Page 9 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Nah,” he said. “It’s smaller, but it will be nice to get it done. Then I’ll dump the dirt in and pound it down on Monday. I’ll bring it back from the business site and do it all at once with the equipment before I return it to the garage.”

“What are you going to do with the pavers you removed?” she asked. To her, they were fine but just dated and needed to be cleaned up.

“Going to build out the firepit,” he said. “Easy enough for another day.”

“That will be nice,” she said. “I can’t wait until the weather is nice enough to spend some time outside. Even just on the screened-in porch.”

“Not much longer,” he said. “Unless we get a late winter storm. It can happen.”

“I hope not,” she said. “That one big storm in December was bad enough. Though I wasn’t living here yet, I still felt it in New Haven.”

“Did you grow up there?” he asked.

He set his coffee down and she did too, knowing they were going to start to get to work.

“Yes,” she said. “My father is from Texas. His parents moved here when he was in high school. He has an older sister who was married and stayed there at that time. But I’ve lived in this area most of my life with the exception of college. How about you? Did you grow up here?”

Her mother was long gone and her aunt moved when she was widowed to help her father raise his daughter. In her mind, she still had a mother, just not one that birthed her.

“I did,” he said. “Right in this house.”

“That’s nice,” she said. “Keeping it in the family.”

“Yep,” he said. He didn’t expand and she didn’t ask. He seemed the type to flirt but not talk or offer much information.

Nothing wrong with that. It’s not like this was a date or anything. Just one neighbor helping the other.

They got to work and after ten minutes, she said, “I’m sure you’re going to start getting busy with work, right?”

“Somewhat,” he said. “Lots of calls for quotes. There is work lined up from last year and that will be done first. Then some weekly maintenance things too. But that is what the crew is for.”

“How big of a crew?” she asked.

“To start the season about four. By mid-season there will be closer to eight. Helps to do more than one project at a time.”

Guess it was a much bigger business than she thought.

“That’s great,” she said. “And instead of relaxing on the weekend, you’re keeping busy doing things around the house.”

“Kills the time and keeps me busy,” he said.

“I know what that is like,” she said. “I try to stay busy. That seems to be me working a ton. The owners have been out having babies. Well, one came back a few months ago, but the other two will be going out soon. So I’m learning a new job, and who to go to for what.”

She loved everything about it other than personnel issues.

She knew coming in there would be some. Most were used to taking orders from Lily, and if Lily wasn’t around then Poppy or Rose.

There were others that had been around for a while too, but in comes someone new to run things. Not even someone that had been there for years and moved up.

Sure, there was some resentment and she’d felt the looks and comments but pushed them off as best as she could.

That was going to happen in any job when someone fresh came in.

So far it was more than tolerable though.

“They’ve grown a lot in the past few years,” he said.

“They have. They keep expanding with products and personnel. They expanded the facilities too. Thankfully that isn’t my job. They’ve got someone who oversees the machines and equipment and anything needed on the building.”