“Like I said, I’m headed there anyway.” He paused. “Want me to look at a new lock set for that door while I’m there?”
“That’d be great, but Joe—don’t you have work to do of your own?”
“Yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why?”
“I feel guilty that we’re keeping you from it.”
“I’ve got good crews. I don’t need to hang over them every minute to tell them what to do, which is a good thing, since I have two jobs going concurrently right now.”
“You’re lucky.”
“You’re telling me.” He nodded. “Lucky in many ways. I’m happy to help Barney out in any way I can. There wouldn’t be a Domanski Construction if it weren’t for her.”
Before Cara could ask what he meant, his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket, looked at the screen, and told her, “One of my guys. I’ll get that key made and drop one off to you.”
“Thanks, Joe. For everything.”
“Sure.” He turned away as he answered the call.
As Cara drove back to the house, she made a mental note to call Pete to talk about drawing up a contract for Joe. Joe had already put in several hours of his time, and there’d be a lot more in the future. That comment about owing Barney aside, he should be paid like any professional.
Cara sighed. She hated to be dependent on Joe, but she needed his expertise. Cara was ready and willing to learn all she could, but she wasn’t foolish enough to think she could run this job on her own. She needed him, pure and simple.
Allie, Des, and Barney were still seated at the kitchen table when Cara arrived back at the house. She noticed that Barney had changed into a black pencil skirt, tights, and a nice sweater.
“Was the electrician there?” Des asked. “Did you talk to him?”
“I did. It might not be quite as bad as we originally thought.” Cara related what Mack had told her and Joe.
“Oh yes.” Barney nodded. “Tommy Mercer would know for sure. Douglas Freeman—he was the one who bought the theater from Fritz some years back—had big plans for that place. He did some renovations, as I recall, but his money ran out before he could finish it. Fritz bought it back ‘as is’—though unfortunately I don’t know how far along Freeman got before his interest waned along with his bank account.”
“Speaking of which”—Cara headed for the coffeepot and poured a mug—“how’d you make out at the bank this morning, Des?”
“Fine. Barney went with me and introduced me to the new bank president. They had the account all set up, so all I had to do was sign the signature cards.” Des glanced from Allie to Cara. “You two should stop down and add your names as authorized signees. I realize we decided I’d be in charge of the money, but I think more than one of us should be able to sign.”
“Speaking of money, how much is in the account?” Cara asked.
“Sit down. I was just about to tell Allie.” Des took a deep breath. “There’s a million dollars.”
Cara choked on her coffee. Allie stared as if she hadn’t heard correctly.
“A million . . .” Cara said.
“U.S. dollars?” Allie asked.
“Yes. One million U.S. dollars.” Des’s eyes sparkled. “Can you imagine what we can do with all that money?”
“Hold up there, kiddo.” Barney made the time-out sign. “Yes, it’s a lot of money, but trust me, it’s going to go faster than you think. If I were to guess, I’d say the electrical work alone is going to be at least a hundred thousand or better. Think of all the contractors you’re going to be bringing in. A million dollars sounds like a heap of money, but believe me when I tell you, it’s not an endless stream.” She turned to Des. “You’re going to have to keep track of every dime, and you’re going to have to make very good decisions about where to spend it. If you’re careful, and you don’t run amok, you should be fine.” She took her car keys from the hook near the back door. “A lot of construction loans came across my desk when I was at the bank, and a lot of those projects went south because the owners were careless and ran out of money.”
“What if we’re really careful and we run out anyway?” Cara asked quietly.
“Well, then I guess you’ll have to figure out a way to come up with the additional funding. Maybe you’ll need to apply for grants.” Barney shrugged. “My best advice is to treat every dollar as if it’s your last.”
Allie leaned her forearms on the table. “I’m starting to wonder if the three of us shouldn’t have just challenged the will and said the hell with the theater.”
“Are you crazy? And miss out on all the fun?” Des kicked her under the table.
“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.” Allie stared at Des.
“I am being serious,” Des said. “I think this is going to be a life-changing experience for all of us. Might be the hardest thing any of us ever have to do, but we’re going to kick butt, and that building is going to look like new when we’re finished with it.”
“Des is right,” Cara agreed. “We’re all going to have to step up: Des with the accounting, me with the construction, and you with the décor.”
“At least I got the pretty stuff,” Allie said.
“Pretty, but you’re going to have to do a lot of research so the renovation is historically accurate,” Des reminded her.
“Okay, so Des is going to keep an eye on the money.” Allie looked across the table at Des, then glanced at Cara. “So how are we supposed to know if the estimates are accurate, if the prices are in line with what they should be? That’s what you’re saying, right? That we have to be careful not to overpay for the work we contract for and that we have to make sure we don’t hire crooks or incompetents?”
“That’s what Joe’s going to be doing. He’s bringing in the contractors he thinks are right. Contractors he knows personally, people he’s worked with in the past and trusts.” Cara looked to Barney. “We can trust him, right?”
Barney nodded. “Absolutely. Everyone in town knows him and knows he doesn’t put up with any nonsense on his jobs. If he’s running the job, none of the subs will try to overcharge. They know if they do, he’ll never put them on another of his jobs, and word will get around why.”
“I told him I’d call Uncle Pete and have him draw up a contract between the three of us and him.”
“Get that done ASAP. Joe will be more than fair when it comes to his compensation.” Barney put on her jacket. “Garden club luncheon today, girls. I’ll be back around three.”
“Barney, Joe said something about not having a business if it weren’t for you,” Cara said, just as Barney opened the door. “What did he mean by that?”
“Seems if he’d wanted you to know, he’d have elaborated. And apparently he did not, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking.” Barney stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
“Guess she told you.” Allie barely glanced up from checking her email.
“Guess she did.” Cara sighed.
Barney was right. It was none of her business. Still, Cara couldn’t help but wonder what the relationship was between the young contractor and her aunt. Maybe by the time the project was completed, she’d have figured it out. In the meantime, she needed to talk to Pete Wheeler and get the contract in the works.
Cara made the call, but Pete was in court and she had to leave a message. When she came back downstairs, she found Des and Allie in the small sitting room. Des was holding up a pillow on which an elaborate flower garden had been needlepointed.
“Our grandmother made this,” Des was saying.
“Our grandmother who we never got to meet because our aunt wouldn’t let our father come home,” Allie said.
“She told him not to come back till he fessed up. I’m not so sure she was wrong,” Des told her. “What he was doing was wrong.”
“She’d have been right, if it had worked,” Allie said.
“She was right whether it worked or not,” Des pointed out.
“It�
��s hard to imagine that Barney actually thought that giving him an ultimatum would work.” Cara sat on a chair with red velvet cushions. “I’d have thought she would’ve known him better than that.”
“Yeah, well, we all thought we knew him,” Allie reminded them. “Look how wrong we all were.”
“I don’t think we were wrong so much as he just didn’t give any of us the whole story,” Cara said.
“One thing I don’t understand.” Allie turned to Cara. “Why did you have to do all the work on your studio yourself? Why didn’t you just hire people to come in and do it for you? I’m sure Dad would have picked up the tab.”
“I wasn’t raised like that. I guess you’d have had to know my mom,” Cara said. “Money never meant very much to her. We had a very modest home in our little town, and she never would have moved out of that house or out of Devlin’s Light. It was more important to her that I learn to do things for myself and stand on my own two feet. She had very strong feelings about being where you were meant to be and doing what you were meant to do. She was very happy living her life on her terms, which meant for the most part that she liked to live on what she made in her shop. I guess Dad learned that early on in their relationship, and if he wanted to be with her, he had to respect that. She once told me that in the beginning, he’d wanted to buy up some properties right on the beach, knock them down and build something grand for her, and she was horrified at the very thought.”
“Our mom would have been all in,” Des said. “She would have offered to drive the pile driver and knock ’em all down if it meant she had a palace on the beach.”
“She wasn’t that bad, Des.” Allie frowned.
“Sure she was.” Des turned to Allie. “Her being our mother, and being dead, can’t change the facts. And why would you want to?”
“It’s disrespectful to talk about her like that.” Allie’s phone pinged. She picked it up and appeared to read an incoming text.
“I think it’s more disrespectful to try to make her something other than what she was. Mom never backed down from who she was, Allie. She accepted herself with all her faults, and I think we should, too. She was a bitch at times, but there was always a sort of defiance and pride to her bitchiness, like she could take on the world and the hell with what anyone thought.”
“She did get that way with Dad,” Allie admitted. “Like, if he didn’t like the way she was, he could leave.”
“And eventually, he did,” Des reminded her.
“I always thought she drank to spite him.”
“I think she drank because she really, really enjoyed the buzz. The way some people enjoy smoking cigarettes. They know in the long run that it isn’t good for them, but they like it so much, they keep doing it anyway,” Des said. “I think alcohol was like that for Mom. She just flat-out liked being drunk.”
An uncomfortable silence followed. Finally, Des said, “Dad, on the other hand, was so much fun.”
“He was fun.” Allie finished her text and put the phone on the table next to her. “God, the things he used to do, always over-the-top things. You never knew what he was going to do. Birthdays, Christmases—it seemed he tried to top himself every year.”
“He’d go for months without calling, then there he’d be with plans for something wonderful,” Des said.
“Like plane tickets for the two of you to go somewhere you’d really wanted to go.” Allie sighed. “For my sixteenth birthday, we flew to New York and stayed for an entire week in a big suite at the Plaza because I loved Eloise when I was younger. You know, the book about the little girl who lived on the top floor of the Plaza Hotel?” She smiled at the memory. “Dad arranged for us to do all the things I loved. We had a private tour of the Met, and I loved it so much that I made him take me back two more times before we came home. We went to the Cloisters and the Museum of Arts and Design. Back then it was called the American Craft Museum. Because I loved clothes, we hit the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I went shopping every day and ordered whatever I wanted for breakfast every morning from room service, and I picked all the restaurants where we ate. We went to the opening of The Lion King and went backstage and I met the entire cast. It was fabulous, but the best part was having Dad all to myself for seven whole days.” She paused. “Well, that and the fact that he knew how interested I’d become in art, and how badly I wanted to go to the Met, how much it meant to me. I was just starting to play around with watercolors, and for me to see all those incredible paintings? Total inspiration.”
“I remember that.” Des smiled. “I was so jealous that he took you out of school for the whole week and you came home with all those gorgeous clothes and bags and shoes.”
“I hope you’re not complaining, because I distinctly remember your sixteenth birthday and the surprise musical guests that showed up.” Allie turned to Cara. “Dad had hired a band to play at Des’s party, and right in the middle of a set, the band stopped playing and the place went dark, and when the lights went back on . . .”
“NSYNC just picked up where the band had let off. I thought I was gonna die, Cara. Can you imagine? The top boy band maybe of all time, and they were all mine for the night.” Des laughed. “I was the envy of all my friends.”
“Not to mention your sister,” Allie told her. “I had such a crush on Justin Timberlake, and there he was, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you.”
“Held my hand while I blew out the candles,” Des reminded her.
“There are some things one never quite forgives or forgets,” Allie told her.
Her tone was light, but Cara couldn’t tell for certain if she was kidding.
“I guess since you lived on the East Coast, Cara, a trip to New York wouldn’t have been as special as it was for me.” Allie’s voice held just a hint of top that. “Did Dad do anything to make your sixteenth birthday special?”
“He took me to the premiere of Die Another Day. I was—still am—a huge James Bond fan. And Pierce Brosnan? Yes, please.” Cara grinned.
“Oh, we got to go to premieres all the time since we lived in L.A. and Dad represented so many stars.” Allie’s expression implied that movie premieres were no big deal. “Where did you stay when you were out there?”
“Oh, the premiere wasn’t in L.A. It was at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It’s one of my favorite memories ever. We walked the red carpet and I got to meet the entire cast.” Just thinking about that night made Cara happy. “Halle Berry was there, and Madonna. Oh, and I got to meet the queen.”
“The queen.” Allie blinked. “You mean the queen of En-gland?”
“Yes. She was very gracious, though I know she had no idea who I was and couldn’t have cared less. Still, it was fun.”
“What did you wear?” Des wanted to know.
“A long white Stella McCartney gown. Dad had sent her my measurements so that all I needed to do was to show up at her studio and have a few alterations done. She pinned it on me herself. I was black and blue from pinching myself. It was one of the few times Mom gave in to Dad’s wanting to spoil me.”
“Well, that tops my week in New York,” Allie grumbled.
“Hey, this isn’t a competition, Allie,” Cara protested. “Dad obviously put a lot of thought into giving each of us something special. He tried really hard to give us what we most wanted, and he succeeded. I’d love to have spent a week doing New York with him, but I never did.” She turned to Des. “And to have NSYNC serenade me on my birthday? Are you kidding? He knew it was your heart’s desire, and he made it happen for you.”
Des nodded. “You’re right.”
Allie stared at Cara. “Still. You got to meet the queen of England, wearing Stella McCartney. She stood abruptly. “I’m starving. I’m going to heat up some of Barney’s soup.”
She picked up her phone and swept out of the room.
Des looked at Cara. “I guess we’ve been dismissed.”
“Looks that way.”
“How ’bout we have soup, too?�
� Des suggested.
“It’ll piss her off even more,” Cara said.
“Of course it will.” Des’s grin was pure mischief. “Coming?”
CHAPTER SIX
“Cara, we picked up almost everything on the list for the granola.” Des stuck her head into Cara’s room, her cheeks red from the chilly March wind. “Barney told me to tell you she’s really psyched to try it, so maybe you could make it today and we’ll have it for breakfast in the morning. Assuming that the things we couldn’t find aren’t critical.”
“I’ll be right down.” Cara finished the text she was writing to Darla, which promised photos of the theater as soon as the front had been uncovered. She hit send and then headed for the kitchen.
“We were able to get everything except the brown rice flour, and sorry, but the only rolled oats the store had weren’t organic.” Barney was just placing the ingredients on the kitchen table.
“That’s fine, as long as they’re not instant, but I don’t know what we can substitute for the rice flour.”
“They’re the old-fashioned kind. And I picked up some plain yogurt, too, and some strawberries. I saw a picture of a yogurt parfait that had granola and fruit in it and I thought it looked delicious. Healthy, too, I’m sure.”
“Mom used to do that sometimes. She had the prettiest light blue glass dishes.” Cara went to the table and looked over the ingredients. “Thank you for getting all this stuff. After you left, I remembered that Mom sometimes used dry powdered milk in her recipe. We’ll see how it goes without it. I doubt it’ll make that much of a difference.”
“There’s a new natural foods store right outside of town but they close at two on Fridays. Damn.” Barney was visibly aggravated with herself for not thinking of it sooner. “I’ll bet they have powdered milk and maybe even the rice flour. Or I can run back to the market to get the powdered milk.”
“Thanks, Barney, but it’s not necessary. We’ll wing it with what we have right here.” Cara turned on the oven to preheat it. “Now, I’ll need the largest mixing bowl you have.”
The Last Chance Matinee Page 13
