Page 17 of Tiers of Joy

I slump in my new rocking chair and pick up my phone and call Sally.

“Well you took your sweet arse time to call! How is it all going?” She asks.

I tell her everything from the truck running me off the road to just now. What does my friend do to support me?! She roars with laughter.

“Sally this isn’t funny. I told you I would make a tit out of myself.” I whine.

“Okay what does Mr tall, dark, and grumpy look like? Is he all Canadian man, a big lumberjack?!” She asks excitedly.

“Not far off. He's good looking, has dark brown nearly black hair, a nice beard, not too much just the right amount. I’d say he's around 6 foot 4 ish in height. He looks broad, strong, and muscular from what I can tell. Although obviously it’s freezing so everyone is wearing layers.” I finish.

“Holy hell! My ovaries nearly jumped out of my body and flew to Canada. No wonder you're making a tit out of yourself, he sounds hot.” She swoons.

I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, he's good looking but I don’t look at him in that way. He would be better looking if he wasn’t an arsehole. Plus Sally, I’m not in any way looking for anything like that. I've got my hands full with this place, ideally I’d like it open by spring.” I say just as someone knocks on the door.

“I have to go Sally, someone’s at the door.” I disconnect and walk downstairs to see Nellie from the convenience store waving at me through the glass.

I open the door.

“Hi Nellie, what can I do you for?” I ask.

She hands me a dish.

“This is a proper welcome to the town; it’s my famous chicken casserole. It’ll keep you warm and I figured you’ll be busy unpacking and doing lots of jobs around the place eh? So this is one job you don’t have to worry about.” She says.

“Thank you, Nellie. That’s really kind of you.” I state.

“No problem. Now go get back inside in the warm. Bring the dish back when you’re done.” She says over her shoulder as she jumps in her truck and pulls off.

I take the dish upstairs and start to unpack my things. I unbox Jay’s ashes and place them on the mantle.

I finally manage to unfold the camp bed after fighting with the blasted thing for nearly twenty minutes. I use my new blankets and pillows and place some candles I brought around the place. I’m still not sure if I completely fried the electrics earlier.

I sit in my rocking chair looking outside at the people going about their business. I don’t miss the people giving sideway glances and having a quick stop outside to gossip about who they think is in here. I smile to myself, wondering what they’re saying.

I decide to test a light switch but it’s a big mistake: every light bulb decides to blow! I scream and grab my phone and call the number I wrote down earlier.

“Hello, Bob here.” A man answers.

“Oh hello, I'm Esme. I moved into the old shop and I wondered if at all possible you could come across? All of the electrics have blown and every light bulb has just exploded.” I ask crossing my fingers.

“Sure, no problem. I will be there in ten minutes.” He says and disconnects.

I look around for something to use to clean up all the broken glass. I open a big pantry cupboard and a little mouse runs out. I scream at the top of my lungs. It scurries off under the floorboards somewhere. After I've calmed my heart down enough to know that I'm not having a heart attack I spot an old broom and start sweeping. There's a knock and a hello shouted up. I must have forgotten to lock up after Nellie earlier.

“Yes, come on up.” I yell.

I carry on sweeping and a guy in his forties walks through the door. His work boots crunch on the broken glass.

“Well my days! You weren’t kidding, eh?” He says, looking around.

“I will check your mains and see what I can do.” He says and he walks off back downstairs to find the mains box or whatever it is he's looking for. I just carry on sweeping what I can.

I don’t have a dustpan and brush so I grab a couple of bits of paper and try and scoop it all up.

I don’t do a very good job. I cut my hand quite badly. I hear footsteps come up the stairs and hear Bob talking to someone. I am now standing with my hand cupped with a little pool of blood.

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