Page 1 of Immortal By Morning
One
Abril was just returning from walking her boss’s dog around the block when her phone began to ring. Stopping halfway up the long driveway, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and glanced at the display. The wordsBoss Ladywere on the screen.
Starting to walk again, she answered with, “Hey, Boss Lady.”
“Oh God, do you still have that as my display name?” Gina Spaldine asked with exasperation rather than greet her.
“Sure do,” Abril said on a laugh. “Itisfitting after all.”
When the only response was a dubious grunt, Abril changed the subject and asked, “How’s the trip going?”
“Great!” Gina said with sudden enthusiasm. “Italy is gorgeous! If I could speak the language, I’d move here.”
“You said the very same thing about Spain, France, Puerto Rico, and Rio de Janeiro,” Abril reminded herwith amusement as she reached the top of the driveway and stopped in front of the garage doors.
“And I meant it every time,” Gina told her. “These spa resorts are amazing. I swear they build them in the most glorious spot in each country.”
“They probably do,” Abril agreed, her gaze dropping to Lilith as the large yellow Labrador retriever tried to move away, tugging on the leash. Pulling the Lab back, she quickly bent to turn on the collar for the wireless fence that kept the dog safely in the yard. She then gave her an affectionate pet before undoing the leash to let her run loose.
Straightening again, Abril glanced around the three-acre parklike setting that was Gina’s yard and commented, “But I think your house is in a pretty gorgeous spot too.”
“It is,” Gina admitted, her tone saying she was pleased with the new home she’d purchased. “That’s why I bought it. Speaking of which, how is construction going?”
“Uh... good.” Abril glanced toward both the great gaping hole in the ground along the side of the house, and the big yellow vehicle that sat silent and unmoving next to it.
“Good?” Gina questioned, stress entering her voice. “You didn’t sound too confident when you said that, Abs. What’s wrong?”
Abril grimaced at the question. She’d rather been hoping to keep this problem from Gina, but should have known better. She was terrible at hiding anything. “It’s nothing really,” she assured her quickly. “It’s just that—Well, you know they finished the master bedroom, en suite bathroom and kitchen renos yesterdayand planned to start digging the foundation for the addition this morning?”
“Yes. They were pretty close to finishing inside when I left for the airport the day before yesterday.” There was a frown in Gina’s voice. “What happened? Did they hit the gas line while digging the foundation or something?”
“No, no. Nothing like that,” Abril assured her.
“Well, then what is it?”
“The digger thing... excavator?” she guessed before rushing on, “It crapped out on them about midmorning. They had to stop for the day and wait for someone to come look at it. They’re hoping that will be first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow morning? They couldn’t get someone in today or bring in another excavator to continue on?” Gina sounded annoyed now, and Abril wasn’t surprised. Her boss was not the most patient of women. It had taken forever to get these renovations started, and now that they were underway, every delay that came up—and Abril was sure there would be many—was just going to piss off Gina.
“I guess not,” Abril said finally, her voice soothing. “But we had a pretty good rain just before lunchtime and they would have had to stop anyway. And Jared assured me that he was positive their guy would be able to get here first thing in the morning to fix the excavator. He also promised they’d work Saturday to make up for the lost time.”
A long silence stretched along the phone line and then Gina muttered, “Right. Okay. Well, these things happen I guess.”
Abril murmured an agreement, her gaze shiftingto Lilith as the Lab leaned into the six-foot round inground pond to drink out of it. Unsure if drinking the pond water was safe, Abril was just about to call her away when Gina spoke again, distracting her.
“So, have you had any visits from nosey neighbors yet? Or complaints about the noise?”
“Complaints no. Nosey neighbors yes,” Abril admitted, and then added, “At least I’m guessing nosey since I didn’t get to talk to them myself. That neighbor from the house one over to the left and across the street, Kim I think her name is?”
“Yes. Kim,” Gina agreed.
“Well, she and another woman came by just before lunch and were talking to some of the workers. I didn’t notice right away though, and by the time I did, and then got Lilith’s leash on and took her outside, Kim and her friend were already halfway up your very long driveway, leaving.”
Very longwas an understatement when it came to describing Gina’s driveway. Her house had been built on the back of a pie-shaped three-acre property. The driveway was a good two hundred feet long. Maybe more, Abril thought and then added, “I was about to call out and walk down to talk to them and make sure they didn’t have any complaints about noise, but before I could Jared stopped me to tell me about the excavator thingie breaking down.”
“But construction will definitely be starting up again tomorrow, right?” Gina asked, obviously more concerned about the renos getting done in a timely manner than in what her neighbors thought.
“As long as they’re able to get it going again, yes,” Abril said cautiously, thinking it was better to prepareher for the worst-case scenario. After all, no one knew what the problem was. What if they needed to order a part and wait for it to be delivered before they could make repairs?
