Out Bad (3 page)

Joe carefully eased the toilet down onto the fresh wax
ring.  He was just finishing tightening the bolts when he heard footsteps
shuffle up behind him.

“How’s it going?”

He snapped the cap over the secured bolt and stood up. 

“Just finished.” 

He’d spent the day replacing every faucet and toilet in the
huge house.  He pulled a clean cloth out of his kit and wiped the bowl of
the commode free of any fingerprints he may have left.  “Are you ready to
do a walk thru?”

“Sure thing.”  The new owner of the house was a round
man in his mid-fifties.  He and his wife just bought the place and she
didn’t want to use toilets anyone else had used before.  Not sure what she
did when she wasn’t home, but that wasn’t his business.  They also wanted
to switch out all the brushed nickel faucets for brass.  No accounting for
taste. 

When he got there this morning, they added even more to the
list, having him check the water heater and anything else he could think of for
leaks or problems.  It was a lot to cram in to one day, but the house was
in a nice neighborhood and if they were happy with his work, he would almost
certainly get referrals.

Joe took the owner through the house, turning on each of the
new gaudy faucets and pointing out any fittings he tightened or replaced. 
He flushed every toilet and ran every shower and tub. 

“I’m so grateful you were able to get it all done
today.  The movers are coming tomorrow and my wife wanted to be in by the
weekend.  She’ll be thrilled.”

 She wasn’t the only one.  Joe didn’t have the
time to spare either.  Another job had to be started tomorrow, running all
the plumbing in a new build, and it would eat up the rest of his week. 

“Happy to help.  Call if you have any questions or
there’s anything else I can help with.”  The men shook hands and Joe left
with a check and a van full of perfectly good toilets and fixtures. 

It was after six when he finally headed out.  As he got
on the highway, the sun was still bright in the sky, the air still swelteringly
hot.  Between the long day and the heat, he was exhausted and it was only
going to get worse.

It was a forty-minute drive to get home and he hoped to get
another coat of mud on the drywall he and Heath hung in his bathroom over the
weekend.  It was
gonna
be a late night. 

He was halfway home when his cell started ringing over the
speakers.  He turned down the fan speed on the vents and connected the
call.  “Hello.”

“Hey man.  How’s your day been?”  Heath must have
been on his way home too.  Both men put in long hours at work.  Both
cleaning up shit other people didn’t want to know about.  One
literally.  One figuratively. 

“On my way home to work some more.  You?”

“Same.  Gabbi called as I was leaving to let me know
the central air unit is rattling.  I’ve
gotta
go
home and check it out.”

“Need help?”  Joe really wanted to get his bathroom up
and running, but going to Heath and Gabbi's would mean dinner.

“Nah.  If it needs more than I can handle I might hit
you up for a referral for an air guy though.”

Even just a few seconds of imagining a home cooked meal left
him more than a little disappointed Heath didn't need him.  “Call me if
you change your mind, and I’ll text you my buddy's name when I get home just in
case.” 

Right now was not a fun time to go without air. 
Mid-July in central Alabama was stifling.  Luckily his friend owed him a
favor and would push them to the front of the line if they needed it.

“Thanks.  Before I go, Gabbi’s got some sort of thing
she’s planning for my birthday Wednesday evening if you’re free.”

“She
cookin
’?”

“Probably.  I think I heard something about ribs.”

“Hell yeah I’m free.”  He might not get it tonight, but
at least he'd be well fed at least one night this week.  Six o’clock
Wednesday would be the best meal he’d had since the last time Gabbi made him
dinner.

They said their goodbyes and he disconnected as he exited
the highway.  His stomach rumbled so loud he could hear it over the noise
of the air conditioning.  He’d been so busy today he skipped lunch to be
sure he could finish everything and he was starving.

It was hard to consider anything after thinking about
Gabbi’s ribs, but grabbing something on the way made the most sense if he
wanted to get to work on the bathroom right away, so he was stuck with fast
food tonight.  It would be worth it if it gave him time to work on the
drywall.  After a week of having to take a bath, he was ready and willing
to do whatever it took to get a working shower back in his house.

He resorted to a burger and fries that he ate during the twenty-five
minutes it took him to get from the urban spread surrounding the highway, to
the big drafty farmhouse he’d called home for the past six months. 

He’d just guzzled the last of his drink when he pulled his
van up the gravel driveway, if you could call it that.  The rock had
scattered over the years until it was mostly comprised of compressed
dirt.  Fresh gravel would be nice, but not as nice as a hot shower, so it
had to wait.

He pulled around the back of the house and swung the van
around, backing it up against the sliding door of the barn.  Climbing out,
he thumbed through the keys on his ring until he found the one that unlocked
the sliding double door. 

He tugged the barn door to one side and opened the split
doors on the back of his work van.  It took five trips to unload all four
toilets and the box of faucets and shower heads from the house he worked on
today. 

One of the perks of his profession was most people didn’t
want to have to figure out how to get rid of what they replaced.  He offered
to take it with him when he left and nine times out of ten they took him up on
the offer.

He locked the barn back up and grabbed the trash out of the
van.  He didn’t want to open it up tomorrow morning and gag at the smell
of grease baked into the interior. 

Heading to the house, he chucked the garbage in the can
outside and let himself in the back door.  The cooler air hit him as he
stepped in and pulled the door closed.  He knew it wasn’t nearly as cool
inside as it could be, but once he replaced the windows and upgraded the
insulation, the hundred-year-old building would be just as efficient as a new
one.

The kitchen was just inside the door and had last been
redone in the sixties.  It was closed off and didn’t have much space to
move around or many cabinets, and as a result, very little counter space. 
It worked for him, but he didn’t want a kitchen functional for a single
man.  He wanted a kitchen big enough to feed a family. 

He’d asked Gabbi for help figuring out the kind of kitchen
she’d want if it was her house.  She had been more than happy to put her
two cents in.  The actual dollar amount of her two cents could make a
grown man cry, but he’d learned long ago, women like their bathrooms and their
kitchens.  He needed to have as much going for him as possible when the
right woman came along, and if a big fancy expensive kitchen would help his
chances, so be it.

He poured out the half inch of cold coffee left from this
morning and rinsed out the pot before filling it with fresh water to get
another batch going.  After replacing the soggy filter and used grounds
with fresh, he fired the maker up and headed back through the house to get set
up. 

Even at nearly seven o’clock, the house was still bright on
account of him not putting up any curtains or blinds.  He figured he was
far enough away from any neighbors the chances of someone peeping inside were
pretty slim.

He climbed the stairs, the sound of his heavy work boots as
they hit each bare wood riser echoing through the house.  The bathroom was
directly across from the top step with two empty bedrooms on the left and the
one he used on the right.  He flipped on the bathroom light switch, the
bare bulb dangling from the ceiling illuminating the windowless room. 

The farmhouse had been poorly remodeled many times over its
hundred-plus years and the upstairs bathroom was no exception.  Improper
sealing and bad patch jobs allowed water to just soak into the standard drywall
somebody with less than no clue had hung around the shower.  He’d had to
gut the whole room, sub floor included.

Ripping it down to the studs made it easier to re-plumb,
plus it gave him the chance to re-work the floor plan a little.  He
decided on a more modern concept with the shower and toilet at the back and a
double sink at the front, a door separating the two areas.  It would be
nice down the road when the kids he hoped to fill the house with could brush
their teeth and pee separately. 

Those hypothetical kids were the same reason Gabbi talked
him out of the sleek, glass-door, walk-in shower he wanted.  Apparently
kids, unlike him, enjoyed taking baths.

He was just getting ready to scoop a pile of mud out of the
five-gallon bucket in the middle of the room when the faint smell of coffee drifted
in.  He stomped back down the stairs and returned a few minutes later with
a travel mug full.  It only takes one time of getting a mouthful of
coffee’d
down drywall compound before you figure out a way
to keep the two separate.  

He began skimming a thin coat down each seam, before gently
laying on a section of dampened tape and another thin coat of compound. 
It was a quiet, repetitive job and someone one with more practice could
probably bang it out no problem.  He wasn’t fast, but he was meticulous,
carefully covering each seam and
nailhead
with the
first of the three coats it would probably take.  If he hit it each night
this week, he might be able to get going on the tile this weekend.

Almost each night at least.  He would be happily
skipping Wednesday, even if it put him behind where he wanted to be. That night
he was going to leave work early to celebrate and relax while he stuffed
himself silly with ribs and whatever else Gabbi made for Heath’s party. 

He was mid-way down a seam on the wall when something
occurred to him, throwing his rhythm off and making a little gouge in the
mud. 

“Damn.”  He reloaded his taping knife and tried one
more swipe managing to feather out the line.

Maybe Gwen would be there. 

He’d never seen her at anything before, so there was no
reason to think she would be there this time, but he couldn’t stop himself from
wondering if Gabbi’s golden-haired sister would make an appearance. 

Now that he'd officially met the mysterious sister he'd
heard very little about over the past three years he'd known Gabbi and Heath,
he had a hard time thinking of his friends without the thoughts and questions
he had about her hijacking his mind.  How soon he would see her again, was
at the top of that list.

Joe finished skimming over the last
screwhead
and plopped the unused mud out of his tray before laying the lid on the bucket
and stomping it in place with his boot.  He collected his tools and his
empty coffee cup before heading downstairs where he rinsed the cup in the
kitchen sink along with the tools, setting everything in the dish rack to
dry. 

His yawn echoed through the silent house as he went to the
still intact downstairs bathroom and started filling the tub for his
unappealing evening bath.  He planned on starting early tomorrow to get
the brunt of his work done before the heat of the day made working in the
unfinished house too unbearable.  Plus, then he would have plenty of time
to get back here and get another coat on the bathroom.  This taking a bath
thing was awful.

He turned off the faucets and stripped off his work clothes,
separating the items into a divided hamper before easing down into the hot
water.  It was probably a little too hot, especially considering the
temperature outside was still close to ninety even at nearly midnight, but as
much as he hated a bath, he hated a lukewarm bath even more. 

He quickly scrubbed his hair and body and climbed out of the
tub, opening the drain as he went.  He caught his reflection in the mirror
as he toweled off.  He'd need to shave tomorrow so he was cleaned up for
the party.

It shouldn’t matter.  Before Saturday night he would
never have given a second thought to the way he looked when he went to Heath
and Gabbi’s, but now was a different story.  Now he knew his favorite
woman in the world had a beautiful and intriguing sister who, if what Heath
said was correct, was single and just as feisty as her sister.

He’d been ready to find a partner for what felt like a very
long time, but until Saturday night he hadn’t met a woman he would think twice
about.  Now, suddenly he was struggling to keep his mind on anything
besides a woman he’d just met.  One he knew very little about, but that
would have to change. 

The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to get to
know Gwen.  See if she was all he hoped she would be.  Find out if
maybe she was his chance to have what his friends had.  Add in the
potential for Heath and Gabbi to end up as not just his friends, but maybe even
his family, and it was more than worth exploring.

He finished drying off and wrapped the towel around his
waist before walking through the house checking the locks on the doors and
resetting his coffee maker to brew a pot before he got up in the morning. 
When everything was in order, he went back upstairs turning off lights as he
went. 

Joe took one last peek in the bathroom to check his
work.  Not too bad for a guy who learned how to finish drywall last week
during a ten-minute tutorial with one of his contractor buddies. 

He shut that light off too and crossed the hall to his room,
cringing at the feel of the sub-floor under his bare feet.  No matter how
much he shop
vac’d
it still felt gritty.