Page 44 of Ava
“Downstairs, they’re the sheets for your beds.”
Ava whipped around, then slapped a hand on her forehead. “I forgot all about the sheets for those beds. I bought two sets for the ones upstairs.”
“Don’t worry about it, and I don’t mean to step on any toes, but it’s my understanding that you were in the Marines for years, and only just got out. I don’t know, but I’m assuming that the military provided everything you needed. I’ve been keeping house for forty years, so I know a thing or two about what a home needs.” She moved her hand to take in the space of the rest of the area, and then looked back to Ava. “And this is a lot of house to keep.”
“Yeah,” Ava sighed. “I’m hoping when the other women arrive, we can tackle the cleaning together.”
“Let’s hope.” Peggy nodded and continued to unload the bags. It took only a few more minutes, and during that time, the men continued to carry in large boxes of furniture, but Ava didn’t see Justin anywhere. Before she asked, he appeared, all sweaty. He made a beeline to the refrigerator and grabbed one of her Colas
“May I?”
“Sure, what have you been doing?”
“Putting the beds together. Alan’s putting the sheets on them. I took a break for a drink.”
Ava didn’t say anything and continued to put the groceries away. By the looks of it, she had enough stuff to last her six months, then she remembered the men would be staying there, probably starting that very same night, and realized she’d only have enough food for a week. She had just finished putting everything away, when the door opened again, and Morgan and Chip walked in, also with their arms loaded.
“Do you need any more help?” Ava frowned at them.
“No, this is it,” Chip said and set the bags down in the living room. “No clue what these are.”
“The throw rugs for upstairs. We can take them up later.” Peggy nodded, and began opening the cupboards again. “Do you want me to start supper?”
“No,” Morgan said. “Dolly called and told me she’d made several pans of lasagna. When I told her that you two had arrived, she said to bring you over for dinner.”
“I don’t want to put her out.”
“You won’t be,” Morgan said, and held up her hand to stop Chuck. “You too, Chuck, you’re to come over to the house for dinner.”
“Not that I’m complaining, but what are we having?”
“Lasagna.”
“I’ll be there.” He grinned. He looked at Justin. “Beds put together?”
“Yes, Alan’s putting the sheets on now.” They looked up when there was a shout from downstairs, and the women looked at each other with smirks. They all went down, and saw Alan sprawled across one bed swearing up a storm.
“Problem?” Ava giggled as he glared at her.
“How the hell do you get these damn sheets on without the corners popping off?”
The women went to the other beds, and opened the packages of sheets. Each woman took their own bed. In no time they had both sheets on, then looked at Alan with a shrug. “What seems to be the problem.” Alan sat up and glared.
“What’s the damn trick?”
Ava took pity on him, she walked up to him, picked up the sheet, and held it out. “First you have it the wrong direction. You’re trying to put the top and bottom on the sides.”
“What’s the difference?”
“I’ve found that the tag...” She moved the sheet until she found it. “Nine times out of ten, I put it in the bottom right-hand corner, then pull it across the bottom, after those two corners are hooked in, you pull it up and attach the top two. Now when it comes to folding the bottom sheet after it’s washed, you’re on your own for that.” She laughed, as did Morgan.
Alan watched, and because he wouldn’t be defeated, he grabbed the sheets for the next bed, and did as Ava told him. When he was successful, he looked at the others with a huge grin. Then he looked at his brothers, blew on his knuckles, and rubbed them on his shirt. “You’re on your own for your beds. I’m claiming this one.” He picked the one in the middle of two beds.
Ava noticed that three beds were clustered on one side of the room, then three more where Alan stood, then a separate one off to the side. It was like the J’s would sleep close, and the A’s would, leaving Chuck on his own. She didn’t know what to say to that, so she remained silent. She helped the others finish making the beds, and when Chip came back down, he had the bags he’d set down earlier. That was when Ava noticed they were full of blankets, and he upended them on one of the beds. The boys each reached in and grabbed a different one. She liked that no two blankets were the same.
Morgan looked at her watch, then looked at everyone. “We’d better get over to the ranch. Supper’s almost ready.”
They made their way out of the basement, and when Ava didn’t make any move to join them, Justin paused to look at her. “You coming?”
