Page 22 of On the Line

“I can take the girls,” Paige offers, “so you two can chat.”

Once the girls are corralled into the only room on the first floor not in a state of construction, Jules and I head upstairs.

“I love that it’s already fully finished up here,” I tell her. “It’s so nice to at least have this part of the house livable while the downstairs is being finished. Can you tell me about the contractor who was working on this house before you came on? Jameson only told me that the guy was problematic?”

“Woody?” Jules rolls her eyes. “Yeah, he has a history of shoddy workmanship and leaving after he gets the final payment but before the actual work is done.”

We’re standing in the middle of the primary bedroom, and my eyes track over to that bathroom. It’s such a luxurious retreat, and exactly what I would have designed for myself. “Well, at least he did a good job bringing my husband’s vision for the upstairs to life.”

Jules opens her mouth to respond but is cut off by Jameson’s firm voice from behind me. “Yep. Good thing he was able to bring Josh’s vision to life like this.”

I turn to see why Jameson’s voice is borderline hostile, but I don’t miss the look Jules is giving him. Behind me, he’s leaning up against the frame of the bedroom door. I’ve never seen him in anything but a suit, so the jeans and button-up sweater that he’s wearing catch me off guard. I didn’t know he knew how to do casual, in any aspect of life.

He forces a smile, but a muscle in his jaw ticks. Clearly there’s something I don’t know about this contractor, but maybe I can get Jules to tell me more later. I feel like we’re going to get along great.

“So before you move in,” Jules says, and I turn my attention back to her, “we should probably address these floors. No point in moving everything in, then having to clear the space to refinish them later on. You want to stick with the hardwood? Or did you want to carpet over them?”

We chat about the logistics, but I’m insistent on keeping the hardwood. Jules tells me she can get her floor refinisher in to take care of them this week, and Jameson insists that it’s done early in the week so that even with a few days to cure, we can move in next weekend.

“Where are you staying for now?” he asks.

“We’re at Paige’s.” It’s a tight fit because she only has one spare bedroom, and between the two pack ’n plays for the girls, my bed, and our luggage, I feel like we’re stacked on top of each other. “A week is probably good because I need to go get some furniture for the bedrooms and I’m sure it’ll take a few days to get it delivered. Also, my car and our personal stuff from our old house are both being delivered this week,” I tell Jules, and I know she hears the worry in my voice.

“We’ll put everything on the finished porch when it’s delivered,” she tells me.

“And I’ll arrange for someone to plow the driveway this winter. Want me to see about getting an automatic garage door installed too?” Jameson asks.

I glance sideways at him, trying to figure out why he’s being so helpful. “You’ve already done so much,” I tell him. “I can take care of the garage door.”

“I can do it right now while you’re talking to Jules about planning out the kitchen.”

Jules leads me downstairs while Jameson takes her tape measure and heads outside toward the garage. She’s speaking rapid-fire, telling me about how she’ll get the insulation in while the electrician installs the lights, then the walls and ceilings can go up. “By the time you move in at the end of the week, all the walls will be closed up and there’ll be nothing that’ll pose any danger for the girls. Then it’ll just be about putting the finishing touches on, and getting the kitchen done. But it’ll be a while before you have a fully functioning place to cook.”

“Don’t worry.” I laugh. “I don’t do that much cooking. I’ll need to get a refrigerator, but as long as I have a toaster oven and a microwave, I can make do for a long time.”

She looks at me with so much sympathy it’s almost amusing. “Okay. That’s it. You’re coming over for dinner at least once a week. I love to cook and I always make too much food.”

My mouth moves, but no words come out. “I feel like that would be a huge imposition. I’ve got two kids!”

“And they can play with my nephew. He’s four,” she says, and I’m so busy trying to figure out if this means Jameson has a kid, that I almost don’t notice that she keeps talking. “Audrey’s always worried that he doesn’t get enough time around other kids.”

“No siblings?”

“No, she’s a single mom. And he doesn’t have any cousins or anything. But at least he’s in preschool with other kids his age now. I bet he’d love hanging out with your girls and being a ‘big friend’ to them.”

“Do you live with them?” She’s talking about her family like I already know them, but aside from knowing that Jameson raised her and her sister, I’m clueless about their family.

“Oh yeah, all of us live together. When Audrey and I were in college, Jameson took our family home in the South End and converted it into a two-family. So Audrey, my nephew, Graham, and I live on the first two floors, and Jameson lives on the third.”

“Hey.” I hear Jameson’s gravelly voice, once again from behind me, and it surprises me more than it should, because I thought he was outside. “I’ve got the kitchen plans from Audrey,” he tells Jules. “She just dropped them off, and she’s taking Graham to hockey practice, but she said she’ll catch up with you later.”

“Don’tyouneed to be at hockey practice, since you’re the coach and all?” she asks him, and her voice has a teasing quality to it.

“I’ll head over when we’re done here.”

Jules takes the plans and lays them out on the floor, squatting down to point out how she and Audrey thought it would make the most sense to use the space. As she talks about where to add a pantry and how we can use builder-grade cabinetry and then customize it and refinish it so that I can have a kitchen in a month instead of three months, it really does feel like they’ve already thought of everything.

“You’re just nodding,” Jules says as she looks over at me. “You’re not saying anything.”

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