Page 7 of Just Breathe

“You ready for a tour, Jane?” I turned to see Jane looking at the boys walk away. She definitely was checking them out. She blushed and nodded her head in embarrassment but still tried to keep her cool.

“Is it only you guys working on the house?” Jane and I started walking towards the house.

“No, we usually have a crew with us, but there aren’t many workers here for the summer, so we function on just us. Construction workers are hard to find around here. It’s so expensive to live close to the city, so most of the workers live in the next town over and that’s an hour and a half drive.”

“I’m sorry, that must be stressful on your work and on you guys. It would be awesome if you could house them for at least a week or two weeks straight. That way, you can get some help consistently,” she said thoughtfully.

I opened the door to the house for her as I thought about her suggestion. I never thought of doing that, but where would I get the housing from? It would be great if we had consistent help for even a week at a time.

“Holy shit.” Jane stepped into the house behind me.

I didn’t know if that was a good or bad holy shit. I felt nervous. Most days I loved my job, but sometimes the fear of your client not liking what you’ve made for them is really hard to deal with. I waited for her to elaborate more, but I think she might have been in shock.

“I… I can’t believe..” She looked like she might cry.

“We can change something if you don’t like it,” I blurted. “I know it’s hard to picture something from a floor plan, but if it’s not too expensive, we can usually change it. If money is not an issue, we can definitely change it.”

She looked at me in shock. “Oh god Aiden, the holy shit was a holy fuck. I didn’t know it was going to look so good. I love that view and the big windows are amazing. Plus, that fireplace is exactly what I pictured for this room. Whoever does your masonry did a fucking great job.” Her cussing was unexpected, but I liked it.

Relief flooded me, and I took a deep breath. “For a moment, I thought it was a bad holy shit, and I was trying to think of ways we could change things. I was hoping it wasn’t the fireplace, because that took Cal a week to finish.”

“Callum did the fireplace?” She looked at me in shock.

I smirked. “I know he might not look like it, but Callum is a man of many talents.”

“Fuck you, I heard that!” Callum yelled. I looked up to see one of the window panels open.

Jane laughed. “I’m sure all your talents are exceptional!”

“I would say at least three are decent.” Nathan chuckled from upstairs.

Callum flipped us off from outside.

Jane laughed again, looking at Callum. “That is the most beautiful fireplace I’ve ever seen in my life, Callum. Thank you!”

He looked uncomfortable at the praise and just nodded his head. I swear, sometimes he was socially awkward.

“So, we are still waiting on the flooring you guys chose. It’s been on back order for months and they keep pushing it back. They are having issues with their supplier and shipping has been a nightmare.” I looked at my clip board trying to find the last date they gave us.

“I’m sorry I can’t remember, but what did we pick?” she asked.

“Hold up. I have a sample somewhere around here. If you want to look around while I look for it, I’ll be just a minute.” I walked out of the house to my truck for the samples I had. It took me a few minutes to find what I was looking for and I jogged back inside. Jane was looking out of the kitchen window above where the sink would be.

“This is the sample you guys chose.” I handed it to her.

She wrinkled her nose at it. “I remember this. I was against it, but Henry said he would prefer a dark floor because it would contrast the shiplap we picked out.” She pursed her lips and set it down on the floor to study it. “Is there any way we can change it?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, that might be our only option, since this keeps getting pushed back.”

“Yeah, I would like to change it. Do you have other samples I can look at?” She was still staring at the sample on the floor.

“I don’t have any with me. I’ll have to head to Monroe to pick up some samples for you,” I offered, but I really dreading going over there just for some samples.

“I can go.” She smiled at the idea. “I mean, if it’s ok for me to go look and pick up samples.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, surprised she was willing to go.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. I mean, I’m here for two weeks. What else am I going to do and if I decide to stay, this will be good to explore the area.” She sounded like she was still convincing herself about staying.

“Alright, if you’re ok with it, I’ll send you the address, but you’ll have to pose as my worker since this place is mostly for contractors,” I said, not knowing if she would go for it.

“I can do that. I’m sure you have more important things to work on than wasting three hours of your life getting samples for me. I’m also a sucker for a supply house.” She looked excited.

I returned her smile, noticing that she looked much better than yesterday. “Alright, well, if you’re going to Monroe, let’s get a look at everything else because I have a few more things that are on back order that you might want to exchange it for something else.”

“Let’s do it. If I remember correctly, there were some things I wanted to change.” She smiled again, making me happy that this experience was at least positive and didn’t haunt her.

“Let’s go change some things.” I grabbed my clipboard as we walked the rest of the house.

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