Page 22 of Astrid
“Not at all.” She waved to the room in question, and started toward the door.
“Hey, Astrid,” John called, just as she reached for the door handle.
“What?” She looked back and frowned at him.
“I don’t know if you could tell, but in this house, if you cook, you don’t have to clean up after the meal.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and the others get up around six.”
“I’ll meet you downstairs!” She laughed as she opened the door, and hurried out. By the time the next person, which was Justin, arrived downstairs, she had not only the small pot, but the huge restaurant-sized coffee pot brewing, eggs whipped in one bowl, peppers, and onions chopped, and was just starting to chop the ham.
“What’s all this?”
“I thought I’d make everyone a western omelet this morning.”
“I’ll help, and not to tell you what to do, but you might want to cut up more veggies. I know Ava loves them.”
“Okay, do you know if we have mushrooms? Or if people like them?”
“Yes,” came John’s voice, and she looked up and smiled in relief when she saw he was dressed for the day in jeans and a tee shirt, carrying a pair of socks. He went to the refrigerator and retrieved them. They cut up the vegetables together, then John moved onto getting the bread and butter gathered to make the toast, and as Justin started cooking the omelets, Astrid set the table. By the time everyone had joined them, they had a system going. Just before everyone sat down, she poured the juice in the glasses for the people that wanted it. As they all settled down to eat, everyone complimented Justin on the excellent omelet, and Astrid beamed when he gave all the credit to Astrid, who had cut up all the vegetables before he even got downstairs.
At one point, Astrid looked over at Joyce, and asked, “Joyce, will you be in the garage today?”
“Yes, my new tire machine is supposed to be delivered before ten this morning, and I want to finish setting up all the tools. Why? Was there something you wanted?”
“I’d like to place the cameras on the outside of the building, set up the monitors, then install the tracking devices on our work vehicles. I have everything I need for the garage, then the rest of the week I can work on the house and office.”
“What about the office?” Chuck asked.
“I’d like to put my wires for the cameras inside the walls. If done properly, then the only way anyone can cut the wires to the feed would be to climb up on a ladder to get to them, or scale the wall. I can come over and explain it to you if you’d like?”
“That’s fine, but can you get everything done by Thursday?”
“What’s Thursday?” John asked with a frown.
“Inspector’s coming in for the electrical and plumbing. If we pass, we can move onto the insulation, and drywall.”
“Wow, so the office might be done sooner than we thought?” Alex asked as he picked up a sausage link, and bit it in half.
“Yes, but I need to discuss something with Morgan first.” Chuck sighed, and looked at Justin. “Did you tell her about our plan?”
“Not yet.” No one said anything after that, thinking it wasn’t their business. By the time breakfast was done, Astrid was ready to get to work. Since she’d cooked, she went back up to her room, and it surprised her to find the bed already made, and everything picked up. Nodding, she grabbed what she needed, and headed back downstairs.
“Hey,” John said from the front door. “Do you need a ladder?”
“I won’t know until I go out and check everything out.”
“Okay, if you need one, I’ll be in the office.” As he turned to leave, he must have caught her expression, because he paused and frowned at her, cocking his head to one side, and quirking his brow in confusion. Before she waved him away, he walked up to her, took her shoulders in his hands, then looked directly in her eye, as he whispered, “I didn’t know how you wanted to act around the others.”
“Oh.” She frowned, then grinned as she took his face in her hands and kissed him. When they broke apart, Astrid didn’t know whether it shocked her or not that the ones left never said a word about them being together. Taking it in stride, she waited for some space to clear up before she dressed her feet, and headed out to the garage to start her day.
CHAPTER10
Astrid stoodon the back side of the garage with a frown. She held a screwdriver in her hand, and began tapping it in her other palm.
“What’s wrong?” Joyce asked as she came up to her, and handed her a cup of coffee. When she’d come to the garage, she’d stayed on the outside, and Joyce had gone in, saying she’d make them a cup of coffee.
