Page 59 of Taking a Chance on Charlevoix
“What’s this? You’re kidding, right?” Izzy's face fell. Obviously she didn't want to think about that, and Sam didn't blame her. Sunnycrest had been Izzy’s home for many years. They'd always felt having her safe in this house was not only convenient but it gave them all peace of mind.
“Forget I said that, sweetheart.” Aunt Cate gave her head a little shake.
Sam had to help her out. “What Aunt Cate probably means is that we might all settle in with some wonderful, handsome man one day. We might not want to live at Sunnycrest.” The idea sounded far fetched but it could happen.
“You mean a man like Josh?” Izzy batted her eyes coyly.
The sound of his name brought an ache to Sam’s heart. “No, not Josh. That's not what I'm saying. Not that I don't think he's a nice man.”Nice?What was she saying?
“Sorry, Sam. I can't hear you.” Leave it to Marlowe to speak up.
So she cleared her throat and tried again. “I don't think I'll be leaving this house or Sunnycrest to set up house with anyone. I mean not in the near future, anyway. Have to get my head on straight first.”
An uncomfortable silence fell. Having personal conversations on Facetime was so hard. Izzy’s sisters and aunt all looked confused. She didn’t want to rehash that dinner with Josh’s children.
But Izzy wouldn't leave it alone. “So dinner at his house was that bad?”
Although she’d told Marlowe about that dinner, the rest of the family didn’t know the details. Did she owe them an explanation? “Yes. It was that bad.” Maybe she could leave it there.
“I think it was all those pictures,” Marlowe said. She might think she was helping Sam out. “It would really be spooky to go to a guy's house and have pictures of his former wife all over the place.”
Oh, if they only knew how awful that had felt.
“But he has those children to consider,” Aunt Cate gently reminded them. “Josh is a widower. Things are different when you're older and dating.”
Wow. What was their aunt saying? Was she speaking with the wisdom that comes from experience? Suspicion curled at the edges of Sam's mind. After all, her aunt was very attractive. “Aunt Cate, are you saying that you are dating someone?”
With a flutter of her manicured fingernails, their aunt brushed that comment away. “Oh please. Not even close.”
“Izzy, Sam and I are depending on you to keep an eye on Aunt Cate,” Marlowe said with a chuckle. “Before she goes out with anyone, we have to check him out first.”
“What nonsense.” They’d tried their aunt's patience, and Sam also wanted to move this along.
“I’m grabbing a pen. Let's make a list.” Aunt Cate dove into the project. “Could we agree that all of the bathrooms should have similar features? We can't have people going into one bathroom and then the next and having them feel as if they're in a different house.”
“Agreed.” Sam could hear voices down below. The realtor must have arrived with his clients.
“Let’s move on,” Marlowe said. So they hashed over decisions like faucets and showerheads. The granite counters could be different in each room but they all wanted set-in sinks and counters large enough to accommodate makeup. No stand up sinks that took up space. All sinks would be rectangular and set into the counter. The list went on and on and Sam could see that her sisters were becoming excited by the modern conveniences Sunnycrest lacked.
But when it came to the showers, her sisters couldn't agree. Izzy didn't like having the bathtub glassed in. Not with the baby. So the bathtub-shower combination was out for her. Marlowe definitely wanted a shower.
“What is going to happen to the bathroom that's now accessible to the other three bedrooms?” Aunt Cate asked, once they’d agree to talk to Seth about the shower option. “Have you given that any thought?”
“We'll have to consider that as we go,” Marlowe said. Did they really need a bathroom for guests on the second floor when every room had a private bath? Sam’s head was spinning.
“Maybe I should ask Seth about that,” Aunt Cate said making a note on the pad in front of her.
“Now let's do the closets. No wire racks.” Marlowe wasn't a fan of California closets and Sam knew that. She'd been in Marlowe's condo.
Sam was having trouble keeping her mind on the conversation. “When is the work going to start?” she asked, craning her neck toward the door. Things had become very quiet downstairs. Maybe the prospects were in the master suite.
She'd been wondering how Izzy was going to tolerate all the noise that came along with renovation. Sam imagined the saws whining and hammers banging. From the projects she'd seen, the contractors used a slide going from one of the upstairs windows into a dumpster. A certain amount of noise went along with that. Noise and dust. Could Izzy tolerate that?
“First we have to make these decisions,” Aunt Cate said. “The demolition won't begin until Seth has all of the building materials. He doesn't want to start on a bathroom, for example, and not have the sinks or the shower fixtures. That can hold up the project on the other end.”
Sam watched Izzy's expression tighten. The poor girl was worried and she couldn't blame her. Holly was pulling on one of her mom’s blonde pigtails. But her mother wasn't responding. Was Izzy getting cold feet? “Izzy, how do you feel about the project so far? After all, you're going to be on site. Marlowe and I aren’t sure when we’ll arrive.”
Grabbing her daughter's hand, Izzy kissed it and Holly giggled. “I'm going to work around it. Seth told me that the crew would work during the day while I'm at the shop and Holly is at daycare.”
