonful or two of pimento cheese while I was making sandwiches, but I can eat the other one now that he’s gone,” she said. “The inspector is due within the hour.”
A short while later, the inspector arrived, along with storm clouds gathering on the horizon. It looked like rain.
They stayed out of his way while he rushed through his inspection, as anxious to get home before the storm hit as they were for him to be gone.
Finally, he was gone, and Holly and Gunner were in the living room eating biscuits and sausage gravy while keeping track of the intermittent weather updates. They could see the storm on radar, moving closer to the city, until the clouds finally blocked out the sunset and the wind began to rise.
At that point, Holly pulled her knees up beneath her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I hate storms.”
He slid closer to her and put his good arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, darlin’. I didn’t know that, but we’re safe. I have that Generac generator system for power losses, and you already know the walk-in closet in the first spare bedroom is also an F-5 storm shelter.”
She nodded. “I know. George was impressed when I showed him. Those kinds of features up your appraisal value. I’m just a big baby about it.”
“No. We all have cracks in our defenses. You already know mine. You are not in your condo. You are in a house that will keep you safe, and when we build our house, no matter what it looks like at ground level, there will be a decent basement beneath, just like the one we have at Dad’s.
He always said you can lose and replace things, but you can’t replace people.
That’s why he had that one dug when he built the house onto the back of the Tumbleweed. ”
“I can’t wait to go home,” Holly said.
“If you want to give over selling this house to one of the other Realtors in your office, we can make it happen even sooner.”
“Really?”
“We can put stuff in storage here, and sort through what we want to keep and what we want to bring to the new house after it’s built. That way we’ll be on-site from the beginning when the building begins,” he said.
Lightning flashed, followed by a loud clap of thunder, but the tornado watch had not evolved into a warning.
“Lord,” Holly said. “What do you usually do on nights like this?”
“Eat ice cream. It’s my cure for just about everything that messes with my attitude,” he said.
“I’m in,” Holly said. “You sit and keep watching the weather. I’ll get the ice cream.”
“I require a minimum of four scoops,” he said.
“Coming up,” she said as she ran out of the room.
* * *
Pearl had already shut the Yellow Rose down for the night and was back at the house with Jacob.
The bar up front was busy, but she knew Jacob would not close before midnight, and he needed to check in with Gunner about the man who’d come to find water.
The stranger had some kind of fancy title, but in Pearl’s world, he was just another man who witched for water.
After she had Jacob’s food on the table, she went to stand in for him while he ate and made his call, and the moment she showed up at the bar, everyone shouted out in unison, “Good evening, Miss Pearl.”
She blew them a kiss and then whispered in Jacob’s ear. “Your supper is ready, and don’t forget to call Gunner before you come back. He’s still in healing mode and might be going to bed earlier than usual.”
“Thank you, sweetheart, for the food and the reminder,” he said and then shouted out across the room. “Nobody gives Pearl a hard time.”
“We’re more afraid of her than we are of you,” one of the men shouted, and then everyone laughed.
Pearl grabbed a bar rag and began cleaning off the empty tables as Jacob entered the house.
He washed up, then sat down at the table and called Gunner. He could eat while he talked. The phone rang a couple of times and then he heard his son’s voice.
“Hey, Dad. We’re having a really noisy thunderstorm right now. What’s happening at home?”
“I just sat down to supper, so I might be chewing in your ear. Pearl’s behind the bar, so I won’t dally.”
“I remember chewing,” Gunner said.
Jacob frowned. “Is your jaw still giving you fits?”
“It’s getting better. Did the hydrogeologist show up?” Gunner asked.
“He did. He stopped by when he was leaving and said to tell you it was good news, and he’d send you all the details via email.”
“Fantastic!” Gunner said.
“Also, I’m confirming the money transfer came through. Nothing stays secret for long in Crossroads, but given our previous issue with being blamed for the armed car robbery, I would like permission to admit that it was a gift from you,” Jacob said.