Page 17 of January (New Orleans #1)

“H ello,” Kyle greeted.

“Kyle Schafer?”

“That’s me. You must be Myra.”

“I am, yes,” the woman replied, shaking Kyle’s hand as Kyle pushed the door open farther.

“Come on in. Thanks for stopping by on such short notice.”

“You caught us between jobs, so it’s not a problem,” Myra said.

Kyle had called five different contractors just that morning, and three of them had told her they were booked up through the end of the year. One would meet with her next week, and Davies Contracting was available to meet today. Kyle had been surprised to hear that Myra Davies, the owner of the company, would be making the visit herself. Myra looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. Her black hair was braided in rows that fell down her back, and her deep, brown eyes were currently looking around the foyer of the garden house, which was what Kyle had started calling the place.

“Where do we start?” she asked, closing the door behind Myra, who was dressed in a starched, long-sleeved white-collared shirt with the company logo above the left breast pocket and a pair of khakis, which made Kyle think of Melinda’s uniform.

“I usually like to do a walk-through myself when I begin and let you know what I see. I know we spoke on the phone about some of the things you’ve noticed and what you’ve been told through the estate, but I find it best to start there.”

“Okay. Sounds good,” Kyle replied. “Do I walk with you, or do you do it yourself and I wait? Sorry.” She chuckled. “I’ve never done this before. Probably a bad thing to say to a contractor, huh? Letting you know I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Myra laughed lightly and said, “I’m not one of those contractors, okay? I’m not here to milk money from you. I’ll tell you what I see, and you tell me what you want us to work on. If it’s nothing because you want to go with someone else, that’s okay, too.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kyle said.

“I’ll start with the upstairs and finish up down here. It won’t take me long, and I’ll probably have some questions for you.”

“What happens if I don’t know the answer?”

“There are ways to get them. Plans on file with the city, permit history, that kind of thing.”

“Okay. I’ll wait down here,” Kyle replied. “Oh, do you want something to drink?”

“No, thank you.” Myra smiled politely. “It won’t take long.”

As Kyle watched Myra proceed up the stairs slowly and check out the banister as she went, she couldn’t help but wonder how much this was all going to cost. The money from her grandmother, in theory, should cover it, but the more expensive it was, the less money there would be left over for her and Jolie to finally have their own savings account with more than a hundred dollars in it in case of an emergency. To keep herself busy while she had to wait, she walked into the kitchen, pulled out a bottle of iced tea for herself, and left one on the table for Myra in case the woman wanted to take it to-go. At the grocery store, Kyle had had the option of buying regular tea and sweet tea bottles, and she’d gone with the sweet one since she was in the South, but she’d need to find a good dentist if she kept eating beignets and drinking sweet tea the entire time she was here.

It felt awkward, just sitting at the kitchen table, doing nothing, with a stranger roaming around the house, so Kyle took a long drink of her sweet tea and stared out the large window that overlooked the garden. She’d cleaned up the mess with the chair and decided that she’d buy new ones, but there was so much unknown to her right now. Should she buy cheap ones that might get destroyed by renters? That way, if she had to replace them, it wouldn’t cost much. Maybe she shouldn’t buy new chairs at all. They’d rent the house out for a bit, at least, but if they decided to sell it later, it would be one more thing to have to worry about. Besides, the patio didn’t look bare without them.

Then again, if she decided to stay, Kyle knew that she wouldn’t live in her grandmother’s house. She’d live here. That was the first time she’d thought about that. She’d live here in this house. It was big and beautiful, old and modern, and it had a history that Kyle wanted to learn more about. She’d thought about how long she might stay, and that ultimately depended on the work that had to be done on the house since the journals her grandmother had written could go home with her whenever she wanted. She’d finished reading one of them all the way through, but she’d decided to start at the beginning of the pile, checking the dates on the journals and organizing them before she dove in.

It turned out, her grandmother had begun writing journals when she got married, so Kyle had a few to get through before she even got to her mother’s birth and then, years later, the disagreement that had her getting kicked out of the house. Kyle had to fight her desire to learn what had happened between the two of them, but it was important to her to know the full story, and that began with the first journal. She’d only been about to start the second one when Myra had shown up for the appointment.

Staring out the window, Kyle was thinking about the history of that garden and what must have happened back there. How many family or neighborhood parties had been hosted there? The house was nearly two centuries old. Hundreds of people had probably been back there, celebrating things and spending time with loved ones, and now, Kyle had had a first date with Melinda back there .

She smiled, thinking about their kiss and how Melinda had offered much more than that. It really had taken everything in Kyle not to say yes, take her up those stairs, and do whatever Melinda wanted her to do to her all night long. She’d heard the woman, though, and she didn’t want them to move too quickly and risk losing whatever this could be. Still, today was a new day, so without further hesitation, Kyle reached for her phone and decided to chance it.

“Well, hello,” Melinda said.

“Hi. I take it, you’re not on a tour?”

“No, I’m in the office. What are you doing?”

“I’m at the house. There’s a contractor here looking at things.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. She’s doing a walk-through. I was just thinking about you and our date last night.”

“You were? Which part?”

“All of it,” she said, smiling into the phone. “Are you sure you’re not too busy? We can talk later.”

“I’m in the back office, doing the books, so I’m good. Jill is on the register. If you want, I can get you my schedule for the next week. It changes sometimes, but it’s more or less accurate.”

“Do you just give your schedule out to anyone?” Kyle teased.

“No one but you,” Melinda replied. “I guess, the question is, do you want it?”

“Oh, I definitely want it,” she replied.

“Yeah? Did we switch topics there?” Melinda laughed.

“I think my statement encompasses all topics that involve you,” she replied.

“Good one,” Melinda said, still laughing. “I have a tour to give in about an hour, but I’m free after that. Will I see you tonight? It’s okay if you’re too busy with the house.”

“I don’t know how long this will take, but I’d love to see you tonight. Second date?”

“I’ll plan this one. ”

“Was my planning disappointing?” Kyle asked, knowing the answer already.

“Your planning was perfect. It’s my turn now, though,” she replied.

“I’ll leave it to you, then. Want to stop by when you’re done? I’ll probably still be here.”

“I’ll be there,” Melinda replied.

They hung up when Jill walked into the office with a question, interrupting their midday chat. Kyle hung up just in time for the contractor to enter the kitchen and take a look around.

“Ready for the rundown?” Myra asked as she looked up from her clipboard and smiled up at Kyle.

“Sure. I hope it’s good news.”

“It mostly is. The things you mentioned needing work aren’t that big of a deal, and we can get started on those right away. We’d just need the place cleared out.”

“Okay,” Kyle said. “Oh, have a seat.”

Myra pulled out a chair and sat down next to her.

“You’ve got some windows upstairs that could use replacing, but I’d recommend just doing all the windows at once whenever you can. It’s not urgent, but it would save money on air and heat and prevent some leaks that might happen sooner than later.”

“Okay.”

“I haven’t checked out the roof, but my guess is that it needs a little work if no one’s touched it in fifteen or twenty years. I can have a crew out looking at it tomorrow for you, if you want.”

“Yes. That sounds great.”

“I know this place is used as a rental, but if you’re renting it out, the work will–”

“Oh, I’ve made sure it’s not up online anymore. I don’t plan to rent it out until the work is done.”

“Great. There’s some plumbing work to do in the guest bathroom and probably the master, too. I’d want to do a more thorough inspection before giving you a quote, but a plumber is going to be able to get you a more accurate estimate. I have a few I work with that I trust. Electrical seems fine, but I’d still recommend having an electrician review it just to be safe. Again, I’ve got someone you can use, or you can get your own, if you’d prefer.”

“I can do that. Get a quote, I mean.”

“And the floors down here need work. I think the other floors can wait another year or two, at least, but the wood down here is warped and getting more damaged by the day. It looks original. Is it?”

“I don’t know. It could be.”

“Well, if it is, it’s survived a long time, and likely, it’s been fixed and redone several times. It’s time to replace it entirely, but we’re good with keeping with original work, and I think I have wood that will match pretty closely.”

“Okay.”

“If you need help moving things out for the work, my crew can do that and put things in storage, or you can always move stuff from one room to the other as we go, but it’ll go much faster if we just take everything out.”

“Can you do the upstairs floors now, too?”

“We can, if you want.”

“I’d rather have them done at the same time,” Kyle replied.

Myra made a note and looked back up at her.

“We’d want to do the other work first, if we’re able. We wouldn’t want to put brand-new floors down if we’re still working on other things. We can if needed, and we can cover it to protect it, but I’d much rather do some of the other stuff for you first.”

“Okay. Can you put a quote together for me?”

“Of course. It usually takes a few days, but if you want me to quote you for the plumbing work, the windows, and the floors, I can at least get that to you today. I have great plumbers and window people I can reach out to.”

“Yes, that would be amazing. Thank you.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, though, what’s the rush? You mentioned you weren’t from New Orleans. Is it just to get it listed as soon as possible?”

Kyle wondered herself for a moment what the rush was. Before, it was because she was going home, but now, she loved it here. There was also Melinda to think about now, which had her head spinning a little, but in a good way, not like the bad head spinning that she’d been used to her entire life.

“I’m not from here, no. This was my grandmother’s place. She rented it out, but she left it to me and my sister. I want to keep renting it out.”

“And you want the work done first. Makes sense. Okay, I think I can take it from here.”

“How do I arrange for the stuff to be moved and put into storage?”

“Oh, I’ve got a crew I can call. They do this all the time. And we’re insured, obviously. We’d include the rental agreement in the quote.”

“Can we do that part?”

“Whenever you want,” Myra told her.

“As soon as they can would be fine. None of this stuff is mine, and I’m not staying here. I’d just want the old stuff to be protected.”

“Let me give them a call and see if they finished their morning job. I’ll get them over here,” Myra replied. “And I’ll get working on your quote, too. My office is only ten minutes away.”

“Okay. I’ll be here.”

Myra left a few minutes later, and Kyle stood in the foyer, wondering again why she was moving so quickly when she didn’t really need the rental income and all she wanted to do was stay for as long as she could.