Page 13 of Waiting for Forever
Hudson smiled as if she’d just given him a gift, rather than more trash to haul. “Let’s grab them and add them to the pile.”
He waited for her to lead the way, clearly uncertain if she was going to invite him in. She was seriously debating the wisdom of doing so, but in the end, she nodded and started for the front door. She hated clutter, and she’d been dodging the boxes on her way in and out for days.
“They’re just right inside,” she said, as she opened the front screen door.
She turned to look at Hudson when he whistled.
“Damn!” he exclaimed, as he walked over to the arched entryway that led to the living room, running his hand over it. The arches were one of the things she loved most about the house. They added such an elegant touch. Not that the elegance was noticeable, considering the wall surrounding the arch was covered in the gaudiest purple floral wallpaper ever designed.
“The arches are great, aren’t they?” she said, directing his attention farther down the foyer. “There’s another one here that leads into the formal dining room.”
Hudson followed her, then pulled up short, no longer looking at the arch but into the dining room. “Holy shit,” he breathed.
Again, Paige’s back went up. She was getting tired of everyone’s “what the hell have you done” reactions whenever they walked through her house. It might currently be a mess, but Paige couldn’t understand why no one else saw the potential.
Before she could snap at Hudson, telling him the house was a work in progress, he spoke.
“Who the fuck hides gorgeous hardwood floors under shag carpeting?” he muttered, almost angrily.
Oh. Yeah.
Hudson was as taken aback by Paige’s discovery as she was.
“Actually, who the fuck puts carpet in a dining room,” he added.
She grinned because yeah…that too.
“I had no idea it was hardwood under the carpet,” she said. “My original plan had been to hire someone to lay down laminate flooring, but now?—”
“You can’t take this out,” he insisted. “It would be a crime.”
Paige agreed one thousand percent. “I agree, but, well…” Once the hardwood was revealed, she’d started watching videos on how to refinish them. “I’ve been doing some research, trying to figure out if I can save them.” Hudson said he was a contractor, so she might as well take advantage of his expertise, since she didn’t have anyone else to ask. “The floors look really rough after a million decades buried under all that shag. I wasn’t sure if I could refinish?—”
“You totally can. Refinishing floors isn’t all that hard, though I’ll admit it’s physically grueling. You can rent an orbital sander from the hardware store for the main part of the floor, but I’m afraid you’ll have to sand the edges and corners by hand. That’s what takes a toll on the back and knees. You need to payattention to the grit on your sandpaper, too. Start with coarse on the first pass, then progress to finer grits.”
“You sound like you’ve done this before,” she mused.
“Been working construction since graduation. I’ve sanded my fair share of floors. I’m also a licensed plumber.”
“You are?” She hated to sound so shocked, but—bad as it seemed—she sort of suspected Hudson would spend some part of his adult years in jail, if all the time he’d spent in Dad’s courthouse was anything to go by.
“It’s always been my intention to take over Granddad’s business. I worked for a man in Dallas who believed the best contractors knew how everything worked. He manages a huge construction company. One so large that he had an in-house crew of plumbers and electricians, so I apprenticed with his plumbers.”
“That sounds great. But like I said, Hudson, I’m not really looking for a contractor. Just a handyman to help me do some of the renovations.”
“Macie said you have a leak somewhere.”
Paige sighed. “Macie has a big mouth.”
Hudson laughed. “And everyone in town knows it, Princess.”
She growled, but he ignored her, grinning.
“TJ, who also loves the sound of his own voice, said Maris lost their plumber and y’all have to call to Douglas now whenever you need someone.”
Paige grimaced, because Hudson clearly knew he had her over a barrel, something that was bothering her less and less as they continued talking. For one thing, he’d been perfectly polite, and his sincere apologyhadbeen appreciated. Hell, he’d even gone the extra mile, lugging her heavy carpet to his truck and offering to make the dump run.
“Douglas is over an hour’s drive, so unless it’s an emergency, it takes longer for us to get someone to Maris for generalplumbing concerns. Mainly because there’s plenty of work for plumbers in Douglas without them having to make the long drive. As such, we tend to get placed lower on the list,” she admitted, as she led him to her office. She pointed at the water-stained ceiling. “The master bathroom is above this room, so obviously the leak is coming from there. The previous owner said the leak had been repaired before his aunt passed away. Unfortunately, I believed him.”
