Page 43 of Leave It to Us
“I thought these colors would complement the kitchen since I agreed with y’all’s suggestion to lighten that up a bit, going with a soft sage green over the deep hunter that was in there,” she said.
They’d ripped all the cabinets out of the kitchen earlier that week, so now it was just down to the studs. Which left no counter space for them, but the sink, refrigerator, and stove hadn’t been taken out yet. Those would go the first of next week. Deacon had to charter special ferries equipped with space that could haul out big pieces of furniture, so the demolition and removal was a slower process than it would’ve been had they been on the mainland.
“I see what you’re saying,” Yvonne said in that part-conciliatory, part-condescending tone she’d perfected. “But it might be a little too busy for this small space.”
“Or ...,” Tami countered, and started to step toward the door, where Lana stood with the roll in hand. “It’ll give it just the punch of vibrancy this house needs.”
“I thought that, in addition to trying to preserve the legacy, we were going to pay close attention to maintain the historic Lowcountry design of this house,” Yvonne said.
Tami nodded. “That’s why I went with these pastels. Did you know there was a Pastel Society of South Carolina? They promote publicawareness of the pastel as a fine-art medium. That should be right up your alley, Lana, with your big ole degree in the fine arts.”
“The question is, why doyouknow that?” Lana asked, frowning again.
“I know it,” Tami said, and then looked down at the paper she held once more, “because I’ve been reading up on South Carolina and Daufuskie. The history, the culture, the style. It’s all been ruminating in my mind. And I’m gonna hang this wallpaper.”
With determined steps, she moved past where Lana was still standing, giving her a quizzical glance. She didn’t even turn back to see how Yvonne was looking—her guess would be irritated and on her way to pissed because Tami was about to do something she disagreed with. She didn’t care and she didn’t stop. Instead, she stomped all the way down the hall toward the foyer, where most of the supplies were being stored until they were ready to use. There was another stockpile of stuff on the back deck, but Tami knew the primer-sizing product and the adhesive that Hitch had instructed her to get at the wallpaper store were down here. So were the spatula-like things and the tarps to cover the floors. Cursing because she should’ve left the roll of paper upstairs, she stuffed it under her arm and picked up all the other things she would need, and then she headed toward the back of the house again.
She was shocked to see Yvonne and Lana still standing outside of the powder room. As she approached, Lana put her hands on her hips and said, “I hope you’ve got everything we need to get this done.”
Narrowing her gaze at her sister, Tami replied, “I do. At least, I have everything Hitch said I would need.”
“Then let’s get started. I’m hungry, and Ms.Janie sent us a pot of beef stew to heat up for dinner,” Yvonne said as she reached for the bucket in Tami’s right hand that held the spatulas, sponges, and ruler.
“It’s too hot to eat beef stew,” Tami complained. She’d seen that huge glass bowl covered in aluminum foil sitting on the stove when she’d gone into the kitchen to get a bottle of water after her trip into town. “Plus, we’ll have to dig dishes out of the box to heat it up.”
“Well, we’ve gotta eat,” Yvonne said.
“We sure do,” Lana added. “Plus, it’s been forever since I’ve had beef stew. Don’t even begin to know how to fix it myself, but I remember how hearty and good it tastes.”
“Mama used to make it on Sundays in the winter,” Yvonne said, still going through the bucket and pulling out everything to sit along the floor just outside the powder-room door. “And she’d bake corn bread to go with it. Y’all remember that?”
“Yesssss,” Lana said. “That sweet, warm corn bread, once you dip it into the stew.” She rubbed her stomach and closed her eyes, looking like she was having more of an orgasmic experience than a memory about some home-cooked food.
“I didn’t like all those big ole cooked carrots in it, but otherwise, the stew was good.” Tami picked up the tub of primer and the one of adhesive and walked them into the bathroom. “But I haven’t eaten since a chili dog I had around noon when I was in town, so I guess I’m eating beef stew for dinner too.”
In the next few moments, Tami had moved into the powder room, with Yvonne right behind her. Lana came in after them but stopped in the doorway to scroll through her phone. “The directions say we need to remove all the fixtures and heat registers first.”
“I think Frank was in here yesterday, doing that,” Yvonne said.
“Yep!” Tami yelled back to them. “He did, and he filled up any holes with that joint-compound stuff, so we’re good to go.”
“And Deacon knows we’re doing this?” Yvonne asked.
Tami looked over her shoulder at her sister. “I told him this was a small assignment and that I could handle it. Now that theIhas become awe, I’m feeling even more confident. This is going to be amazing.”
“It’s gonna be something,” Lana added as she continued scrolling on her phone.
Three hours later, there were two strips of paper on the wall behind the powder-room door. They were crooked and had clumps of adhesive around the edges, but they were hanging.
“It doesn’t seem as loud as I originally thought,” Yvonne said as she tilted her head and looked at it.
They were all squeezed into the small space, the door closed so they could see their progress.
Lana was leaning against the vanity. “It’s still a lot of flowers, but I guess that works in a powder room. But I think this should be an accent wall. Then we get Deacon and his crew to paint the other wall, pulling one of the paler colors from the paper.”
“Wecan paint it!” Tami said, unable to hold back her excitement. She was feeling particularly proud of the partial wall they’d completed and even more jubilant that her sisters seemed to like the paper she’d selected now. “This looks good over here, so I’m sure we can handle paint.”
“It’s crooked, Tami,” Lana said. “That’s why I’m thinking we should just let Deacon and his crew do the rest.”
