Page 23 of Keeping His Brat

It was mostly for her own comfort, but she also wanted the cabin to be warm in case he went into chills again. While she was at it, she decided to make another pot of soup, despite the leftovers. She could always freeze it and it seemed like that would be the best thing for his raw throat.

Besides, if she’d known he was going to be sick she would have made chicken noodle. Nothing made a person feel better than chicken noodle soup, or so her father had always said. Of course, his usually came from a can. Jimmy had been more of a bbq and grilling kind of cook.

That did present her with a dilemma though. Being on a ranch they were never short of beef, and thanks to some skillful meat trading with some local farmers, they usually had plenty of pork and chicken too. However, the cabin was small and there wasn’t room for much in the little freezer above the fridge. They tended to restock it weekly.

Charlie worried at her bottom lip and sighed. As much as she hated to leave him, she felt like a quick run up to the big house to raid the huge basement meat freezer would be a good idea. And once she thought of that, she remembered him asking how the work on the house was progressing. She could kill two birds and check up on that too since she hadn’t been over in a few days.

On one level she was aware that she was probably overreacting to Sam being sick, worrying over him like a broody hen with one chick. Some of it was probably the idea that she might have made it worse. The rest was just that she wasn’t used to seeing him like this. She fretted, checking on him several times before forcing herself out the door before she could change her mind.

Up at the house the sounds of hammering and power tools could be heard before she even climbed the stairs. The winter weather had slowed things down, but when they were able to make it, they usually brought the whole crew, so they were progressing quickly. She let herself in the back door. It was unlocked as usual and the two men sanding cabinets in the kitchen paused.

One of them pulled his mask down to talk to her. “You looking for the boss? I think he’s in the master bedroom.”

“Yeah, he’s working on the new bathroom,” the other added.

“Yes, thanks! Sorry to interrupt.” She hurried through the kitchen quickly, covering her mouth and trying not to cough from the thick cloud of sawdust they’d been raising. If the rest of the house was that bad, she’d have to consider asking for a mask too.

She found Tony where they’d sent her, but she did pause along the way to admire the changes. The living room, which she’d always felt was a bit big for her needs, was smaller now, more intimate. The master bedroom, formerly her father’s room, had been expanded into a suite with its own bathroom. From the looks of things, they’d just about finished the basics.

“What do you think?” Tony called from the bathroom. He was kneeling next to the jet tub laying down tile and didn’t bother to get up when he saw her. His clothes were covered in white smears from his work, and she could see that he had a habit of wiping his hands on his jeans as he went because there were partial handprints.

A mixture of glue and grout she thought. Even his face, where it wasn’t covered by a bushy beard, had managed to catch some streaks. She had an idle thought wondering what he did when it got in his beard; it had to happen sometimes.

“It looks amazing. I can’t believe the difference! Those bigger windows really brighten up the room too.” When her father was alive his room had always felt vaguely cave-like, and she had wondered if moving into it would bring up too many memories.

But now she barely recognized it as the same room. The space was bright and open, exactly as she’d wanted. She hoped the rest of the house came out looking as nice.

“Yeah, I always tell people if you want a big impact in a room look to the windows. They’re curing now, and then we’ll get the frames painted in a couple of days.” He sat back with a satisfied expression and dusted off his hands.

“What are you thinking for a finish date?” She moved in to lean against the doorway and take a look around the bathroom. It was a little less put together than the living room and bedroom, but she could already see the finished project would be gorgeous.

“Well, now, let me think.” Mouth pursed, eyes squinting as he stared off into the distance, he seemed to be doing some quick calculations in his head. “If the weather holds up and we don’t get too many storms like the other day … and everything gets delivered on time, I’d say ‘bout three weeks. Maybe sooner.”

“That’s not long at all. I really thought all of this would take more time.” The list of things she wanted changed and upgraded had been quite long.

“Well, if we hadn’t found the wood rot in the attic we probably would have been finished already. Replacing part of the roof took some time, but otherwise things have been coming in on target. Woodwork and painting will be done by the end of next week. We’ll clean up some before the carpet arrives. Probably won’t take more than a day or two to get that laid. Yeah, I’d say three weeks is about right.”

“Thank you, Tony. Seriously when I planned all this out in my head, I had doubts that it would come out anything like I wanted, but now … wow. It’s even better than I expected, and it’s not even done yet.” She shook her head, marveling as she looked around again.

“Hey, had to do my best work for Jimmy’s daughter, didn’t I? Your dad was a great guy.” Tony nodded firmly, as if the conversation was over, and then he went back to work.

Charlie was a bit surprised and then she realized that Tony was giving her privacy in case his words had stirred something in her. And they had. She could feel the tears prickling at the back of her eyes at the reminder of her loss.

A deep breath, and then another helped to push the rising grief down. “Well, I appreciate it and I know he would too,” she said. If her voice was just a little thick with emotion, Tony pretended not to notice.

“Go on then. I’ve got work to do,” he said gruffly, waving her away with the flat-bottomed tool he was using to spread glue for the tiles.

She hadn’t even realized he’d been that close to her father. Jimmy had always been well liked, and he had done a lot for people he knew, but it was only since his death that she realized how many friends he had. While Tony had done work for them in the past, she hadn’t expected this.

She watched him for a second longer and then left him to work in peace. She took a look around the second floor until the choking sawdust made her give up. Walls had been removed to enlarge the rooms and closets up there too. Six bedrooms were more than they needed, but the house had been built in a time where families were much larger.

Now there were only three bedrooms, and a large office she could share with Sam. One of those bedrooms would be a guest room but the other two, well, those she hoped would be for the children they would one day have. Sam would be an amazing father, she thought.

But as soon as Sam came to mind, she realized she should probably hurry back to him. He was sure to wake up sometime soon and she wanted to be there when he did. It didn’t take but a few minutes to duck into the cellar to grab some chicken and a few other things and then she headed back to the cabin.

She must have arrived just in time because when she came in and closed the door, she heard his groggy voice from the bedroom calling, “Charlie?”

“Coming!” She paused long enough to put the frozen chicken in some water to thaw, threw the other things in the freezer and then went to check on him.

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