Page 54 of Stay With Me

“So, let’s make a game plan, shall we? You said you want to replace the carpet in the living room with luxury vinyl but keep the carpet in the bedrooms, right?”

“Right.” I wrap both hands around my warm mug and lift it to my mouth taking a huge, satisfying drink.

“Then I think you should start taping off the living room, and I’ll go do a first coat on the two bedrooms we’re painting. When we’re done, we’ll do a coat in the living room together.”

I furrow my brow and give him the side eye. “Just to be clear, you think that you’ll be able to tape and paint both bedrooms in the time it takes me to only tape the living room?”

“No.”

I smile. “I didn’t think so.”

“I’m not going to tape them. Just paint. And yes, I think I can do that while you tape the living room.”

“Oh, really? You’re not going to tape? What about the carpeting?” I don’t even try to prevent the sarcasm from dripping into my voice.

“It’ll be fine. I’m confident I can cut the paint into the ceiling and just use a drop cloth to protect the carpeting.” He shrugs and smiles. Taking another drink of his coffee.

I peer at him, and he matches my stare. “Hmm. I guess we’ll see.”

“Yep,” Charlie says, emphasizing the “p.”

Two hours later, my calves are burning from climbing up and down the stepladder to tape along the ceiling in the living room when Charlie comes sauntering into the room just as I’m about to tape the last doorway.

“Do you want to come see what you think of the first coat?”

I spin around to face him. “You aren’t done!”

He grins. “Uh, yes, I am. Let’s go check it out.” He gestures with his hand for me to walk ahead of him, and I do. I’m sure he probably did a shoddy job or forgot a wall or something.

Nope. I’m wrong. When I enter the first bedroom, it looks perfect. I literally cannot find a single imperfection in his work. And the carpeting is just as it was before. The second bedroom is exactly the same.

I spin to face him. “What kind of sorcery is this?” I narrow my eyes at him suspiciously.

A hearty laugh erupts from Charlie and a pleased grin spreads across his face. “I assure you, no sorcery. I worked as a painter for my buddy’s dad’s contracting company when I was going through paramedic school and fire academy. I got pretty good at it.”

“Ah, so you held back some details from me,” I joke. “So how long would it have taken you to tape the living room, Michelangelo?”

“Exactly zero minutes. Because I wouldn’t have taped it.”

And on that Charlie chuckles, turns away from me, and walks back downstairs.

I chase after him—well I try to, but it’s more like I walk gingerly after him because my calves are on fire. When I get downstairs, I stalk over to Charlie. “We didn’t need to tape? Do you have any idea how badly my calves hurt from climbing up and down for the last two hours?”

“Sorry.” He doesn’t look sorry—he looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “It’ll make it faster because we won’t have to worry about you messing up the woodwork or ceiling if you get too close. I’ll do the trim work, but still…”

I shouldn’t be annoyed, because he’s doing me a huge favor, but my muscles tell me to be furious with him. So, when he shows me how to use the roller, in a “W” shape on the wall, I get to work and don’t talk to him for a few minutes. It doesn’t seem to bother him, though, and ten minutes later, I’m chatting away, all forgotten.

* * *

CHARLIE

By noon, Emily and I have the first coat on all three rooms she wants to paint as part of the house update, so we break for lunch. We take thirty minutes and eat, then have another cup of coffee. We used a premium paint, and it requires two hours to dry so I can put a second coat upstairs, but we have some time yet until we can do the second coat in the living room.

I stand and stretch. “All right, I’m going to put the second coat on the upstairs rooms. I’ll be back down in a bit.”

“What? I’m helping you.” Emily stands and grabs our empty plates from the table. I follow her as she walks to the kitchen.

After she puts the plates in the dishwasher and turns back to me, I exaggeratingly look her up and down, focusing on all the spots she has paint on her clothing. “Sorry, Em. That’s not a good idea. Remember, we’re keeping the carpet in those rooms, so we need to avoid drips.”

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