Page 22 of Leave It to Us
By a little after ten, Tami had gone back up to her room, grabbed one of the five spiral notebooks she’d packed in her suitcase and her colored gel pens, and was now sitting in a chair at the kitchen table.
Grandma Betty had loved vibrant colors, something Tami figured she’d inherited from her since Freda’s house was a mash-up of dark brown, light brown, medium brown, and white.
“Walls should be white. Fresh and clean. Not some other ridiculous color that you’d want to change with your next thought.”
That’s what her mother had told her when she was ten and had asked if she could paint her bedroom peach like the bedspread she had at Grandma Betty’s house.
Sheer ivory panels stretched along a gold curtain rod to cover the three wide doors that opened out to the back porch. She’d pulled the cords and watched them separate until sunlight poured into the kitchen. Then she’d opened the middle door, letting in the warm dew-scented breeze courtesy of the Intracoastal Waterway about a hundred or so feet from the back of the house.
Across the room, on the wall behind the sink and a stretch of green granite countertops, was whitewashed brick—the most unique and calming feature of the space, in her opinion. With what she thoughtwas her clever smile, she bopped her head and pulled a green pen out of the clear case and scribbled on the first page of her notebook:Keep the brick wall.
The table where she sat was close to the doors because Grandma Betty liked to sit in this very spot on rainy mornings and look out on the yard. On clear and bright sunny days like today, she’d take her morning coffee out to the porch to sit at the table in one of the wicker chairs out there. The back porch was just as big as the front, stretching the entire length of the house. But a portion of it that didn’t extend out as far as the left side was screened. Above that was the deck outside of Grandma Betty’s room.
It was gorgeous back there. A not-so-flat surface of healthy grass traveled down to the wood-planked dock and the stretch of water. Grandma Betty had told her that the dock had been there for hundreds of years, leading out to the boat slip where Grandpa Riley used to sit on the side and fish for hours. Tami didn’t like fishing, had never had the patience to wait and wait and then wait some more for a fish to decide if it wanted to take the bait. She much preferred sitting in the kitchen, watching Grandma Betty fry up whatever fish she’d purchased from Mr.Bodine, who lived just down the road and had been fishing since he was five years old. At least then, she’d have her coloring books and crayons to occupy her mind while the fresh fish covered in cracker meal and dipped in hot grease created an aroma that always made her stomach growl with anticipation.
“You daydreaming already, TamTam?” Lana asked as she entered the kitchen, her words nearly cut off by a yawn. Her light tone meant she’d apparently gotten over yesterday’s attitude about the flying panties.
Tami hadn’t heard that name in forever. It was something Grandma Betty had called her from time to time and that her sisters used too, but only when they’d been here on the island.
“No,” she replied. “Taking notes on what renovations need to be done.” Well, she hadn’t actually written anything that pertained torenovatingthe house—just one of the things she didn’t want touched.
Lana opened the refrigerator, so all Tami could see of her sister when she looked over her shoulder were her long deep-brown legs peeking out from beneath the midthigh-length khaki shorts she was wearing. On her feet was a pair of fresh white Converse sneakers. Tami had already peeped the crisp white T-shirt that topped off Lana’s attempt at casual. It was anattemptbecause her sister was also wearing a tiered gold necklace that swung past her breasts, gold earrings, and a chunky brown-and-gold bracelet on her left wrist.
“That’s a good idea,” Lana said, finally backing out of the refrigerator with a gallon of milk tucked under one arm, a carton of eggs in one hand, and several plastic bags with what looked like vegetables and cheese in the other. “We should have a list of things we want done so when this contractor gets here, all we have to do is give him the list and he can get to work.”
Tami nodded because, taking Gabriel’s suggestion, that’s what she’d planned to do. But somehow Lana had made that seem likehergood idea instead of Tami’s.At any rate,she thought with a shake of her head,I’m going to chill. Just like Gabriel advised.Perhaps if she relaxed a bit with her sisters, they’d be able to do the same with her. After all, it had been months since they’d all stayed under the same roof. No way could they be biting each other’s heads off every day this summer. She definitely didn’t have the mental bandwidth for that.
“I’ve already walked around the entire house, but I feel like that was just to reminisce. We should all do a walk-through together and reacclimate ourselves with the space,” Tami said. She tapped her pen on the notebook, liking how the green ink brightened up the page.
Colored gel pens were her favorite to write with. The variety and the spice of being able to make a different selection gave her an odd burst of energy. The fact that writing down her plethora of thoughtshad been a hobby since she was a little girl only increased her enjoyment of them.
“I need to eat first,” Lana said, and moved to the stove.
“Did somebody say ‘eat’?” Yvonne asked as she walked into the kitchen. “I didn’t have the strength to come down here and find something when we got in last night, so I’m starving now.”
“Me too,” Lana said. “I’m glad the refrigerator was stocked.”
“Robyn said that Sallie came by over the weekend to make sure that everything was in order for us,” Tami said. A huge bird flew by, and she turned to look out the window. “The deck looks faded and worn. It should probably be redone.” She said that mostly to herself as she looked down at her notebook and wrote,Use a more weather-resistant product.
“What are you over there talking about?” Yvonne asked as she came farther into the room and pulled out one of the high-backed chairs at the island.
The bottom portion of the island was painted a shade of green that almost matched the cabinets, something close to an evergreen color. It didn’t look as vibrant as Tami recalled it had been when she was younger. In fact, as she surveyed the kitchen again, she wondered if the green was too dark.
She looked away from her sister to writeGreen???, then looked back at Yvonne because she hadn’t answered her question. “Just jotting down some things to tell the contractor when he gets here.”
“What time is he supposed to be here again?” Yvonne asked. “And is there coffee? I can make some, if y’all haven’t already started a pot.”
Yvonne eased off the chair she’d just slid onto. She was wearing white jeans today and a white tank top that she’d covered with a short-sleeve denim shirt. On her feet were cheetah-print flats, which Tami thought were more her style than Yvonne’s. The fact that her older sister was wearing them made Tami smile; maybe she wasn’t as old and crotchety as she’d always acted.
“I don’t like coffee,” Tami said. “There’s orange juice in the refrigerator, and I saw some tea bags in the cabinet—the kind for hot tea and the ones for iced tea. I was gonna make a pitcher of that for later.” But then she’d opened the back door and sat down to take her notes, so she hadn’t gone back to make the tea.
“I know you don’t,” Yvonne replied. “Always said it tasted too bitter, no matter how much sugar and cream you added to it.”
Tami scrunched up her face and glanced outside again. “It does.”
“I’m making omelets. Anybody want one?” Lana asked as she cracked eggs into a bowl.
“I do,” Tami replied. “With lots of cheese, no veggies.”
