When I looked down, I saw that it was Melody. It was the third time she’d called. She was averaging once every three to four days. The last time had been right before Skylar and I talked out in the sunroom and I ignored the call.
I’d had several takeaways from that conversation. Skylar was even stronger than I’d thought she was. I was even more grateful that she and Luna had moved to Firefly. And all the screens and the subfloor needed to be replaced in the sunroom.
I’d already started on the subfloors and I was going to finish that project over the weekend. Then I was going to start on the plumbing. Thankfully the house’s knob and tube wiring had already been replaced. There were a few leaks, but they’d been relatively easy to find and repair thanks to the crawl space access.
The good news was that once I’d gone under the house and seen that the issues with the flooring were not structural. I didn’t need to shore up any joists. All of the warping in the hardwood were either from wear and tear or water damage from the leaking ceiling. Once I replaced the damaged boards then stripped, sanded and sealed them all, they’d be good as new.
I had a few other things on my list of repairs and renovations. I was going to reface the kitchen cabinets. And since the house had no central air, I ordered ceiling fans for the front room, sunroom, and Skylar and Luna’s bedrooms. I was also going to install recessed lighting.
The bathroom tile was in good shape, but I was going to put in a new vanity and mirror that I had left over from another build.
That was basically it for the interior of the house.
On the exterior, now that the roof was in good shape, I’d noticed some siding that needed to be replaced but the project was the porch. It was in bad shape. My plan was to tear it down and build a new one since there was so much damage to the wood it wasn’t worth patching.
And then there was the security system. That was going in tonight if I could get a key from Skylar.
I’d been keeping her in the dark for most of my plans because I knew that she’d try to talk me out of them. Also, I couldn’t explain to her why I was doing what I was doing when she asked. So that was another reason I was keeping it to myself. But it was getting to the point that I was going to need her okay on some things, also I was thinking of asking if I could get a key because her shifts were in the evenings and that was when I was available to work on the house.
She was working her first shift tonight and I planned on stopping by.
My phone dinged and I saw that Melody left another message. She’d left two so far. The first one I’d listened to on repeat, and then the last one I’d only listened to twice before deleting it. Basically the message said the same thing that the first one had.
I pressed play on the third.
“Hi, Hank. It’s me, again, Melody. I hope you’re getting these. Or maybe I should hope that you’re not because if you are then that means you’re ignoring me.” She let out a laugh that I could tell was nervous. “Anyway, I know it’s been a long time but I just really want to check in and see how you’re doing. I don’t think we ever got…I don’t know, closure, I guess.”
Closure. She dumped me and moved a thousand miles away. I would say that left things pretty damn closed.
“I think there are definitely things to say. Call me. Please. I miss you.”
This time, instead of listening to it again or twenty times I just pressed the delete button. I didn’t see the point of keeping them on my phone and I had no intention of returning her call.
“Let’s go.” I patted my leg and Sherlock lazily got up and jumped out of the truck.
I knocked on the screen door and my brother shouted, “It’s open.”
I pulled on the screen door and before I could take a step inside Sherlock shot past me and jumped on my brother who was lounging on the couch.
“Hey, big guy!” Jimmy enthused as he embraced the slobbery beast. “I missed you!”
I turned to leave when I heard my brother curse. “What the fuck is this?!”
My head swiveled and I saw that Jimmy was cradling Sherlock’s front paw.
Before I could respond Isabella rushed out from the hallway. “What’s wrong?”
Jimmy lifted Sherlock’s paw toward her. His nails were painted in rainbow shades. Luna’s favorite game to play with Sherlock was “beauty salon.” She said that he was the best customer she’d ever had.
“And why are you grinnin’ like a fool?” Jimmy threw a cushion at me that I easily blocked.
I hadn’t even realized I was. It seemed to be an involuntary action whenever I thought about my new neighbors.
“Did you paint his nails?” Isabella asked as she studied Sherlock’s paws.
“Luna painted them.”
Both Isabella and Jimmy stared at me, neither of them saying a word. They just blinked at me.
I turned to leave, again, and Jimmy shouted again. “Hold on!”
I didn’t like being told what to do by anyone, but I sure as hell didn’t want to be told what to do by my little brother.
“You bring my dog home with rainbow nails, tell us Luna painted them, and think you can just leave?”
I knew that Jimmy wasn’t upset about the nail polish. He was just doing what he loved doing most, milking any situation for all it was worth.
“I made dinner. I was hoping that you could stay. As a thank you for keeping Sherlock.” Isabella smiled sweetly.
I wanted to go by the bar, but I figured I should let Skylar get a few hours under her belt before I showed up. Even though I knew that Jimmy would probably interrogate me the entire time, it would be better than sitting at home watching the minutes pass. Which is exactly what I’d be doing if I went home.
It was settled. I’d stay.
CHAPTER 18
Skylar
Getting back in the saddle hadn’t been as difficult as I’d thought it would be. Bartending was sort of like riding a bike, it had come right back to me.
Southern Comfort had a very down-home vibe that made me feel like I belonged, and I definitely wouldn’t be bored. There was a cast of colorful characters who were regulars. Three in particular. Clyde, Earl, and Jed who were all in their eighties and nineties. Billy and Cash referred to them as the three stooges, but they called themselves the three wise men and it was clear only a few hours into my first shift that they would definitely keep me on my toes. The men reminded me of Statler and Waldorf who were the cantankerous old men in the balcony on The Muppet Show that were always heckling everyone, except with the real life version there were three of them instead of two.
Then there was Kevin Bacon, who I’d formally met tonight. It turned out he was Insta-famous. At least a dozen people had come in specifically to take pictures with him. Skittles, the parrot who hung out by the pool table, had an impressive vocabulary and was surprisingly sarcastic. Whenever people who were shooting pool or throwing darts would miss, she’d say, “Nice shot.” And if she heard someone curse she’d say, “Potty mouth.” It was hilarious.
From what I could tell there was a nice mix of regulars and tourists. It was easy to spot the difference because the regulars either already knew who I was or asked me who I was because they hadn’t seen me around before. And the tourists usually had questions about the sites they were planning on seeing or wanted to take pictures with Kevin Bacon.