Chapter 6
They arrived at the first house by nine that morning.
Ephraim watched Sophie approach the garbage cans at the end of the driveway and start to push down bags in the overflowing can.
“Hold on, I can do that.” He got the bags down far enough in the cans for the lids to close and then looked at her. “I’m helping, remember?”
She gave him the side eye before heading to the car and unlocking the trunk. As he hustled to take the large bucket of cleaning supplies from her he remembered her last comment. The old boyfriend was in prison. Due to her testimony or something else?
She unlocked the door and he followed her into the bottom floor of a two-story stilted beach house on the second row away from the shore. When he saw the front room, he stopped in his tracks. “Good Lord. What happened here?”
She laughed, “Probably a group of college friends, maybe a bachelor party.”
Every surface in the living area was covered with cans, empty bottles, and assorted junk food packages. “And the garbage can was full?”
Sophie shrugged. “Some people use these rentals as frat houses, I think. I’d be surprised if the police didn’t have to do a stop to address noise.
” She walked into the kitchen space, separated from the living area by a long bar.
He shoved a pizza box out of the way and leaned over the counter to look for himself.
The floor had spots of dried liquid on it and the sink was full of dishes with a fly lazily buzzing around it.
The bottom of the refrigerator held opened bottles of mixers, as well as beer and a couple of juices.
When she opened the refrigerator freezer, Sophie laughed.
“Here are all the leftovers. Pizza rolls, taquitos, cheese sticks, along with an opened bottle of tequila with about an inch of liquid inside. Yep. College guys.” She shut the refrigerator and then headed into a room off the kitchen.
One of the bedrooms had the sheets in a pile on the floor but Ephraim didn’t think it was from someone being conscientious.
It looked like the person inhabiting the bed may have ended up on the floor as well.
The other bedrooms, including the one holding three sets of bunk beds, had been used and would need a lot of cleaning, if the scent of vomit was any indication.
They ended the walkthrough on the patio where Sophie shook her head at the sight of a palm tree split in the middle, one huge frond touching the ground.
She took a photo and sent a text to the owner of the rental.
“He’ll have to get a tree guy out here to take care of that.
I hope he doesn’t have to take it down.”
“What do you think happened?” Ephraim picked up the edge of the frond and looked under it. No sign of cut marks. “You think the storm did that?”
She shook her head. “There are no other signs of damage in the yard or on the house. I think somebody probably tried to climb the tree and was too heavy.” At his look of disbelief she laughed. “These guys lose every inhibition when they come on vacation. Most of the time it’s not a big deal.”
Ephraim shook his head. He’d never lost his control, even at his worst. “Okay, what’s first, boss?”
“Laundry.”
They stripped beds and gathered towels and started a load of laundry before Sophie went into a bedroom and began clearing trash from the area.
Ephraim helped, flipping or turning mattresses.
When Sophie offered him a pair of gloves to use when cleaning the bathroom his comment about being manly and not needing them quickly turned to “gimme” when he saw the things stuffed in the jacuzzi jets.
At his expression of disgust when he left the bathroom and pronounced it ready for inspection, she laughed. “You get used to it.”
They worked well together, he noted, as he helped her make up beds using the freshly laundered and dried sheets. When his brain wanted to go on about compatibility, he started humming the army fight song to distract the thoughts.
Sophie sighed and stretched when they finished the living room.
“Now for the kitchen.” She led the way to the kitchen area and started tossing items into the trash, every now and then placing something on the counter instead.
Ephraim watched then made the connection.
Eggs, kept. Sealed containers, kept. Unopened drinks, kept. Anything opened, she tossed.
“What will you do with the stuff on the counter?” he asked and started opening drawers to find a bag or box to load them in.
“The things I don’t want to take home I’ll donate to the food pantry. Most of the frozen items go to the youth program at my church, there’s always hungry kids in the after-school program. The rest,” she shrugged, “I leave for the next renters.”
“Like the hard liquor,” he’d noticed the unopened bottles of bourbon and gin in the small cabinet provided.
“Yep. I have a bottle of vodka at home that I use to make vanilla extract and to disinfect, if I have to, and an occasional bottle of wine. But I’m pretty much a teetotaler.”
“Don’t like the taste?” he pressed, sensing something more to it.
“Don’t like the results. My dad is an alcoholic. He hasn’t drunk in over fifteen years, but it’s still there,” she tapped the side of her head. “And my ex was also a mean drunk.”
“Gotcha.” He indicated the now full grocery bags of items. “Do I need to empty these so you can go through them?”
She shook her head. “I don’t need any of the food and have plenty of bottled water. It’ll all be dropped off on the way to the next house.”
They finished up with Ephraim taking the garbage out while Sophie finished cleaning the floors then putting her full bucket of cleaning supplies out on the stoop before locking the door.
When Ephraim returned to the door and picked up the bucket he studied her.
She didn’t look tired but doing a cleaning job on a house that large, five bedrooms and a mess at that, she had to be exhausted at the end of the day.
“How many of the cleaning jobs are like this one?” He put the bucket in the opened trunk and slammed it shut.
“This is rare. I’ll get unwashed dishes and sometimes the bathrooms are messy, especially in renters with kids. But a lot of the renters also strip their beds and start laundry and dishwashers for me. I’ve even had people leave me presents like a box of candy or something.”
“It’s a hard job, though.” He got in and she punched in an address for the next house then started the car and headed into the light winter traffic.
“Not any harder than waitressing or working an assembly line. And I’m my own boss.” She made a turn onto the state road and headed back toward Appalachicola.
The next three houses were a breeze, compared to the first. Ephraim took over the sweeping and mopping and they were finished within two hours.
When he looked at Sophie, he noted her hair, which she’d pulled back in a low ponytail at the beginning of the day, now had come from the elastic and spilled around her cheeks. “Your ponytail is gone.”
She nodded wryly and yanked the holder from her hair then gathered the blonde strands and replaced the elastic, then relaxed her shoulders. “That’s what I get for cutting it last summer.”
His stomach growled and he grunted at her chuckle. “Can we stop for lunch? I know it’s past that.”
She nodded and pulled into the next fast-food place. They entered and, to his chagrin, Ephraim remembered he had nothing on him, not even his ID. Sophie bought the burgers and drinks and led the way to a booth then sank into it. Ephraim stumbled a bit, dizzy at turning suddenly and noted her frown.
“Sorry. I usually work through lunch. I might drink a soda or water that’s left over and it there’s some snack there, I’ll eat it, but I like getting stuff done.”
“And I’m slowing you down as well as mooching off you.” He took a bite of the burger, noting the dry bun and lukewarm meat.
“I would owe you a lot if I was paying you as an assistant.” She grinned when he repeated the last word in mock horror. “Anyway, we’ve gotten a lot done today. We’ll be done well before five.”
He wondered at the hours she put in. They’d left the cabin at eight and would make it back by five. “Is your schedule full?”
She nodded. “I take on more jobs in the summer, of course, with the increased rentals. Like most people who depend on the seasonal crowds, I make most of my income during spring and summer, but I can stay busy all year.”
“Have you thought of taking on a helper?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I don’t know if I could get enough work and I’m not particularly fond of working with people.”
Yet, they’d done well, working as a team.
He didn’t press the issue but wondered at this woman. Everything in him knew she worked beyond her energy level allowed at times, though he hadn’t seen it. Yet, she wouldn’t take on someone to help. Was it because of her past?
They finished up the late lunch and headed for the last house, a small bungalow at the end of the street in downtown.
Sophie described the house as being one of several small houses that had been lovingly preserved by their families.
“The family has owned this property for over one hundred years.” She said as she unlocked the old-fashioned door.
The keypad looked odd against the screened in porch and oak door.
“Why rent it out if they love it so much?”
“The economy,” she replied shortly. “The family was in the oyster business for decades. When the oyster beds died out because of pollution, storms and everything else, people had to move away. After Michael in 2018, this family decided to start renting the house as a vacation home.”
“Michael?” he carried the bucket in behind her and stopped, mesmerized. Unlike the other houses they’d cleaned that day, this house looked like a hundred-year-old home, dearly loved. Chaise lounges, old cabinetry and more abounded, along with polished wood floors and muted pastel walls.