Page 51 of Ghost
Chapter Nineteen
Mason tipped his beerbottle up, draining what was left in it.He looked at the empty bottle before getting up from the floor.“I’m gonna have another beer.Anyone else?”
Mitch and Paul both held up their own empty bottles.
“Can you believe it?”Mitch shook his head.“I’m not sure I believe it.”
“Yep, I can.”Paul took the beer Mason offered.“I told you it wouldn’t take long for you to find work, Mas.”He smiled.“Told ya so.”
“Yeah, but...I didn’t think it would be anything like this.”Mason sat back down.
The TV was off, and the three of them were sitting there in silence.Mason’s head was spinning.He didn’t know what to make of it.
“Well, all I can say is, it looks like you’ve got enough work lined up to last you thorough the rest of the year and into a good portion of the next,” Mitch said after a long draw from his beer bottle.“Maybe I should consider moving down here.”
“Sure,” Paul said.“You could move into that apartment above Nick’s store,” He laughed.
Mitch rolled his eyes at him.“I have the feeling that once Mason’s done with the place, I couldn’t afford it.”
Paul leaned forward a bit.“Mason, you got three, if not four, jobs lined up in the matter of a few hours just by letting Patty see your place.Did you really think that you’d have a problem finding work?”
“Yeah, I did.”Mason shook his head again.“I’d never have imagined it.Not ever.”
Patty had looked at what Mason, Paul and Mitch had done, nodded her head, turned to Mason and said, “I want a new kitchen,andnew bathroom in our house.It’s been way overdue and it’s going to happen.”She turned to her husband and said, “And don’t even open your mouth.It’s going to happen and that’s the end of it.We have the money and now that Nicky is off to school, some things are going to change.”
Mason, Paul and Mitch all laughed, especially when Nick’s lips got tight, his face got red, and he nodded his assent.Mason had a feeling that he wouldn’t dare go against his wife’s wishes.
“Now, you all stay right here.I’ve got to make a few phone calls.”She stopped just inside the back door of the basement apartment.“Don’t move.”
* * * *
It was already startingto get dark, so Paul fired up the generator once again and opened them all up a few beers that were left in the cooler.Before they’d had a chance to finish their beers, they’d moved outside where there was a slight breeze and just chatted amongst themselves.They’d asked Nick all kinds of questions about living in Savannah, how he came to live where he did.Paul talked about his wife and kids.Mitch talked about the work he’d been doing in Atlanta and was seriously talking about moving to Savannah himself.
When Patty returned, she’d made her husband get up from where he was sitting on the ice chest, helped herself to a beer and sighed.“I’ve invited a few of my friends to come and look at what you’ve done, Mason.”She took a long draw from her beer.“Damn, that’s good.Nothing like a good cold beer on a hot summer’s night.”
“Uh...what do you mean you’ve invited people over?”Mason asked.
“Momma, who’s minding the store?”Nick looked concerned.
“I called Randy in.”Patty tipped the bottle again.“He’s been needing more hours anyway.”
“But—” Nick started, but seeing the look on his wife’s face, only sighed.
Patty shook her head.“He’s such a cheapskate,” she said to the others.“I think it comes from being raised by parents who went through the Great Depression.He won’t spend money and he won’t throw anything out.Hell, there’s two refrigerators upstairs in that apartment because he got them at cost from an appliance place that was going out of business.Been sitting up there for a few years and haven’t ever been used.”
“Really?”Mason asked.“Would you consider selling one of them?”
“Mason, darling, you just take one of ‘em.”Patty nodded to Mitch.“You help him get it out of there tomorrow.”
“I’ll be happy to take it off the cost of the renovations,” Mason offered.
Patty waved her hand at him.“We’ll work it out.”
About then, two ladies showed up.Patty introduced them and then took it upon herself to show them the renovations on Mason’s house.Before the night was done, three more people had seen the place, and all wanted Mason to work for them.Patty said she’d get all the phone numbers and addresses for him the following day when he came to get his new refrigerator.
