Surprise rattled through me. He was right. I did like to bake. Very, very much. “Oh. I do. Where did you hear thatfrom?”
The smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. “A lady named Melody. I assume she’s a good friend ofyours?”
I groaned. “I am so sorry.” That little twerp was trying to hook meup!
“No need to apologize. She was just trying to behelpful.”
“Helpful, my foot,” I grumbled. “But yes, if you can get the kitchen fixed, I would be verygrateful.”
“If you make me some cupcakes, I might be able to knock a day or two off thetime.”
A smile formed on my face. “Really? Hmmm. I’m not sure a contractor should be bribing the homeowner, but I’ll tell you what. Knock two full days off and have my ceiling and kitchen island fixed within the week, and I’ll make you whatever youwant.”
His amused dark gaze met mine. “Deal. A serviceable roof and kitchen for a half dozen chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and salted caramel drizzle ontop.”
I blinked. “That’s a...specific order, but you have yourself adeal.”
“Good. We will fix the island and a few other things to get you back in here, but there’s still a lot of work to be done, especially if you want the kitchen up to your specifications. Also, you’ll need to order your new appliances so I can install them.” He looked down at the clipboard. “I’d say you’re looking at about a month to have your kitchen completely done. About a week before you can use it pretty close to all the way again.” He looked up at me. “But don’t expect to be in here all the time. There’s going to be a lot of dust and debris for awhile, but we will give you notice when we’re going to be doing the kind of work that will keep you out of here. Soundokay?”
I grinned up at Martin. “Sounds perfect. Thankyou.”
He nodded. “We’ll get to work rightaway.”
An invisible but heavy weight lifted from my shoulders. Martin seemed competent, self assured and made me feel at ease. This morning was the best I’d felt in awhile. I gave him a nod and a shaky smile and headed back to my office to catch up on some bills and paperwork I’d been puttingoff.
I planned to go into work tomorrow. As long as I stuck to that plan, I’d be just fine financially. I still had to pay Martin the other half of his fee once he finished, but that wasn’t due for awhile. Home renovations always took awhile and with the extent of work I was having done to the house, I figured it would be at least a few months before that bill camedue.
I also had to pay my mortgage, buy my new appliances and add furniture to my guest room, my new office and replace my ancient couches. I sighed as I realized exactly how much procrastinating I’d been doing since I met Jeff. I’d given up everything to spend time with him only to have it all thrown back in my face. So now...here I was pinching pennies until I could get my shittogether.
I let my head drop onto a large pile of paperwork in front of me. I would catch up. Iwould. It wasn’t like I had anything holding me backanymore.
5
3 Months Later
The house was a nightmare.I’d been warned by plenty of people that renovations were no joke, but this was insane. Granted, Martin had kept his word about my kitchen, and I’d kept mine and made him a delicious batch of his requested cupcakes, but ever since then it was like Martin had put on warp speed. Everything around me was in shambles, though I could see things slowly coming together. I was still able to use the stove and oven, but my cabinets and countertops were out, so all of my dishware and pots and pans were in boxes on the floor of my living room. It was a pain in the ass trying to sort through everything and I knew Martin could tell how annoyed Iwas.
He would try to assuage any rage I had by letting me know this was normal and that it wouldn’t be too much longer until I had my house all to myself again. I’d grumble something and fish through the boxes trying to find my favorite coffee mug and Martin would turn his radio back up and keep working. The other guys in his crew stayed mostly out of my way unless I decided to bake something. Then they hovered over me like flies on a horse until I either shooed them away or gave them something fresh from the oven. Although, thanks to the chaos of the house, even my baking had slowed down because my island now stayed mostly full of powertools.
I was still a bit of a mess, but things were starting to get back to normal. I saved my woe was me tears until I was in the shower and by the time I got out, I was usually okay. Going back to work had been a challenge. On my first day back, I’d broken into tears several times and had to leave early. So I eased back into it slowly with half days and within two weeks, I’d managed to make it back full-time and rarely criedanymore.
It wasprogress.
I still hadn’t heard from Mark about the money for the reception, so I knew I’d need to go see him, sooner rather than later. For now, though, I was concentrating on work and keeping my house in some semblance of order. Both were easier said thandone.
It was nine a.m. and I’d just stuck the keys into the door of The Magical Brew, my craft beer/wishing shop, when the phone started ringing off the hook. Word had gotten out that I was back full time and now I could barely keep my schedule straight. I was always busy, but taking several weeks off had led to a backlog I still hadn’t managed to get a handle on. I rushed in, taking a moment to lock the door behind me and snatched the phone off thereceiver.
“Magical Brew, this is Katie,” I said, a littlebreathless.
“Hello,” the voice on the other end said. It was a woman with a sultry, deep tone to her voice. Almost hypnotizing. “I’d like to make an appointment for nextweek.”
My lips twisted to the side in annoyance. I didn’t even need to check my datebook. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m booked up a month in advance. The earliest I could take you is inSeptember.”
The woman’s throaty chuckle rang through the line. “I’m sure you’ve had a cancellation. Would you mind double checking forme?”
I would, actually, but I tried to run my business with the motto that the customer was always right. I didn’t agree with it, but it was one of those things where I had to ask myself, was it worth fighting about and was it worth losing money over? I gritted my teeth but still managed a pleasant voice when I said, “Sure. Hold please.” I clickedHoldbefore she could respond, shrugged my jacket off and headed into the back to the tiny office where I kept all mypaperwork.
I flipped open the book to the next week and skimmed down the page only to find a blank spot for Wednesday at 4pm. I frowned. How that had come open I had no idea. And wasn’t it weird that she had known it? Was I being magically manipulated? Or was my customer? I picked up the phone in my office and clicked the button to bring the woman on the line. “How strange,” I said. “I do happen to have an opening.” I rattled off the information and the woman gave me what was obviously a fake name. A lot of people did. Even though we lived in a magical town, no one wanted to pony up the fact that they needed a wishgranted.
