Page 19 of Enchanting the CEO

We arrived in front of the house twenty minutes later. I helped Grandmother out of the car, and we walked around the yard, looking at the house from all angles. There were three construction workers here today doing some of the detailing on the windows.

"This is a thing of beauty," she exclaimed.

"Thanks, Grandmother. I agree. I’ll go talk to Mateo.” He was overseeing everything. “Be careful where you step.”

"You don't have to baby me,” she said in a belligerent voice.

I absolutely had to, but I chose my battles.

I kept an eye on Grandmother while I spoke to the head of the construction site. They'd found some issues in the basement that required more work than we anticipated.

“Just do what you have to do, okay?” I told him.

Mateo nodded. “Sure. But we hit a roadblock, so we'll have to pause the work until we get all the materials we need.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Right, then we'll pause it.”

When I first started this project, I was annoyed whenever something like this came up, but now I was just rolling with the punches. These were the risks of building on the bones of an old house. And since I was living nearby, I didn't mind. It didn't matter if I had to wait a few more months. The lease on the current house was for one year. I aimed to move in six months, but I was adaptable.

Once we agreed that the crew should focus their efforts on another part of the project until the materials came, I got Grandmother back into the car. I started to drive away, then stopped in front of my rental. Diane had arrived earlier than we'd agreed.

"What's happening over there?" she asked.

"Ah, that is my new neighbor," I said.

She turned to face me. “You didn't tell me the old one was moving out.”

“He wanted to move in with his girlfriend, but the landlady would only let him out of the lease if he found a replacement. And I found one for him.”

“Oh, that’s nice, dear. So who is it?”

“It's the sister of one of my bartenders.”

Grandmother beamed. "Lovely. I'd like to meet her."

I frowned. "Why?"

“Indulge your old grandmother, would you?”

“Won't you be late for bridge?”

She waved her hand. “It's still early. Besides, there are enough of us old hags that they can start a game without me.”

“All right, then, let's go.”

I got out first, then opened the door for Grandmother and helped her out of the car.

"Good morning, Diane!" I greeted. She was leaning over the trunk of a battered old Honda.

She straightened up, turning around. "Gabe, hi." Then her eyes fell on Grandmother. "Hello, I'm Diane."

"I'm Jeannie Whitley, Gabe's grandmother. He tells me you're his new neighbor."

Diane nodded. " Yes, and I'm super happy this worked out. I'm very lucky that my sister knew Gabe. Anyway, I'm not going to keep you. I just want to bring all this stuff up."

"Gabe, you help the young lady. She doesn't have to carry it all by herself."

I cocked a brow. "Grandmother."

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