Page 27 of Guy (House of Frazier #4)

On that note, she turned and left her standing in the middle of the most run-down room in the house, the living room.

Even the shag carpet was worn in places.

How they were excited about living here was beyond her, but then they didn’t pay anything for it, and that could be it.

She went back to the house to get her car, as she had to go into town again and order mattresses for the bedrooms.

It was nearly noon when she made her way back home.

She’d spoken to the attorney’s office twice about the remodel of the house, and they were going to secure her a loan against the house for her to do it with.

When speaking to Devlin, he told her not to go that way; they would want a say in what’s done or not, and that Brandy said she’d loan her the money until the sale of the house went through. She liked that idea much better.

Ticking things off her list, she was nearly done with it when she ended up at the grocery store.

She just wanted one of those cups of fruit they sold so that she’d make it to dinner.

After getting just the one that she wanted, she sat in her warm car and ate it.

The bits of watermelon were all right, but the other fruit made her think of summer and warmer weather.

She needed that as soon as it could come.

Picking up her cell when it rang, she saw that it was Guy.

“Hello, big guy. Did you ever get made fun of because of your name being Guy? That just occurred to me.” He laughed and told her that only on occasion did he get teased, but since he played football, they mostly called him Fraizer. “What can I do for you?”

“My publisher and good friend has talked me into doing a book signing. I’ve never done one before, but with you by my side, I think I could do it.

The only issue is that it’s in Florida. What do you think about traveling to Florida this time next month and hanging out with me at a book convention?

” She asked him if he was serious. “I am. I was a lot meaner when I started writing, and he said that I would really bring a lot of people to the event for the lesser-known writers. I’m not so sure how many will actually come to see me, but I told him that if you agreed to go with me, I’d do it. So what do you say?”

“I think it sounds fun. I’ve actually been to a book signing once. It was a great deal of fun to meet the people behind your favorite books. It’s been a while, but I’m sure not much has changed. Yes, I’d love to go with you.”

“Good. We’ll fly down and back. The convention is for five days.

They wanted me to be the guest speaker at this late notice, but I said I’d rather just be in and question and answer thing this first time.

I wouldn’t know what to say to a bunch of people, but he said I’d do fine.

” She said she had all the confidence in the world in him.

“I’m glad you do. And I knew that you would too. You’re my hero, did I tell you that?”

“No, but I don’t know about all of that. I just love you, that’s all.” He said that he loved her as well. “I have most of my list done now, so I’ll be heading home soon. Do you know when you’ll be back?”

“Late. After the meeting with my publisher about some issues with the editor, I’m going to meet a group of them to see what I can do about getting my books out safer.

There are all kinds of places stealing my work and putting it up on free links.

I don’t know what can be done about that, but I know that it’s an issue.

” She told him that she’d read about it too and that it hurts every author who has them on the free sites.

“I don’t know if people realize how much they’re hurting authors when they get them from that site.

It’s like taking money out of our pockets. ”

After talking about the illegal downloading of books, they talked about her list. She was able to mark one more thing off the list: what to have for dinner when he said that he wanted comfort food.

She knew just what he wanted in food like that and told him she’d talk to Katy when she got home.

Making lists had always been something that she loved doing, especially when she could mark things off from them like she was able to do today.

When she was driving again, this time headed to the post office to pick up several boxes that had been delivered there instead of at home, she noticed that the snow was melting off at a good rate.

Not that she didn’t care for the white fluffy stuff, it was beautiful at the holidays, she was just tired of it and wanted the green grass and flowers to come around.

She was just pulling into the driveway when Brandy called her.

She wanted her to meet her at the house with her foreman.

She loved that the woman liked to get things done quickly, but in honesty, she just wanted to go home, kick off her shoes, and take a nap.

But duty called, and she made her way to her brother’s home instead.

“It’s a mess, isn’t it? Did they have help?

” She told her that she didn’t think that they could have afforded it and left it at that.

“I can have someone clean it out for you and sell off the things that are in here. The fridge can go and the stove. When you remodel, you’ll need to update those as well. ”

“I just want it finished, but be honest. If it takes a year to do that, then that’s all right too.

Do you understand?” She said that she did and told her that she’d take care of it for her.

“Thank you, but you don’t have to do that.

They were my brother and sister. Did I tell you that they’re still going to be convicted of murder?

It has to be done so that I can get any money from the estate after I sell everything off.

There wasn’t much. Just this old house and a few things that they had that were theirs in here. ”

“If they find any insurance later, you can get that as well.” She nodded, not wanting to be in the house any longer than she had to. “So what sort of kitchen did you want? The rest of the house will be easy. Just do the walls, and I’m assuming pull up all the carpet.”

“Yes, for sure on the carpet. And in order to make the kitchen right, I think you should ask a cook. I wouldn’t know the first thing about redoing a kitchen, but someone who might cook in the house might.

The house is big enough for a staff for sure.

We can use yours or mine; it matters little to me.

” She looked around the room. “They didn’t even have a coffee pot or one of those pod things, did they?

I know they drank coffee. I suppose that’s where they lost a lot of money, not being able to brew them a cup of it when they wanted it. ”

“There are other things missing as well. Did you notice that while the fridge is old, there isn’t an ice maker?

They had a bag of ice on top of the ice trays, and even those are old.

” She and Brandy laughed about the lack of everyday things.

Like, there wasn’t even a microwave in the room.

Much less something like a popcorn popper.

“I wonder how they had even a snack in the evening without anything to cook or pop it in?”

Walking through the rest of the house, she was glad to be doing this with Brandy.

She made it fun, and the decisions to get rid of things were easier with her.

As soon as they finished the tour of the house, she felt a good deal better about the entire renovation of the house, instead of just putting it off too long.

She was glad that they were such good friends, too.