CHAPTER NINETY-FOUR

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Tapping once on the horn outside Gemma and Clay's house Donna comes out the door almost before the sound has faded from the air. Jumping up into the passenger's seat she looks down at the grey leather "Why have you got this? Where's your car? Did you crash it?"

I laugh as I pull away from the driveway and head towards Elliot's farm on the outskirts of town "Mine wouldn't start. In the drive at Jax's. No, just wouldn't go. I'll deal with it later. Now, are you ready to go?"

Donna nods "I talked with Ope last night, he agreed with me on price limits. So it depends on what the costs have come in at."

I nod and steer the large unfamiliar vehicle carefully through the streets of Charming till we're in the wooded road leading to Elliot's house "What did you decide on?"

Donna shakes her head "Umm no. Not telling you, you'll convince Jennifer and Oswald to make the prices match and I want to know exactly what it is that you're going to be paying out."

I pout and slow down a little for one of the bends in the road before putting my foot down a bit more as we come out the other side. "I guess I can see the logic in that, cause you do know me well enough that I would do exactly that."

"Glad you can admit it." Donna says with a smile.

The rest of the drive to Elliot's doesn't take long and when I pull into the drive both he and Jennifer are standing out the front of the office with Karen.

Jumping down from the truck Karen smiles at me "Doing better than the last time I saw you?"

I nod climbing the stairs "I am, sorry about hijacking your Sunday."

Karen shakes her head "Like I told you, you saved our businesses; we'll do almost anything we can to help you if you need it."

"Thank you."

Jennifer opens the office door and users us in "I've done up four different designs based on the section size that we measured when we went there. Elliot sent some paperwork through for your insurance issues, did you hear back?"

Donna nods "I'm still confused how you managed to get them to agree to pay out the value of the house."

Jennifer smiles brightly "You'd be amazed what happens when a builders report comes back staying that there's rot in the timber and the whole house is affected and that's what caused the ceiling framing to collapse."

I giggle "So that's how you got around it."

Elliot's voice from behind me startles me a little "Sure is. It wasn't a lie either. The framing does have rot, and the roof is really in need of replacing if you go with the rebuild option it's still going to mean a lot of work."

"I'll just go talk with Elliot for a minute, you guys okay?" Donna nods so I cross over to the desk where Elliot's sat himself down with a pile of paperwork.

He looks up at me "You okay?"

Donna and Jennifer start talking quietly, the pile of plans in front of them, waiting a few seconds till I know that Donna is listening I turn back to Elliot "Yeah. First thing though, thank you for getting their insurance company to pay out for the house. I do have a couple of questions for myself, well only one really. I have a staircase in my house and I want to know if I can take the walls out, do you know someone who can tell me if that's okay or not?"

Elliot nods "Of course, I can send one of the builders out to have a look. When?"

I shrug "As soon as possible. The carpet layer is coming out this afternoon and I need to organise a painter as well."

Elliot raises his eyebrows "And you're only telling me this now?"

I laugh "Sorry." I sigh "Oh and I need to organise an entire new kitchen to be built around the appliances already installed."

Picking up a diary he flicks through a couple of pages "You must have the best timing possible. One of my builders is free this afternoon and I have a painter who can assess on Monday if you'd like."

I can't help the huge smile that crosses my face "That would completely awesome. Do you know how long it would take to paint a house?"

Elliot shrugs "It depends, how big the house is, what we're starting with, how many coats, how many people."

I nod "Oh okay." The slight note of disappointment in my tone isn't missed and he pulls over a pad of paper.

"If you give me rough ideas I can give you a very very rough idea of time."

"Umm, it's two stories. Five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3, no sorry, 4 living areas, kitchen and a storage area as well plus entrance and landing. The surfaces are all brand new fire resistant board right through the whole house."

Elliot whistles slowly "What did you buy, an apartment block? I would say maybe 2 weeks with a couple of guys, or 1 week with a team of four."

I laugh and shake my head "Not an apartment block just a really big house. So about a week?"

Donna's laughter from the other desk catches my attention and glancing over she smiles and shakes her head. Turning back to Elliot he waves his hand "Right, so builder can be at your place at 3 today. Painter at 11 on Monday. Now go make sure Donna isn't spending your entire next profit cheque before you get it."

Sliding across the floor on the chair I'm in Elliot shakes his head as the wheeled desk chair spins me around while I'm in motion.

Donna laughs as I hit the desk just beside her. Plonking my elbows on the table I rest my chin on my hands "So, how are we doing here?"

Jennifer smiles widely "We're almost done believe it or not. Of course it does help that we were given a very certain list of things to be put in the house. We've worked out the floor plan and all Donna has to do when she wants to is go and pick paint colours and flooring for the rooms."

I wrap my arm around Donna's neck and hug her "Right, so what's going in the new and improved Winston family home?"

Jennifer turns the plans around, the size of the Winston's section is impressive when put down on paper, I'd never realised how big the area was when the two yards were joined, but moving the house forwards on the section has opened the back yard to be able to have a small separate building put in the back corner.

Donna starts pointing things out "So this building is for Piney, cause we all know that he needs to stop sleeping at TM every night. It's really small cause he's incapable of keeping it clean, 1 bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette with a breakfast bar and a living area where he can put a TV and an armchair, maybe a 2 seater couch if it's arranged right."

I laugh and nod at Donna having already planned how Piney should arrange his flat. "Okay and your house?"

Donna grins hugely "We have to pull the whole thing down and lift the old foundations to lay new ones, but it's going to be four bedrooms, eat in kitchen but also a separate dining room and a living room with a sectioned off corner for the kids toys, apparently that was your idea." I nod silently "Well, it's a good idea. Anyway, it's going to have a bathroom off the master bedroom and one other full bathroom as well. We're sticking with one story cause it'll fit on the section and still give us heaps of back yard. We're not going to put a garage in cause we don't need one."

I nod and quietly look at the pages "Okay, so here's the big question. How much do I have to fork out for this?"

Donna laughs and pushes my side, the chair moving with her shove.

"It's just over 2,700 square feet in total size including the detached unit, we're doing a per square foot charge. Total price is going to be about 500 thousand, provided that Donna doesn't choose Italian marble and real gold paint." Jennifer tells me, turning the plan around and jotting some notes on the ones that were discarded.

I look at Donna "Is that within your budget for me?"

Donna nods with a wince at the cost "It is, but only just."

I giggle at her "Don't worry then, just don't pick Italian Marble."

*AN: Price of the new house is based on 200$ per square foot, discounted rate for Sarah due to her co-ownership in Oswald Lumber & Construction.