Page 42 of Love It or List It
Austin couldn’t think about that any more than he could think about Joe’s new shoulder ornament.
“What do you think?”he asked Pepa as he finished wrapping the window in the breezeway.“Nice and cozy?”
Pepa nudged his hand for pets, which Austin happily provided.She was getting around well enough that she wasn’t confined to her sickroom anymore, and Austin was starting to think about how to build her a prosthetic.He had all the skills needed, and the knowledge he didn’t have, a half an hour on YouTube could provide.
“Just in time for the storm, huh?”
Outside, the wind had picked up and was howling through the trees.Though the sky had been overcast all day and the air smelled like snow, nothing had fallen yet.Austin figured it would happen overnight; he didn’t look forward to the drive in to work tomorrow if it did.Back county roads like this one often had drifts.
At least Joe would be here to help pull his car out of the ditch if that happened.He’d brought over his couch, TV, dining set, and mattress crammed into the back of his pickup, and they unloaded it all this afternoon.
“You don’t want to sleep in the house?”he asked Austin.“Like, no judgment, just… it’s cold, man, and I’ve sat on the mattress in there.It sucks.”
The trailer mattress did suck, and it felt extra-hard when it was cold, but Austin wasn’t fussy.“I will eventually.I just haven’t had a chance to pick up my bed.”He didn’t have a truck, though the ability to haul things was a consideration he’d be making the next time he traded his beat-up car in for another, slightly newer, slightly less beat-up model.Now that he’d leased out his place, his disassembled bed was sitting against the wall in his office at work.His dresser was taking up space in the garage bay.
“We can go tonight, if you want,” Joe offered.“Still two unclaimed bedrooms upstairs.”
Austin shook his head.“This weekend’s soon enough.I want to finish up a few projects first.”
He regretted it now, though, as Pepa followed him into the front main floor bedroom—the one Joe had claimed as his own.The house had a double fireplace, with one side in Joe’s bedroom and the other in the living room.There was no overhead light, so the space was currently lit by the trouble lamp they’d been carting from room to room as they painted, set on top of a folding ladder.But even with its limited furnishings—just the bed and the dresser—the tall wood baseboards and deep windowsills made the room feel charming.
Part of that was the color Joe had chosen—a deep foresty green that, combined with the scarred wood floors and original trim, gave the room a cozy, earthy feel.Part of it was the furniture too.The pieces might not be antiques, but they were real wood, stained a rich dark brown, and well-made.Austin didn’t have to Google to know they were expensive.
For the first time in weeks, he wished that he’d moved up the arrival of his own bedroom furniture.The mattress was eighteen inches thick and covered in soft gray-green sheets, a comforter with a foliage pattern, a kitten-soft knitted throw in earth tones, and more pillows than Austin had ever seen outside the bedding aisle at Home Sense.
Ozzy and Dallas had made themselves at home on the throw blanket, likely via the step stool someone had parked at the side of the bed.There was no way they could’ve jumped that high yet.Joe might still be pretending he’d adopted the kittens at gunpoint, but Austin hadn’t put the stool there.
With a fire lit in the double fireplace—“I didn’t spend all that time cleaning it out to not test it,” Joe protested, wide-eyed; Austin was pretty sure he was just one of those guys who liked lighting things on fire, and decided to be glad they had the appropriate venue for it—the bedroom was….
Austin wasn’t going to think about what it was.He wasn’t going to think about how all it needed was a nice hand-knotted rag rug in front of the fireplace with a bed for Pepa and a small desk and chair in the corner.A nightstand instead of the ladder.
There was even an en suite bath, although its current state was unusable.
Austin would’ve been annoyed about Joe claiming the best bedroom for himself, but it wasn’t like they werestaying.
He regretted his choices even more as night fell and he left the warm cozy house for his dilapidated trailer, which did little to protect him from the late fall weather.
The trailer had never felt more rickety than it did right in that moment as the wind howled and buffeted the sides.The space heater couldn’t fight back against the cracks and holes he was now discovering.
Of course, he thought bitterly when lightning flashed, it couldn’t be a snowstorm.No, it had to be rain, thunder, lightning.
Another flash and boom and Austin winced.He huddled down in his nest of blankets and wished they were enough to keep warm.
He was thoroughly regretting all his life choices and was convinced his trailer was going to fall apart around him when a bang rattled the door.
For a second, Austin thought this was it—the trailer was going to give way with a shudder.Then common sense prevailed and he realized someone was at the door.
“Austin!Open up!”
Austin stumbled to the door and let a grumpy Joe inside.
“Why is the door locked?”
And okay, sure, mostly Austin didn’t tend to lock it, but—
“So no ax murderers find me in my sleep?”Austin snarked, which was bullshit, but his toes were cold, so he thought he could be forgiven.
Joe gave him a look that was 100 percent Dad, and Austin relented.“It’s windy.I didn’t want it to blow open,” he finished saying as a gust of wind did just that.
