Max smiled as he walked briskly to the front door. He couldn't believe how happy he was. Fran really made him feel wonderful. He was so happy that they were finally together and that they had this time alone. He was already missing her just from leaving her in the kitchen.
He navigated around the entry table and the couch which were now blocking the normal flow of traffic and opened the front door. He stepped out into the chilly air and found the newspaper on the stoop, and brought it into the house, shut the door, and hurried back to Fran in the kitchen.
Fran was at the sink, rinsing the can for the soup, which was now in a pot on the stove on a low simmer. She walked over to Max with the can as he came into the kitchen and tossed the can to the recycling. Max tossed the paper to the table and they wrapped their arms around each other and kissed.
"Missed you!" She said, smiling.
"I missed you too, darling!" He pulled her to him and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know you're awfully cute when you're domestic?"
"I am? Well, you're awfully cute when you let me cook for you."
"Mmm… you're awfully cute when you let me cook for you, too. As a matter of fact… you're just awfully cute." He smiled and touched her lips with his, then she kissed his bottom lip. They closed their eyes and kissed each other deeply. He ran his hands over her back, then clutched her tightly again. Fran let her hands slide down his chest to his sides, and then around his back.
"I am never gonna get tired of kissing you, Max. Never, ever," she kissed him again, softly, and he tilted his head down towards her, grazing her nose with his.
"I'll never get tired of it, either. I could kiss you for hours and hours…"
"Please do!"
Max chuckled. "Come sit with me, darling. We can go through the paper while the soup heats up." They stepped over to the table and pulled the chairs out to sit down. "You want the funnies?" Max said, nudging her.
"Of course I do!" She patted his arm. Max pulled the rubber band off of the newspaper and unfolded it, then found the funnies for Fran and handed them to her. As she began to read through them, Max sorted out all of the other sections, separating the news from the lifestyle and arts. Before he pushed the news sections away, he had a look on the back of one to see what the weather forecast was.
"Hmm, the weather forecast here says snow tomorrow, so I guess it is coming out this way, too."
"Uh oh, do you think it will affect the delivery?" Fran leaned over to look at the section he was holding.
"It says in the morning. Starting in the morning, through the night. I hope it waits until after they get everything inside. I really hope it waits. But it'll be okay. I'm sure they deal with things like this all the time. But just in case, we might need to be ready to get out all the beach towels we can find."
"Yeah, no kidding. And we should try to help them as much as we can, like with the boxes of things. Let them handle the furniture, and we can carry the other stuff inside if we need to."
"Yes, definitely." Max folded that section back up and pushed the news stack aside, then began looking through the lifestyle section as Fran went back to the funnies. She chuckled a few times, then turned the page over and set the paper back down.
"Oh! Better stir the soup!" She jumped up and ran to the stove, stirred the soup several times, then came back to the table. "I can heat that up faster, if you want. I just figured we had time to take it easy for a while."
"We do. No need to rush. It's nice sitting here with you, reading the paper. And it will probably kill the extra time we have to wait for the movers to get here. We just need to remember to keep an eye on the time."
"Yeah. But won't be long now. That'll be weird, not having any furniture out there for a while. You okay with that?"
"Sure, the new furniture will fill it in soon enough. And that'll look great, too. It'll be nice to see the new room." He smiled at her and rested his hand on her back.
"It will be nice. It'll be so different, though! But I'm excited. I'm excited. Thank you, sweetie- for all of it." She leaned over to kiss him, and held his cheek to keep him close.
"You're very welcome. I'm glad I could do it. You made some very good choices, too, Fran. I like your taste."
"Aw, sweetie! You helped, too, you know. It's your house, it needs to reflect you."
"It's our house, darling. It reflects all of us. It's time it showed more of you in it. Now it will." He kissed her cheek and stroked her lower back. She put her hand on his knee and squeezed it. She was really touched at how he included her.
"I love you," she whispered, looking into his eyes.
"I love you," he whispered back. He put his hand on hers on his knee and held it, then kissed her shoulder. She smiled and closed her eyes.
"You know you get me all mushy when you do stuff like that."
"Good. You make me all mushy, too." They both laughed softly and leaned in to each other. They stayed that way for several moments.
"So, you gonna want anything else with the soup and salad? Bread or anything?" She asked, stroking his knee.
"Ah, better not. You know, since we had some with breakfast, and if we might have a big dinner. Just the soup and salad should be fine."
"Alright. Here, let me go work on the rest of it now. And remember to keep an eye out for anything interesting going on in town." She patted his knee and got up, then went to the fridge to retrieve the salad she wanted to serve with the soup, set it on the counter, then went to the stove to stir the soup again. She opened the cabinet and took out two soup bowls and two small salad bowls, left the soup bowls next to the stove, and brought the salad bowls over to the other counter. She opened the drawer and took out two soup spoons and two salad forks, grabbed two napkins, and brought them to the kitchen table and set their places. "Is some of that tea in the fridge okay with you to drink?"
"Sure, that would be fine, thank you." She squeezed his shoulders from behind, then went back to the fridge to grab two bottles of tea. Then she got two tall glasses and filled them with ice, set them and the bottles of tea on the kitchen table, then came back and worked on putting the salad into the bowls. She put the remaining salad back in the fridge, grabbed the bottle of Max's favorite salad dressing, then set the bowls and dressing on the kitchen table, and patted Max's shoulder before heading over to the stove. Max smiled at her and spread the newspaper down on the table in front of him, making a little room for their lunch.
As Fran stirred the soup and tested it, making sure it was hot enough, before she scooped it into the bowls, Max opened their bottles of tea and filled their glasses, and then poured some of the dressing onto his salad. Fran shut off the stove and brought their bowls of soup to the table, setting them in their places and then sitting back down next to Max.
"Thank you for doing the tea, sweetie!" She patted his knee and smiled at him.
"You're welcome. Thank you for doing the lunch. It looks delicious!"
"Well, let's see! Go ahead and get started." She picked up the dressing and poured some on her salad, and then mixed it up with her fork. They both set their napkins in their laps and began eating and went back to going through the newspaper. Fran chuckled several times and it made Max smile. He looked over at her, with the funny pages in one hand and spoon for her soup in the other. He loved that childlike quality in her. He switched his salad for for the soup spoon and scooped up a bite of soup. It was really good. He flipped the page of his section of newspaper and looked through the articles and ads, looking for anything interesting. He flipped to another page and let his eyes wander over it, and saw something familiar.
"Hey- look at this, Fran. This advertisement here- it's for that place we went to- that furniture warehouse, or factory, as it were."
"Oh! What does it say?" She set her spoon down and reached for his upper arm and held it, leaning in to him to read the ad. "A sale next weekend? Oh, they're gonna be so busy! And of course, we just bought all that stuff, too."
"Oh, don't worry about that, darling. We got the things we wanted while they had them. Imagine how empty those stores might be after the sale!"
"You're right! So maybe we did time it good. But they're gonna do some big business next weekend. I wonder if Ma and Yetta might want to go? Or Val? They all love a good sale, even if they don't buy anything. You know, I should stick that ad in with the catalogs when we send all that over. Can you keep that page marked somehow? So we can cut out that ad?"
"Sure, sweetheart. Just let me look through the rest of this section and I'll fold it over so we don't forget."
"Okay, thank you, baby." She patted his arm, and they went back to eating and reading. When Max finished that section, he folded back to the page with the ad and set it on the table, then opened up the arts section, and began browsing through it as he switched back to having some of his salad. When Fran finished the funnies, she reached for the lifestyle section where Max had found the ad, and went through it meticulously. She finished her lunch and took a sip of tea, then got up to get a pair of scissors to cut out the ad. She hadn't noticed that Max had done his best to mark several pages in the arts sections of things they may be able to do.
Max checked his watch and finished his glass of tea, then gathered their dishes and brought them to the sink. He put everything in the dishwasher and Fran got up from the table to return the scissors, then walked back over to him as he shut the dishwasher.
"Hmm, looks like we might need to run that after dinner tonight," she said. "But you aren't allowed to do any more dishes, alright? I'm taking care of you tonight."
Max turned around to her and reached for her waist. "If you insist, darling. But maybe it will be okay if I take care of you in other ways…" he gently pulled her to him and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Now that I don't have a problem with…" she grinned, and he kissed her, softly and passionately. He tightened his clutch on her and stroked her back with his hands.
"Mmmm…." He sighed, and kissed her softly again and again, letting his lips linger against hers.
"Mmmm Max! God, what your kisses do to me!" She gasped and whispered to him, pulling herself tight to his chest. "After all this… today… I want you to myself for a good while, okay? All to myself."
"Absolutely. I want you all to myself. Every bit of you. Maybe we can get those catalogs, take them upstairs. Put on a movie or an old show… stretch out and cuddle a bit? See if we see anything else we should get… think about other things we can change in the house…"
Fran nuzzled his nose with hers. "Yeah… I'd like to do that."
"So you'd be okay with being in my room? On my bed? Or- I mean, we don't have to be on the bed, if that might make you uncomfortable."
"Would it make you uncomfortable?" She asked, looking into his eyes.
He shook his head slowly. "No."
"It won't make me uncomfortable, either. I mean, If we had that new couch already, I'm sure we'd be sprawled out on that pretty quickly…" she smiled and he laughed.
"True. Covered in catalogs. With the television on…"
"Or covered in each other…"
"Miss Fine…" Max blushed and grinned and raised his eyebrows, and his voice. Then they both laughed.
"No, I mean it though. I like this- your arms around me. Holding me like this. Kissing me. God, it's wonderful, Max. I don't care where we are, but I know I want more of this. Every chance I can get."
"So do I, darling. And I want you to feel comfortable if we're in my room. Well, in that room. The master bedroom. I would hope that we can spend more time there, alone. So that in the future, it won't be just my room, but ours. Our room." Fran was really moved that he said that. Even though their relationship was just beginning, he was thinking ahead about the two of them sharing everything.
She clutched his head to hers. "I love you, Max." She kissed his lips softly. "I know you think a lot about things like that- about what might be appropriate and what wouldn't be. Wondering if you're behaving the right way. And I don't want you to. I don't want you worrying about those things. But I know you will. But I want you to understand something. I trust you, Max. I know you would never intentionally do anything to make me feel like you crossed a line, or that you would ever do anything to hurt me. You aren't that kind of man. And we've talked a good bit now, about a lot of things. I don't want you worrying about what's right and what might not be. I promise you that if anything might make me feel- well, if anything doesn't feel right, I'll say something. Okay? You don't need to ask. But I like knowing that you're always thinking you should."
"Really? I guess I just… I don't know. I don't have the best track record where you are concerned. I guess I just need you to know that I don't want it to be like the past. I hurt you before, and I still have a lot of shame from that. I guess, if maybe I have the urge to be a little bold, a little- forward- that it comes from a place of adoration. A place of love. Because I do love and adore you, Fran. And I appreciate what you said. I'll try not to be so neurotic. I might slip up now and again, but I will try."
"That's all I can ask." They kissed each other passionately, and she slid her hands around his waist and clutched his back.
"Oh my goodness!" Max stopped the kiss suddenly.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I forgot about my checkbook! They'll be here any minute!"
"Oh! Where's your checkbook?"
"Locked in my desk drawer, in the office. And the keys are upstairs."
"Oh, well go get the keys. I can keep an eye out for the truck."
"Ah, alright. I'll be right back down!" He kissed her quickly, and she swatted his side as he hurried up the back stairs from the kitchen. She turned and rushed through the kitchen and the dining room, then down the halls back to the front staircase. She skipped up to the front door and unlocked it, then stepped out into the cold air and peered outside, looking both ways on the street to see if she could see a truck coming. She hurried back inside from the cold and shut the front door just as Max came jogging down the stairs.
"Got the key?"
"Yes! No truck yet?"
"No, not yet. Hey, do you have a big envelope or something I can put those catalogs in for Ma and Val?"
"Ah, sure, I should have something they would fit in. Here, come with me." He took her hand and she followed him into the office. He switched on the light and went over to his desk. "See that cabinet over there? Look in the top drawer, I think there is a pack of manila envelopes in there. See if you think that's big enough." As he unlocked a drawer on his desk, Fran hurried over to the cabinet and pulled out a fresh envelope, then shut the drawer back. She came back over to the desk as Max pulled out his personal checkbook. He sat down to fill in the information on the check, and Fran reached for one of his pens so she could write on the front of the envelope, to make sure her mother knew what it was for. She watched Max neatly fill out the blanks, and then as he made his brisk, gently flowing signature. She loved his signature. Even though it was elegant, every letter was still legible. He seemed to pride himself on the legibility of his handwriting, and she really enjoyed that about him.
He carefully tore out the check and put the checkbook back in the drawer, then locked it and got up. He looked over at Fran, who was smiling at him.
"What?" He asked, curious.
She reached out her hand to him and pulled him towards the door. "I was just looking at my cute boyfriend with the beautiful handwriting!" She pulled him through the doorway and he hit the light switch on the way out. He wrapped his arm over her shoulders and she put her arms around his waist as they walked through the empty living room.
"You think my handwriting is beautiful?"
"Yes, I do. And I think you're cute!"
He chuckled and kissed her. "I think you're pretty cute, too. And you have beautiful handwriting, as well."
"Aw!" She squeezed him around the middle.
"And also, just in case there's ever a need for it, this key here on this keychain is for that desk drawer. That's where I keep the general household financial things. The personal accounts that don't have anything to do with work." He dropped his arm to her waist and put the keychain in his pocket, and she looked up at him.
"You're okay with me knowing that?"
"You're my partner, Fran. You should know things like this." He tilted his head down and softly tapped her forehead with his. Fran's insides went all soft again.
"Well, I wish I had something financial like that I could share with you, but mine is probably just credit card debt, and you probably don't want to see that."
"Hey, it's a start. And maybe we can work on that together, too." He slid his hands into her back pockets and she put her arms over his shoulders.
"Mmmm!" She pulled him in for a kiss, then they were both startled by the sound of a large truck's air brakes outside on the street. They both turned to look through the front door and saw the truck parked in front of the house.
"Oh! They're here!" Max said.
"Yea! Oh, I better grab those catalogs real quick." They let go of each other and Max headed to the door to open it and make room for the men to move the furniture while Fran grabbed the extra catalogs out of the bag, retrieved the ad she cut out of the paper, and tucked everything inside the envelope. She joined Max and he handed her the check to put with the envelope. One of the men waved to them and began to work on the back of the truck, opening it up and readying it for the furniture, while the other man headed over to Max with a clipboard and paperwork.
"Hello, sir! And Ma'am! Let me just make sure we have the right residence, just to make it official."
"Maxwell Sheffield. And headed to the Fine's in Queens," Max said, reaching a hand out to shake hands with the man.
"Perfect! Well, show me what you've got, and I'll give you this clipboard to look over and sign." Max showed him in and took the clipboard from him. The man took out a measuring tape and took some notes as he went around to measure each piece. Max looked over the paperwork and then signed it and handed the clipboard back.
"We've got the check for you right here, as well," Max motioned to Fran.
"Yes, here's the check, and can you give this envelope to my mother when you get out there to Queens?"
"Oh, so it's your mother's house? The Fine's?"
"Yes- I'm Fran Fine."
"Okay- our families sort of know each other apparently, I guess that's how you found out about us?"
"Well, Ma has your magnet on her fridge, she said she got it from my grandmother, Yetta Rosenberg."
"Yes, Yetta! I hear stories about her a lot. Two of my great aunts live at the same home she's at, and from what I understand, I think it was a great uncle of mine- their brother- who worked for your grandfather for some time. He was my grandfather's older brother, the one who worked for your grandfather. We're the Fratelli's, in case you've ever heard that name around. I'm Giaco, but everybody calls me Jackie."
"Of course- do you have a brother named Joey? I thought that's who had the moving business," Fran said.
"Yeah, that's my older brother. He's got his own moving business in Jersey, that's how I got started."
"Oh! I get it now. That's so wild that our families know each other like that! What a small world!" Max grinned as he watched their interaction. The other man came in the door with a stack of moving blankets over one shoulder and a long roll of plastic wrap in the other.
"Hey, Nick, it's this stuff here- two tables, two chairs, and the couch. We gotta cover the fabric on these things completely before we move them, alright? So we'll wrap 'em, then a blanket, and check the feet on them, because we might outta cap 'em off, too, to be on the safe side. We gotta check the halls and stairs when we get to Queens before we take anything up."
"Got it!" The other man said. Jackie looked over the clipboard, and then at the check Max gave him.
"Oh, uh, sir? I think you made this check out for more than the quote…" he held up the check to Max.
"Oh, I know, that was intentional, because you really saved us today, and there's no telling what you might encounter when you get over to the Fine's building. And I mean that in a good way, darling…" he said, trying to back track a little.
"Oh, no you don't. He's not kidding, Jackie. Don't let any of those ladies con you into staying for dinner or meeting their daughters or any of that. Tell them you have another job to get to or something, even if you don't."
Jackie laughed, and so did Nick. "I get it. Okay, we'll watch out. And thank you very much, you guys kinda saved us, too. We had a nice job lined up for today and cancelled our plans, then they cancelled on us. We were about to get an extra day off this week, which we really can't afford right now, so you really saved the day."
"Oh, I'm so glad! So it worked out for both of us. We don't know what we would have done if you couldn't get the stuff out today. We've got all new furniture coming tomorrow morning. Oh, and a new rug after you guys leave. So it's been a bit of a scramble."
"Oh, fantastic! So you guys are really going to own, changing everything in here. You excited?"
"Totally!" Fran exclaimed. "We went over to that big old warehouse-factory place, the one that has the shops and cafes upstairs and all the furniture places downstairs?"
"Oh, yeah, they're pretty great! We did some moving for some of the shops back when they were getting ready to open. We moved a lot of store fixtures and things for them. Thankfully, we just brought them over, and we didn't have to get it all upstairs."
"Oh my gosh! That would have been a lot of work! Do they even have an elevator?"
"Only one freight elevator, and everybody was trying to use it, and it was pretty slow. They'd pack on as much as it could take."
"Wow! Yeah, so we found a great couch there, with a big ottoman. And a couple other pieces. We found the new rug right around the corner from there. So we set up the rug today, so we can get it ready before the furniture gets here. Then we were able to get you guys, so we had you come first. It all worked out perfect."
"Well I'm glad! Hey, let me get this back in the truck and grab some caps to help Nick out. If you guys have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to say something. We're here to help and do our best."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Jackie hurried out the door back to the truck, and Fran and Max moved out of the way to let Nick walk around the couch and chairs with his big roll of plastic wrap.
"Oh, sweetie! Let me go grab the phone so I can call Ma and let her know they'll be on their way soon!"
"Alright, darling."
Fran rushed to the kitchen and Max watched as Jackie hopped out of the back of the truck and then reached back in to fill his arms with various sizes of the caps they needed to cover the feet of the chairs and couch. He hurried back in to the house and set them on the end table.
"Oh, sir, I brought this in for you, if you might be interested. I thought maybe since you were redecorating a bit. It's not shameless self promotion, it's for my uncle and cousin. They're amazing furniture makers, and this is their current catalog." He handed Max the glossy paper catalog.
"Oh, alright," Max said, taking it from him. He flipped through several pages, impressed with what he saw. Fran came jogging back through the hallways towards him and noticed the catalog in his hands. "Your uncle and cousin make all of these? They're beautiful!" Max said.
"Oh yeah, I know, right? I'm telling ya, they're both something special."
"Look at these, Fran. He says his uncle and cousin make them. Are they local?" Max asked.
"Yeah, they've got their workshop over on the edge of Brooklyn. My uncle started it out of school. Well, he had a smaller shop then, worked by himself. One piece at a time. Then he met my aunt, and they were really good together. She helped him with the marketing and sales, and helped him save up for better tools, so he could sort of streamline the process, you know? See, my uncle- he's a bit different, you know? Some would say quirky, a bit shy, awkward. Not quite like Rain Man, but if you met him, you'd get it. But he's really the sweetest guy you'll ever meet, and brilliant. I really think he's the next Nakashima, or Eames, you know? And my cousin, well, he's a chip off the old block. He's young, but he's starting to come up with his own designs, too."
Fran set the cordless receiver down on the entry table and leaned in to Max to look at the pictures.
"See, he's not a manufacturer, it's all built by hand, from his designs. He has a couple of apprentices that work with him now, along with my cousin, and the guy who was his last apprentice- he's got a shop in Pennsylvania now. He makes these gorgeous highboys. Which reminds me, I need to get in touch with him. See- I'm keeping an archive of my uncle and the shop. I hold on to all their records- the older ones- of all the pieces they made there and all their features. My uncle keeps meticulous records. I go to the shop every week or two and take pictures of them working, and of all the pieces they finish, because I want to put out a book on them in the future. I think it's really important, I mean really important, you know?"
"From these photos, their work really does look incredible. Do they sell them from the workshop?" Max asked.
"Yeah, sort of, I mean, they have a showroom in front. Some of the pieces are for sale, and some are for people to look at if they want to order one. They have some waiting lists for the more popular pieces that take longer to make. See, he sources the wood from lumber mills that take down city trees- like if a tree comes down in a storm or something. There's a mill on Long Island and one in New Jersey, and they know the kind of things he likes, so they work out deals. And if they ever come across something really good, he can get first dibs on the boards or even a whole log. I mean, the pictures in that catalog are great and all, but you really gotta see the pieces in person, you gotta touch them and look up close at them. They are really beautiful."
"Wow. You do sound like an advocate. How come they don't sell through other stores or anything?" Max asked.
"Well, he's particular about things, you know? He wants to know where all of his pieces are going, and he keeps track of customers. These are heirloom pieces, you know. He charges everybody the same, and he knows exactly how to figure out prices for them. And all these pieces will definitely go up in value. They're the kinds of things you insure." Jackie walked around and put the caps on each chair and the couch, then helped Nick secure the moving blankets over the pieces.
"I'm saving up to buy one of his consoles," Nick piped in. "I'm on a waiting list, but I have to be ready to pay for it when my name gets to the top. And they're gonna build a custom piece for Jackie when he moves to his new house."
"Oh, he does custom work too?" Max asked.
"Well, sorta. Only certain things, especially if it's a historical place it's going into. See, I'm working on buying back our grandparents' old house in Queens. I haven't bought it yet, but hope to by the end of the summer. It's Victorian and needs a lot of work, and My uncle said he'd help by making some built-ins if we wanted them. The lady that's living in the house, she wants to sell it back to us because she's getting on in years, and her kids are all over the country, and they don't have plans to move back. She wants somebody to take care of it, and I just happened to go talk to her at the right time and tell her what I wanted to do, so we wrote up a contract and all, and once I can put the money down, she'll sell it to me. I'm hoping this summer goes well, and then I'll have it."
"Wow!" Fran said. "That's fantastic that you're doing that, getting it back in the family and taking care of it."
"It is wonderful. Congratulations," Max agreed.
"Thank you. Now before I babble on and on- over at your mother's place- do you know how big the elevator is by any chance?"
"Yeah, well, you should be able to get one of the chairs in at a time, and maybe the coffee table. That other table- you can undo the top and tilt it, but it might be hard to carry it that way."
"Oh, yeah, I see. Oh, I think once we get it to the truck, we can set it on a flat dolly and roll it in, strap a blanket around it. That should work. Okay, Nick, the couch is going in first. That one might take the most work once we get there, so we'll do it last, after the other things are in. And we'll probably have to take off the cushions when we get there so it's easier to get up the stairs."
"Sounds good. You got those caps on tight? You ready to do this?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, I did my stretches already!" Jackie laughed. "Now, if we go your end first, you gotta jump up into the truck once we set that end up there. You wanna do that, or you want me?"
"I got it. Should be the only thing we do like that for today, so it won't wear me out. And besides, it's already kinda in the right direction."
"Okay, then. Let's do this." Both guys grabbed their ends of the wrapped up couch and lifted slowly until they had a good hold on it.
"Oh, let me help you- I'll go ahead of you to watch out. Just mind those steps and be careful," Max said, hurrying to the open doorway.
"I'm gonna call Ma and make sure they're ready." Fran grabbed the phone again and dialed her mother's number and waited for her to pick up on the other end. "Ma! They're here! Yeah, they're loading the couch right now. Yeah, they wrapped everything up nice with plastic, and with moving blankets. Now Ma, you got all your stuff moved out or are you gonna need help? Oh great, that's perfect! Now Ma, they said they're gonna bring up the chairs and tables first, okay? Because they can probably get them up in the elevator. Yeah. But then, Ma, they may have to take off the couch cushions before they bring it up, so it's not so heavy and easier to move, so you might need to help with that, okay? And don't let them touch anything, you gotta be careful when you hold them in the elevator, who knows what's all over those walls. Oh, Ma, but the biggest thing is that you have to make daddy go stand outside to watch the truck so nobody tries to steal anything, okay? Make him put his coat on. Yeah, he can take one of those chairs to put in front of his TV, I think he'll like that. You might need to do that first so there's room for the stuff in the living room. Okay. Yeah. And Ma, I'm sending some extra catalogs for you and Val, so if she comes by, give her one. It's for a great shop we went to, and Ma, I stuck an ad in there because they're having a sale this weekend, in case you want to go."
The men had finished getting the couch into the truck and came back in to get the tables ready to go. They saw Fran chatting with her mother and looked at each other knowingly.
"Okay, Ma. Yeah. I gotta go. Enjoy the furniture. Sure, but not this week. We're on vacation. Once the kids are back and we have everything sorted out here, I'll have you over so you can see the new furniture. I know, Ma. No, Ma. You'll be too busy enjoying your new furniture. You won't miss anything, Ma, I promise. Okay. I gotta go, we've got lots to do. No, Ma, we don't need help. Ma! I gotta go. Because it's still a vacation, that's why, and I plan on spending the rest of it with my boyfriend, alone. Okay, bye Ma! I'm hanging up…I'll call you later. Bye!" She pressed the button on the phone to hang up and set the receiver down hard on the entry table and rolled her eyes. "See, Jackie? Don't let her get started or you won't be able to get out of there! If you guys have to pretend you're deaf, do it. Act like you're doing sign language or something. Phew!" They all laughed and Max reached for her waist. Nick and Jackie picked up the wrapped coffee table and slowly made it out to the truck, then ran the lift to bring them up to the level of the truck bed.
Max tugged at Fran's shirt to get her attention and she turned to look into his eyes.
"I noticed that little bomb you dropped at the end there," Max said softly. Fran grinned. "Did she catch that?"
"Yeah, sounded like it. That's why I had to hang up right away. I wonder if she's freaking out yet, or if she can figure out I was talking about you," she patted Max's chest.
"You think she'll try to call back?"
"She might. But we can screen the calls if we have to. But I think once the furniture is there, she's gonna be busy fixing everything up and showing it off to all the neighbors. That'll buy us a little time." Max chuckled and they turned to watch the guys come back in to retrieve the tilt-top table and carry it out to the sidewalk, then Jackie jumped in the truck and got a flat dolly, hopped out and set it on the lift deck, then they carried the table to it and set it on top, then the lift raised and the table was whisked into the truck. Next, they came back inside to get one of the chairs, and quickly had it out the door and onto the truck, hurried back in and grabbed the last chair, and out the door it went. They were done.
"Wow, that was pretty fast!" Max said, and they went outside to see the guys strapping things down in the truck to keep them secure. Max and Fran looked over everything and were very satisfied. "You guys sure look like you know what you're doing!"
"Well, thank you. I hope we do. And I hope you all enjoy your new furniture," Jackie said, hopping down from the truck. Max shook his hand, and then Nick pulled the door down and locked it tight, then raised the lift vertically to lock into place for the drive, then Max shook his hand.
"Well, Sylvia's expecting you, and Morty should be there to help watch the truck on the street when you are moving things, so hopefully everything goes smoothly in Queens."
"I'm sure it will, don't worry. Well, I think we've got everything, and we'll hand off that envelope to your mother when we get there, too."
"Thank you so much for doing that! You guys have been great. Good luck on getting that new house soon, and I have a feeling we might be paying your uncle's showroom a visit soon…" Fran turned to look at Max and gave him a smile.
"That we will. His furniture is beautiful. And I think it's great that you're trying to document everything. I'm sure that will be much appreciated by a lot of people in the future."
"Oh, thank you. I hope so. Okay, well, we'll get out of your hair and get this stuff to Queens before your mother comes after us!" Jackie waved, and the two men got back into the truck, honked, and were on their way. Right as the truck started off, another one came towards them down Park Avenue.
"Oh, Max! Is that the rug people coming? Oh! I think it is! Perfect timing!" Fran jumped up and down and Max turned to watch the approaching truck slow down, and the driver looked to verify the address, then waved at them and stopped. The two men inside the truck got out.
"Hello! Are you Mr. Sheffield?" One man asked.
"Yes, I am. You've got the rug?"
"Yes, sir, and you have one coming back with us?"
"We sure do, it's already been rolled up inside. The space is ready inside, you have perfect timing. The truck that took the furniture just left."
"Oh, great! Well, we'll get the rug in there for you and be out of your way here real quick." The two men opened the back of the truck and one hopped inside to push out their new rug, securely wrapped in plastic. Max pulled Fran back into the house.
"Darling, you must be freezing!" He said, wrapping his arms around her.
"I am, a bit, but I was just too excited with everything. I'm fine, sweetie." He rubbed her arms and they watched as the two men heaved the rolled up rug onto their shoulders and brought it in the front door.
"Right here, gentlemen," Max gestured.
"Yeah, if we can get it centered in front of the TV, that's where we had the other rug," Fran added.
"Alright." The two men heaved the rug towards the empty space and then carefully lowered it down to the floor. "Now, it's been rolled up from top to bottom, the way you would have viewed it in the store. Is that how you would like it laid out, with the bottom near the television?"
Max looked at Fran.
"Oh, yes, yes. That should be fine. We'll double check once it's rolled out, but yeah, I think that's how it should go," she said to the man.
"'ll take this plastic off, and then what we'll do is slide your old rug into it and relabel it so it will go straight to the cleaner before it goes back to the store to be sold. Once we get it wrapped up, I'll have you check the new label and sign off on it, and then we'll be out of your way."
"Oh, alright," Max said. They both got out of the way and watched the two men work, cutting the tape on the end of the big tube of plastic, then working the tube all the way off the rug. One man brought the plastic over to the old rug as the other man shifted the new rug around to line it up as best as he could, then the first man came back over to help him. And slowly, they rolled out the new, beautiful rug. Fran clutched Max's shirt and he wrapped his arm around her.
"Oh!" Fran exclaimed. "It's so pretty!"
"It is," Max agreed. As they walked over to the television to view it from that angle, the two men worked on sliding the old rug into the plastic and sealed the end with tape. One man hurried back out to the truck to retrieve the paperwork and came back in with a clipboard.
"Sir, if you could just make sure this information is correct and then sign the delivery sheet underneath, we can get the old rug labeled and onto the truck."
"Oh, yes, thank you," Max said, reaching for the clipboard.
"Does the position look good, ma'am?" The other man asked Fran.
"Yes, I think that's about the same position as the old rug. We might need to make some adjustments once the new furniture is here, but it looks good for now I think."
"Great! And if you do need to move it over a little, it's easier if you roll it back up about halfway, then you can move it side to side. This size of a rug is hard to move just by trying to tug it."
"Oh, okay, thank you. I'll remember that."
Max signed the paper and handed the clipboard back, and the man took the rug label off of the clipboard and went to attach it to the old rug.
"Okay, sir, we'll get this on the truck and it will go straight to the cleaner, then to the shop. Once a sale is made, you'll receive a check in the mail. And if at any time you decide to take it off of consignment, just give the store a call and we can return it to you. You will only have to cover the cost of cleaning and re-delivery."
"Yes, alright. I do hope it sells. It's a good quality rug, and still in great condition."
"You should have a decent chance of making a sale, we do quite a large volume of business over there. Well, let us get this rug out of your way and on the truck. I hope you enjoy the new one, and please do call if you have any issues."
"Thank you very much. And for being very prompt. You had perfect timing today."
"Oh, you're welcome. We do try to be on time! You both have a nice day."
"You too." The two men heaved the old rug up and onto their shoulders, and Max followed them to the door, shutting and locking it behind them. He watched as they got it onto the truck and slid the door down, then locked it and hurried back in the cab of the truck. As they were driving away, Max walked back over to Fran, who was sitting down on the rug, running her hand over it.
"It's really nice, Max!"
"It is, isn't it? It's almost a shame that it will have furniture covering it up. But I do think it will all look really nice together once we're done." He reached down and took her hands and helped her back up. "Now, let me just grab that mop and finish the last of the floor now that everything's gone. Then we can clean everything up and maybe… maybe I can take you upstairs?" He gave her a wry grin, making her smile.
"Maybe you can…" she poked him in the chest with her finger.
"Good! Now let me grab that mop and finish this up!"
"Okay, and I'll grab us some water and those catalogs. You want me to grab that new one too? That Jackie gave you?"
"Yes, yes! Thank you! I really want to look at those a lot closer." Max rushed over to where the mop and bucket sat by the bathroom, grabbed them, and brought them back over near the piano, where the old rug had been sitting against the step. Fran reached down and picked up the bag full of catalogs by the piano, then got the new catalog from the entry table and put it in the bag. As Max was stuffing the mop into the bucket, Fran stepped back over to him and tugged his sleeve.
"Okay, baby, meet me in the kitchen when you're done? And thank you for mopping, sweetie!"
"Aw, you're welcome. And yes, I'll meet you in the kitchen in just a minute." He leaned over and kissed her and she caressed his cheek.
"Mmm! Okay, I'll let you get to it! See you in a minute!" She let go of him and hurried away with the bag to the kitchen. Max wrung out the mop and mopped as quickly as he could, back and forth across the floor where he was certain the mopped hadn't previously been. He moved the bucket as he worked, and headed towards the entryway and mopped there too, just for good measure. He hoped the furniture movers who were coming in the morning wouldn't mess up all of his work too much. Or at all.
When he was satisfied with his job, he turned off the light, picked up the bucket with the mop inside it, and carried them to the kitchen.