Charlie IV
Chapter 16
Kate wasn't sure her PT sessions were doing anything but making her body hurt. She didn't see any benefit and yet when she complained to him while he was making her body do things and getting her to do things, his answer was, "Everyone says that. Then when it's finally all over they understand what it takes. You're getting there. The fact that it hurts means your muscles are working. They'll get stronger and stronger till they won't hurt anymore."
Since it was easier to put her wheelchair in the back of Rick's truck, it meant they were both driving to the new house. They'd been told it was done and they could move in.
However, there was just one tiny little thing this morning. IT WAS SNOWING! How could it be snowing in Laurel, Mississippi? THIS WAS MISSISSIPPI! NOT MINNESOTA!
Jim and Emily were outside under an umbrella waiting for them. "Can you believe this? This is INCREDIBLE!" Jim loved the snow. This didn't happen in Laurel.
"IT'S SNOWING!" Emily was loving it just as much.
Then Emily saw Kate in a wheelchair. She was devastated. "You didn't tell us about a wheelchair. We don't have wheelchair access."
Jo waved it off. "This is just temporary." Her daughter was going to walk again. She wasn't going to allow anything else.
"Oh, good." Emily felt better instantly. "And you have a dog!" Emily watched as Charlie jumped out of the truck and came right up to her. "Aren't you handsome." Emily gushed all over Charlie just like everyone else did.
Rick took Kate backwards up the first set of steps and spun her around.
"We showed you the Cross House. It was kinda sad and forgotten. Welcome to the Beckett House." Jim invited them all to look.
"IT'S GORGEOUS!" Jo's mouth dropped open. "And look at the size of that front porch!" Even from here it was enormous.
"WOW!" Kate's eyes opened wide. There was still another set of steps to climb but this was really nice.
"You officially have the single biggest porch in town now," Jim informed them all.
"YES!" Jo was happy for that.
"We painted the entire house, took out those 60s windows to expose the porch again, and you have a new roof. You can't see your landscaping but the snow will be gone tomorrow so you can see it then. And we have a surprise for you," Emily told them, her eyes sparkling.
"I built you an 8 foot dinner table from the wall we took down inside your house," Jim pointed it out.
"And it shines!" Jo ran her fingers across the top. The wood chairs were a real mix of this and that but they fit the space.
"Let's go inside and get out of this cold." Jim opened the door for them all and Charlie ended up being the first one through the door.
"WOW! This is amazing!" Jo loved what she saw.
"This isn't what it looked like when I last saw it," Jim, her husband, commented.
"No, it doesn't." Emily was proud of all the work they had put into this house.
Jim spread his arms above the floors. "These are the natural floors. We got rid of the stain and went over it with a clear coat."
"WOW!" Kate had never seen a house like this one before in her life. She lived in LA and houses there were just different. "I like this better, Mom. The wood is amazing. Charlie seems to like it." She could see him going everywhere he could reach.
"These are the original French doors leading out to your patio. They just have new hardware. We added the beams and columns to separate the living and dining rooms," Jim added.
"Those would have been there when this house was built. Someone, some year, took them out and did something. We don't know what they were thinking to do that. But they're back now." Emily's smile was wide.
Still smiling, Emily led them into another room. "This is your really big dining room. We found the table and chairs and got you a china cabinet for all the fine china you now have and we hung the biggest chandelier we could find that would fit the space."
"There's a separation but it's still open, Mom." Kate was twisting and turning to try and look.
"And no spiral staircase. I still don't know what that thing was serving," Jim mentioned even if they had seen two men trying to get it into the back of their truck after being dumped out front.
"That stupid thing took up so much space," Emily agreed. "Ready to see your kitchen?" This was one of the biggest and best kitchens they had ever done.
"More than ready." Jo followed her husband into the kitchen.
"OH-MY-GOD!" Jo gaped at everything she saw. It was huge, it was white, and there were the same wood beams and columns separating the kitchen from the breakfast room. All KitchenAid stainless steel appliances including a 6 cubic ft., self-cleaning, double oven gas convection range. "This is my kitchen."
"This is your kitchen." Emily was so happy that Jo loved it.
"We didn't have good wood floors to work with so we took down this brick wall that was ready to fall down on its own. Then cut them into these thin slices and we had enough to do your entire floor with them." Jim was very proud of it.
"It's sealed so it won't stain and you can easily clean up anything that gets spilled. You just have to reseal it once a year, but aren't they great!" It was her first brick floor in a kitchen and it looked so good.
"This kitchen was a disaster when I saw it," Jim told his wife.
"It was gross," Rick added.
"Maybe a little too much white, but I like it." Kate gave her approval. Then suddenly Charlie showed up from where he had gone and stood next to her; Kate couldn't help but pet him.
"The backyard is next. Back out into the snow. We have done a lot of work out here." Emily led them through the French doors and outside.
Jo was the first one out. "WOW!"
"This used to be an ugly brown room with an ugly brown fireplace. There was a roof over our heads instead of this pergola," Emily told them.
"This room really was bad. Someone had closed it in and turned it into I don't know what." Jim added his take on this space. Then Charlie left Kate and ran out into the yard and into the snow.
"Charlie's never seen snow before. You don't get snow in LA." Rick was amazed. "He's even eating it."
"You can't see it for the snow but you do have grass out there," Emily added. "Four chairs and a table and even lounge chairs for tanning."
"YES!" Kate was going to put those to use.
"These beams were always up there, they just ran the wrong direction. So we cut them and ran them across and put 2x6s across to create a pergola affect and then added the party lights that are on a switch just inside.
"So you bought the house for 150 thousand and your all in budget was 300 thousand. Thanks to some unknown wood rot and a small complication getting this roof back off and fixing the walls, we came in 5 grand under your max budget of 300 thousand. So we took that money and painted all of the bedroom walls upstairs to give them a nice new fresh feel to the rooms. Refinished all the wood floors.
"We also cleaned your period appropriate three bathrooms that are also up there. So we used up every penny of your 300 thousand budget." Jim waited for their response.
"Money well spent." Jim didn't mind that they had used up the entire 300 thousand. He had told them that they could.
"This place is amazing!" Jo loved it. All of it.
"How often does it snow here?" Kate queried since she had snow accumulating on her.
"The last time was four years ago," Emily answered. "I'd nearly forgotten all about it."
"Well I can speak for all of us. This place is amazing. And we're happy for you as well. When is your due date?" Jo knew Emily was pregnant.
Emily beamed. "About six weeks from now."
"The next big reveal." Jim was so ready to be a daddy. "Her name is Helen."
"Congratulations! Helen sounds like the perfect name." Jo was happy for them.
"Everyone in out of the snow and into the living room." Emily was done with the snow.
Jim and Emily took the sofa, Jim and Jo each took a chair, while Rick put Kate in front of the fireplace and stood there. "Charlie?" Rick retreated to the back door and opened it. "Come on, Charlie. You can play in the snow later."
Charlie came charging into the house, stood next to Kate, and then shook all the snow off his body.
"Thanks a lot, Charlie!" Kate brushed off the snow while everyone else laughed. "I still love you." Kate grabbed his head and kissed his fur.
"The house is ready for you," Emily told them with a smile. "The heat and the A/C all work as you can tell." It was nice and warm inside. "You just need food, sheets, blankets, towels, and everything else."
"That may take a day, or two, or three." Jo knew they were busy today and tomorrow.
"Our law office renovation is complete downtown and we get to see it tomorrow," Jim said. "And that's followed by finding desks, filing cabinets, phone system, setting up the lunch room, and who knows what else."
"Really! How did we not know this?" Emily looked at her husband. "Wait! We got that flier in the mail the other day. That was you? Of course that was you. Beckett Law Office. Sometimes I can be so dense." She could kick herself.
"You know where we are if you need help," Jim told them. "We know where everything is in this town."
"If Jim doesn't, I know I do. So welcome to Laurel. It's a great little town. How many homes have we renovated here in Laurel now?" Emily looked at her husband for some help.
"This one makes 22 and we're only just getting started," Jim replied. "We do this long enough and we'll have every house in town renovated and perfect."
"Just like this one," Jim added and hugged his wife.
"So the bedrooms and bathrooms are all upstairs?" Kate had seen the stairs in the dining room. They went up about 3 steps and then turned and continued going up.
"Not to worry, I can carry you till you learn to walk again. When I'm not working, that is. Like tomorrow so I won't get to see your office. SHOOT!" Rick was going to miss seeing that.
"Walk again?" Jim questioned.
"Katie had an accident and was in a coma for about 3 months," Jo explained. "But she's doing physical therapy now."
"OH MY WORD!" Emily gasped at the implications of that. "But you'll get better, right?"
"So I'm told. Right now PT just hurts," Kate said.
"So, boyfriend?" Rick was standing right behind her.
"No." He wasn't her boyfriend. She wasn't really sure she was thinking of him like that. Though now suddenly she was. He was handsome. He had two jobs, not just one. She had kissed him and they still had to go on that date she had agreed to. In fact she still owed him a kiss. And the best part, he came with Charlie.
"It's a long story." Jo made it short and quick. "Basically Charlie's a certified therapy dog. Rick takes him to hospitals and other place to brighten people's days. Katie was in a coma yet she responded to Charlie. So we talked him into moving out here with us to help us with Katie. Jim even found a job offer with UPS."
"It seems to be working." Emily noticed that Kate couldn't stop petting Charlie.
"Petting Charlie is addictive. Once you start you can't stop." Kate leaned down to kiss his fur again.
"KEYS!" Jim suddenly exclaimed. He stood up and reached into his pocket. "Two sets of keys. These are the only keys so don't lose them. You need more, go make more." He handed them over to Jo who gladly took them.
"Jim is a really good name by the way," Jim whispered to Jim.
"I like it. We had wise parents," Jim agreed.
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Jim made arrangements to move out of this house and into the new one the following week. He had to get the power, water, garbage, phone, and gas turned on, literally everything they were going to need. That included informing their insurance company as well as getting all their mail moved to the new address.
And they had to go through changing their address all over again. Rick was going to have to do the same for all of his stuff as well.
"You want to stay or come with us, Katie?" Jo asked her since she had a choice.
"I'll come if Charlie can come. I would like to see it," Kate answered. So she found herself in the front seat, Jo and Charlie were in the back, and her wheelchair was in the very back of the Explorer.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
"Here we are." Jim got to park right out front.
"Our sign is even up." Jo was expecting that.
"Looks nice on the outside." Kate looked it over, got carried out and settled into her chair, and then pushed by her dad.
Jo had the keys so she unlocked the door and went inside. She looked up first. "New ceiling."
"New roof. I spent the extra money to have the skylight installed. We have new electrical and I had the little restroom cleaned up and painted," Jim pointed out.
Kate looked down and noticed the stained concrete. "I like the floors, guys."
"Would you believe it wasn't concrete when we saw it? It was some kind of linoleum that looked like concrete. It was over plywood, over wood decking that was on top of concrete." Jim shook his head. "I don't know what someone was thinking. The construction supervisor told me they put down a bonding agent and poured new floors over the old concrete floors."
"I really like the skylight." Jo was still looking up. "And the wood ceilings."
"They used spray foam just under the roof and then put that up so you didn't have to see that," Jim mentioned. "I liked this better than those dropped ceiling tiles. Better lighting instead of those office lights we had in our office."
"Those things hurt my eyes," Jo agreed and liked his choice.
"Knock, knock." There was someone at the front door.
"Emily!" Jo was happy to see her. "You're just in time. This place still needs help."
"Natural brick walls, stained concrete, and a wood tongue and groove ceiling. So what do you need from me?" She even noticed the skylight.
"Desks, rugs, filing cabinets made of metal, or wood, or something, lots of pictures, a conference table and chairs, lamps everywhere. It's a law office but we need to make it look less like a law office." Decorating wasn't Jo's forte.
"Potted plants at the front window, maybe. Yes, I can handle all that. How much am I working with?" It all came down to money.
"Six thousand, give or take. That sound like enough?" Jim asked her. "We still have to buy the phone system, computers, printers, fax machine, router, paper, folders, pens. We need so much stuff." He moaned. They had money going out hand over fist and no money coming in so all of this was coming out of their savings account.
"I can think I can make that work." Emily knew just where to start.
"Great! You have a week before the doors open," Jim said. He took a key off his key ring and handed it to Emily. He knew there would be deliveries and didn't want to be running back and forth to let her in.
"A week! …Right, I'd better get started. Love the new space. Glad to have you downtown." Laurel needed more people like them. There were still empty store fronts that needed someone to take a chance.
Jim checked the back door and found the door was new. It had a door closer and new locks and he even tested them. It looked solid enough to him.
"SAFE! We need a safe, Jo!" It was really starting to add up.
"I'll tell Emily. Get it bolted to the floor," Jo replied.
"Ice cream?" Kate asked. "It's right next door." She had seen everything. It looked nice and she was ready to move on.
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Rick was looking for Charlie to take him outside to do his business and maybe get in some ball playing. Rick started with Kate's room and sure enough that's where he was with her and getting petted. Something Charlie did seem to live for.
"So where are you taking me for our date that you still owe me?" Rick asked her.
"I owe you a date?" Kate questioned him.
"I believe we've already established that you owe me a date. So where are we going?"
"McDonald's, probably. I don't have a lot of money. I don't even have a job," Kate reminded him.
"Sounds like you're going to just have to owe me money. I have tomorrow off, if that works for you?"
"My next PT is on Monday. You know you don't have to do this," Kate told him.
"A deal is a deal. Or are you telling me something else?" Rick wanted to know if he had done something wrong. He was learning to like her and wanted to date her. Yes, she was younger than he might like but not that young.
"Telling you something? …No, I don't think so. We've kissed because of that bet, not because you want to kiss me," Kate told him.
"I can fix that right now." Rick walked up to her bed and leaned down so he could kiss her and keep kissing her. He could feel her kissing him back. He finally broke from the kiss but his lips were still just a fraction of an inch away.
"You still want that date?" Rick was interested in her. Which was a good thing because she was interested in him.
"Yes, please. Somewhere my wheelchair can go, if possible," Kate asked.
"Dinner it is then. At least until I figure out where or if this town has a theater to watch movies. For now I need to take Charlie outside so he can do his business. Come on, Charlie, let's go outside."
Kate stopped petting Charlie so he could leave. She missed him immediately. There was just something about Charlie that she couldn't make sense of. Just that she loved him a lot and loved petting him all she could get.