Chapter 5
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Doreen woke the next morning, happy to have her animals with her.
Mugs and Goliath were on the bed with her, on opposite sides, and she hugged them both.
Thaddeus had designated a valet stand as his new roost. She had to laugh at his ingenuity.
All her animals made this place feel more like a real home.
She stroked Thaddeus as she got up to get dressed.
They all trooped downstairs, and she was surprised to find Mack and Nick already downstairs in the kitchen, drinking coffee.
“At least you figured out how to make coffee,” she noted, yawning as she walked in.
Thaddeus walked behind Mugs and her. Goliath now stretched out on the floor, looking hopeful.
“Good morning to you too,” Nick quipped.
“Is it a good morning?” She huffed. “I’m just glad to have coffee.”
“It would take a lot for the two of us not to figure out a coffeepot,” Nick noted, with a shrug.
Mack smiled at her and asked, “How did you sleep?”
She shook her head. “Not great. Tons of memories. I wasn’t expecting that,” she muttered, as she poured her coffee and came over to join them and sat down. She looked around and groaned. “Plus, we have to deal with this house. I mean, this kitchen alone is huge.”
“Yeah, something like that,” Mack clarified, with a laugh. “Nick and I were just discussing it. It emphasizes the absolute excesses all around us, and it’s so not needed.”
“Not needed, sure. However, in their minds, not even excessive.”
“Also,” Nick interjected, “I got an email from Scott.”
“Right, when’s he coming?”
“He’s in Vancouver for the next few days and wants to know if he can come over.”
“He can come, but we won’t even be finished just looking for Mathew’s hidey-holes,” she pointed out. “Mathew owned four houses here and I believe one in France. Although most local ones were rentals and not of this caliber.”
Nick nodded. “I checked out this address on Google Maps. Still, even with the satellite image, I hadn’t really considered how big this place was or just what a job this would be,” he admitted.
“I didn’t either,” Mack shared, looking at his brother. “I had no idea whatsoever. I don’t think anybody could if you weren’t part of this whole … shenanigan.”
“You mean, the whole over-the-top situation?” she asked in a dry tone.
He turned to her. “Not trying to insult you, honey, but this is incredibly far out of the norm, at least our norm.”
She nodded. “It might be far out of your norm, but you’ve got to remember it’s not exactly my norm either.”
“But you lived here.”
“No,” she corrected. “I was a long-term guest in Mathew’s house. I wasn’t even allowed to sit down on a lot of the furniture. I wasn’t allowed to do anything that you guys would consider normal. So don’t associate me with this place. It just isn’t me and never was. This is all Mathew.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.” Mack studied her, obviously worried.
She nodded. “I know you didn’t. I need to remember that myself. Just because I spent time here doesn’t mean I really lived here. I’m a very different person now than I was back then. Here, I was a person who just existed.”
On that note, Nick got up and announced, “I did find some unexpired foodstuff in the kitchen we can use. So either we can make pancakes or we can go out to breakfast.”
Doreen voted for pancakes.
He looked at her. “Are you okay to eat here?”
She shrugged. “The food is here, so we might as well put it to good use. I’m not sure what else we’re supposed to do with food just left here. It’s not as if we can sell it, and it seems wasteful to throw it away.”
“Right, but we can also take some of it back with us,” Mack pointed out. “If you think it’s still good, no reason not to. Presumably the products Mathew chose to have in his house were good quality.”
“The very best, I assure you,” she noted.
“In that case, we might as well take advantage of it and take home whatever we think we would use.”
“That’s true,” she replied, “but there’s just so much stuff here that it’s overwhelming to even consider food as well. I was floundering to deal with Nan’s house and her furniture.”
He laughed. “I know. I remember. Nick and I were already discussing that. Just how many bedrooms are here?”
“Ten.” She frowned, shaking her head. “Yet, as with Nan’s stuff, I don’t plan to take anything here. If we do happen to choose some stuff to bring back to Kelowna, we are limited by the size of your truck.” She laughed. “Regardless I hope that Scott can again help us here.”
She turned to Mack, adding, “I know many freezers and fridges are here—possibly with all kinds of high-end foodstuff—but how much would even fit in your truck?” she asked. “Not to mention all the pantries and such.”
“Correct. A lot may be here, but I’m also not into waste. So, if we can make good use of it,” Mack suggested in a firm tone, “then we will. If we can’t, we’ll do the best we can with everything else. Maybe there’s a nearby food bank.”
“But they surely won’t take anything opened,” she noted, pointing out that obvious fact.
“True, and they may not take anything from the freezer if it’s been repackaged because it’ll be unidentified. So, we’ll take back as much food as we can and want, then sort out the rest from there,” he shared, with a shrug.
Doreen nodded. “Hopefully some food bank will be happy to pack up all this and use it.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Nick reminded them. “Let’s see what Scott can deal with, but we may well have to stay down here a little bit longer than planned.”
Mack frowned. “My captain won’t like that.”
“I could also stay without you,” she offered, “and maybe Nick can work from down here as a possible option.”
“That’s something we can look at too,” Nick agreed. “Again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
She laughed. “You mean, more than we already are?”
“Yes,” Nick confirmed. With that, he got up and made pancakes.
She asked him, “Are you ready to move to Kelowna yet?”
Nick snorted. “Closer but not yet. Still considering my options. I might buy a condo so I have a place to live up here as I’m here so much but no decision on that as of yet. Someone is keeping me busy.”
She watched him with curiosity and shared, “I guess your mom would prefer if you stayed with her but I can see wanting your own space.”
Mack and Nick both nodded, sharing a knowing look.
Doreen added, “And she really did teach both of you to cook, didn’t she?”
“Of course,” Nick stated. “It’s a wonder to me that any mother wouldn’t teach her children to cook.”
“Right. I don’t know what mine ever taught anybody,” she muttered. “She wasn’t into anything home-oriented.”
“That doesn’t mean it was wrong necessarily,” he pointed out. “You had a different childhood and a different adulthood, but you’re in a very different stage of life now.”
She chuckled. “That is certainly true.”
“So, it’s all good,” Nick said, with a glance back at her.
She smiled and nodded. “It’s all good. I’m not worried. I’m not coming apart at the seams.”
“I can’t imagine you ever doing that.”
She looked at him, beaming. “I think that’s a compliment. I’ll take it as such at least.”
“It was a compliment,” Nick confirmed, smirking at her. “Now, why don’t you fry up some eggs to go with these pancakes?”
“I think I can manage that,” she replied.
But the big gas stove stumped her, until Nick pointed out how to turn it on.
And, with that, Mack got into the fray, and very quickly all three of them were busy in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready to eat.
They had just barely finished eating and were loading the dishwasher and wrangling about what to do next, when the doorbell rang.
Of course Mugs went crazy, barking like a madman.
Doreen and Mugs walked over to the front door, and there was Scott.
He grinned at her. “Hopefully I’m not too early.” He bent down to pet Mugs, who gave him a tail wag.
“A little excited by any chance?” she asked, a teasing grin on her face.
“You could say that,” he admitted. “Besides, I hear time is of the essence.”
“We only have so many days here too.”
As he walked inside the entryway, he stopped and stared, something akin to reverence crossing his face. He gingerly stepped forward to a painting hanging on the wall. “Oh my God, Doreen, this is a Rembrandt,” he whispered in awe.
“Is that the real one though?” she asked, coming to stand beside him. “I’m not sure. … It’s probably the copy.”
“The copy?” he asked, turning to her.
“Oh,” she gasped, her hand involuntarily covering her mouth.
“Oh what?” Mack asked, now behind her.
She turned, grimacing, and said, “I forgot about the room downstairs.”
“The room downstairs?” Mack repeated.
“Yeah, a temperature-controlled art gallery in the basement,” she muttered. “I guess we need to get down there too.”
Scott looked at her with rapture. Mack just rolled his eyes, and Nick started to laugh uproariously.