Page 64 of Goodbye Paradise
She folded her hands together and looked and Caleb and I in turn. “See, that’s the thing. I have a better idea. Have either of you seen the space above the workshop?”
“Sure,” Caleb shrugged. “I went up there once to bring some tarps down for Daniel.”
“Well, it’s a big space. Daniel and I once talked about finishing it, but we haven’t had the time. If you guys did a lot of the labor, then you could live up there for free.”
“You’d still be supporting us,” I argued.
Maggie shook her head. “You could pay the utilities, and you’d have your own kitchen. But refinishing a space is a lot of work. And someday, if you did move out, we’d be left with a finished apartment instead of an empty room. That adds value to our property.”
“The materials will cost money, though,” Caleb argued. “I suppose I could pay for them out of the rent deposit I’ve saved up. There’s a lot of stuff to buy. Plumbing supplies. Flooring…”
“Daniel and I should pay for everything that’s part of the building, since it stays there if you leave,” Maggie pointed out. “But you’ll need furnishings. Will youpleaseconsider it? Let’s look at the space tonight. It would be so much easier to say yes to Cecilia on the partnership if I knew I had a babysitter on the property.”
I eyed Caleb, trying not to feel too hopeful. Our own little place, yet still on the farm? Could we do that? Would it even work?
“I think…” Caleb snuck a glance at me, and then looked Maggie in the eye. “That just might work. If Daniel likes the idea, too.”
Maggie tossed her head back and smiled at the ceiling. “Thank you for considering it. Because I really don’t want you guys to move far away. And if you end up in that dump we just saw, I fear you’ll be looking at jobs in some other state before you know it.”
“Anotherstate?” I yelped. “Nobody saidthatwas on the table. I don’t want to move away from you if I don’t have to.”
Under the table, Caleb’s leg moved in close. He pressed his knee against mine, as if to tell me that he understood. “We’ll see what Daniel thinks,” he said.
That evening, after the milking, and after dinner, we all went out to clomp around the empty, dusty space over Daniel’s workshop.
“Well,” Daniel said appraisingly. “There’s enough space up here, and the entrance is already separate. So that’s something.” He walked slowly around, carrying Chloe on his hip, studying the shape of the room. The roof was pitched in one direction, which meant that one end of the big space had a ridiculously high ceiling, which sloped down gradually toward the other end of the room.
Maggie spoke up next. “The way the windows are set, it makes the most sense to put the bedrooms at this end,” she pointed to the shorter wall, “and the kitchen on that wall.” She paced back into the center. “That doesn’t leave much of a living room, but you could put a couch on the wall facing the kitchen.”
Caleb cleared his throat. “I think the whole thing might work better if it was left as one open room. Maybe with a loft at the tall end.”
“Oh!” Maggie whispered. “Good idea! That would look cool. There could be one bed up on the loft, and the other one underneath. Actually, the downstairs bed could be a futon. During the day, it could be your couch. But then one of you would have to make it up as a bed every night.”
This time, when the subject of bedrooms came up, I hid my flaming face by staring out the window.
“Great point,” Daniel said. “And this way, we wouldn’t have to muck around with dropped ceilings. Except for in the bathroom, which I think you’d want to put in that corner.” He pointed. “The workshop sink is on that same wall, which will keep the plumbing costs low.”
“That’s important,” I said, happy that we weren’t talking about bedrooms anymore.
“The bathroom and kitchen are the expensive parts,” Caleb said. “Wall board is cheap.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed. “But I know a plumber we could hire to help us get through the tricky bits. This could be a fun project, as long as you feel you have the time.”
“I can’t wait to get started,” I said, truthfully. But then I remembered that it really didn’t matter whatIthought. Because it wasn’t me who was going to do most of this work. I was happy to sand the floors or paint the walls. But when it came to installing a toilet, I didn’t have a clue.
Caleb rubbed his hands together. “This could be great. I just hope you really don’t mind having tenants. I figure you’ll want your house back to normal someday, and a renovation will take some time. And when wedoleave, you still won’t really be rid of us.”
“But I don’twantto be rid of you,” Maggie said immediately. “You and Josh and Daniel and Chloe are my family. I’m trying to keep you close, not send you away.”
“Well…” Caleb put a hand on the back of his neck, and looked at Daniel. “If you’reallon board with it…”
Daniel switched Chloe from one hip to the other, and gave us both a quiet smile. “If you think there’s enough privacy here, then don’t think twice. Stay.”
It was weird that he’d mention privacy. But I didn’t dwell on it. I was too busy feeling happy. I wanted to move in here, and live within a two minute walk of Chloe and my adoptive family. And even the cows. I just hoped Caleb was as happy about it as I was.
Twenty
DEAR WASHINGTON,
