She heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and listened, waiting for Tuck to come back down. But when he did, he wasn’t alone. He and one of his guys passed by the bookcase where Liddy was shelving cookbooks, and they went out to Tuck’s truck. She took a deep breath when she heard the front door open, but when she stepped into the aisle, one of the workers sidestepped around her, nodding pleasantly.
From time to time she looked out the front window, but Tuck never seemed to look up from his task of refinishing the front door. At one o’clock, he and his workers stopped for lunch, with Tuck getting into his truck and leaving. Around the same time, Grace arrived, framed posters in hand.
“They look fantastic, and the framing is excellent. I think you’re going to love how they came out.” Grace unwrapped the brown paper covering the posters.
One by one, Grace lined them up along the front of one of the bookcases.
“What do you think? Aren’t they fabulous?” Grace clapped her hands in her excitement.
Liddy stood stock-still and stared. Each of the posters they’d chosen to enlarge joyfully bloomed with color and energy.
“Oh . . .” Liddy’s hands crossed at her heart, and her eyes filled with tears. When she found her voice, she said, “They’re more wonderful than I could have imagined. Oh, Gracie, you’ve brought my girl into the shop in the most glorious way. I don’t know how to thank you for doing this.” She went to Grace and embraced her. She wiped away the tears and then, all business again, said, “Let’s hang these today, shall we?”
“We’ll need the ladder.” Grace gave Liddy one last squeeze. “And I’ll have to go to the hardware store to get picture hangers and wire, but that won’t take long. Let’s place them around the shop where you want them hung. These with the baby animals, obviously, for the children’s section . . .”
Liddy nodded, then picked up a poster of birds perched on the many branches of a birch tree, their vibrant colors a stark contrast to the white bark and the pale blue of the background. She leaned it up against the counter in the front of the store.
“I’d like this one right behind the counter,” she told Grace. “It’s cheery and bright and it’s one of the first things you’ll see when you come inside.”
“Perfect.” Grace picked up her bag where she’d dropped it and searched inside for her car keys. “I’m going to run out and pick up the hangers. I won’t be long.”
“Oh, Grace,” Liddy called after her. “When you get back, let’s talk about an idea I had for a rental.”
“A rental for what?”
“A place for you.”
Grace stopped abruptly. “A rental for me?”
Liddy nodded.
“Here in Wyndham Beach?”
“Yup.”
“Hold that thought. I’ll be back in a flash.” Grace continued on her way out the open doorway. Liddy watched as she paused to speak with Tuck, who’d returned from his break and appeared to be showing off whatever he’d done to the door he was working on.
Liddy was thinking she should go and check out his progress when the guys who’d been working on the upper floors of the building returned and went directly upstairs, their work boots clumping on the wooden steps, thumping across the second floor, and reverberating through the ceiling. She walked to the front of the store and watched through the big window as Tuck sanded the paneled door by hand. The hardware had all been removed and was soaking in a bucket nearby his workstation. Every few minutes, a car horn would beep, and he’d raise a hand in greeting to whoever was driving past. After a while, Liddy went outside. Before she could open her mouth, Tuck said, “I’m thinking this door would look best painted red.”
“I thought you loved the natural grain.”
“I do. But it’s not raising up the way I thought it would.” He stepped back and left the piece of sandpaper he’d been using on the flat panel of the door. “Stand over here and look at the front of the building, Liddy. It’s all stucco and timber. Dark cream and brown. A stained door is going to fade right in. You need a little something to give the facade a kick. I’m thinking a red door would be just the thing.”
She took a few steps and stood where he’d indicated. Now that he’d mentioned it, the front of the building bordered on monochromatic.
“You could be right,” she agreed. “Red’s just the right touch.”
“Yeah, it’ll spiff this place up. I have some red paint at home. I’ll bring it in tomorrow, and we’ll give it a try. It’s a good shade, a blue-red. Nice with the brown.”
“Okay. Go for it.”
“I don’t think you’ll regret it.” He stood with his arms folded across his chest, his Red Sox cap shading his face, his dark glasses hiding his eyes.
They stood there staring at the front of the building for a few moments, Liddy wondering how best to broach the subject of Monday’s cookout. Finally, she chastised herself—Oh for crying out loud. It’s a cookout. With a friend. What is your problem?—and said with more nonchalance than she actually felt, “Oh, by the way. Maggie’s having a cookout on Monday. Labor Day, you know? She told me to ask you if you’d like to stop over. If you’re free.”
“She did, did she?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Well, please tell Maggie I appreciate her invitation, but I have plans for Monday.”
“Oh. Well, maybe another time.” Liddy shrugged and went back inside, trying to ignore what felt like a burn of rejection. So he had other plans. No big deal.
No big deal at all.
True to her word, Maggie had sent Brett down to deliver the window air conditioners: two large ones for the shop, two smaller units for Liddy’s office and the second floor. It had taken almost an hour to install them; then, as Brett was leaving, Evelyn called to let Liddy know she’d thought it over and would like to work part-time if that was okay with Liddy, which it was. Tuck had yet to put the door back when Liddy was ready to leave at six forty-five, having agreed to meet Maggie and Grace at the little house at seven.
“I need to leave,” she told him.
“Some reason you can’t?” Tuck straightened up, one hand on the small of his back as if to hold in pain.
“There’s no door on my shop.” She stated the obvious with no small touch of exasperation. “I can’t leave it open like that.”
“You think I’ll let people wander in off the street and help themselves?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s your problem? The paint’s dry, and Jack over there has the brass fittings all polished up.” He turned toward the man he’d pointed out. “Jack, hold up that doorknob. Check it out, Liddy. Tell me that’s not gonna knock ’em dead when they reach out to open the door and realize what they’re looking at.”
She walked over and picked up the shiny brass piece. “It’s gorgeous. Wow. Who would have suspected this was under all that tarnish?”
“A trained eye suspected.” He took off his ball cap, ran a hand through his hair, and put the cap back on. “Why don’t you leave me the key and go on and do what you need to do? I have to clean up out here, and I need to run upstairs and check on the work up there. After I finish up, I’ll drop it off. If you’re not home, I’ll leave the key under the mat by the front door.” He paused. “You still have that welcome mat on the porch, right? Fake green grass, spells out welcome in daisies?”