Page 14 of Waiting for Forever
Hudson walked over and touched the wall. “It’s a bit damp.”
Paige nodded. “Even with the leak, it’s the only functioning shower. I tried using the one in the guest bathroom, but it has zero water pressure. I put a call in to a couple of plumbers in Douglas, but I haven’t heard back from either of them yet. So…I’m taking showers at the speed of light every other day.”
“Sounds like it’s been leaking awhile. You’re going to have to replace the drywall on this wall and the ceiling.”
“I know,” she said.
“And the floors under this carpet might need a lot more work, especially if the hardwood is rotten.”
“Great,” she muttered.
“Since you’re tearing the whole ceiling down to replace the drywall, you should also get your plumber to see about replacing all the pipes.”
“Why?” Paige asked.
“This is an old house. Unless someone updated the plumbing in the last fifty years, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’ve got cast-iron pipes.”
“I think I do.”
“It would be easy to replace the cast iron with PEX, while the ceiling is down. But even if you don’t, you should consider hiring a plumber to replace it all eventually because cast iron corrodes, which can lead to leaks,” he pointed to the ceiling, “or blockagesas rust builds up. Which might be the cause of your low water pressure.”
“That’s a good suggestion. I’ll add it to my list and see if I can get someone to work on the pipes while the ceiling is down. Would you, um, want to see the rest of the house?” Paige had no clue where that invitation came, but Hudson really was a wealth of information, so it would be stupid not to see what other suggestions he had.
Hudson nodded. “I’d love to.
The two of them worked their way through the house room by room. Hudson listened to her ideas for the renovation, and more than once she got the sense he was impressed by her plans. No one, not even her family, had understood her excitement. But Hudson not only got it, in some ways it felt like he shared it.
She could also tell from the way he talked about his work that he genuinely loved his job. It wasn’t just a paycheck for him.
They ended the tour in the kitchen because it needed the most work.
“I’m thinking of taking out this broom closet-slash-pantry thing because it eats up one whole corner of the room, and it’s not big enough to justify such a poor use of space.”
Hudson nodded slowly, then pulled a tape measure out of his back pocket. “You know, this space would be perfect for the refrigerator.”
Paige hadn’t considered that. “Oh my God. It would be. And that would allow me to add at least two more cabinets and expand the countertop.”
“It’s a nice-size kitchen, but the layout is all wrong. Getting rid of that closet is a great idea.”
She smiled, walking over to the kitchen table to flip open her notebook.
Hudson stepping behind her, chuckling. “Still organizing your work with those color-coded tab things, Princess?”
She narrowed her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder at him, but there was no anger behind the look this time. “Each section represents a room. It’s where I keep all my thoughts and ideas. This house is way bigger than the apartment I just moved out of, so obviously I need more furniture. I’ve got lists of things I’d like to buy eventually, and I’ve hand drawn layouts of how I plan to arrange the furniture in each room.”
Hudson studied her lists and her drawings. “You always did think a hundred miles ahead. This is cool. And I can really see your vision now.”
Paige had spent a few minutes in each room describing her thoughts about the décor and color schemes. She hadn’t even thought to take the notebook along with them on the tour.
Hudson flipped to the front of the large three-ring binder. “What’s this?”
“It was my schedule for the remodel.” Paige ran her finger along the columns. “The days I’m off and what I hope to do. This column represented the days Bobby was going to work, both solo and with me—which is, of course, garbage now.”
“Why are you so fired up to do all of this work yourself?”
She shrugged. “I don’t intend to do it all, but most of my plans are just cosmetic, the types of things most new homeowners tackle on their own. Plus, I watch a lot of home improvement shows on TV and DIY videos on YouTube.”
“YouTube, huh? Wow, you’re practically a professional, Princess.”
