He nodded, walked to the kitchen, and brought out two more six-packs. Everybody got another beer, and they sat on cinder blocks or the ground, drinking beer and eating pizza. By the time she had six empty boxes, she was stunned. “Well, you guys eat a lot.”
“Is the pizza gone?” Chester asked.
“Nope,” she said. “I did order a seventh.” He grinned as she made her way over, climbed up the lovely cinder block steps into her kitchen, and brought out the last box. “If you guys eat more than this, you’re pigs.”
Immediately they all made snorting sounds of a piglet. But still, only two of them needed another piece, while the others held up their hands and said, “No, we’re good.”
“Yay. If you leave me some, I will have it for breakfast,” she said mockingly.
Immediately Chester looked at the piece in his hand.
“She was joking,” Mack called out.
“Eat,” she said. “I’m happy to feed anybody who’s working to build me a deck.”
He grinned and said, “That’s the way of it. It’s always best to have beer and pizza with a gang like this.”
She nodded. “Love the camaraderie,” she said. “Nice to know that you guys don’t hate each other after working together all the time.”
And with Chester being the only one still eating, the others headed back to work. She could see it was a much slower job now, but they had the other blocks dug in for the expansion that they had talked about. And, with a plan, they got started, and, before long, they had a frame with metal hangers in position, supporting some of the crossbeams. It looked lovely, even though she knew they were less than half done. With that accomplished, a couple of them said they had to leave.
She nodded and said, “Thank you very much.”
Four of them weren’t coming back the next day apparently, according to Mack, as he stood there beside them, saying goodbye. But the others would.
She smiled and waved, and after about an hour, the rest of the men had all trickled away. It was past 7:30 p.m. already and heading closer to 8:00. “Wow,” she said, letting out a long and slow breath. “It’s been a long day.”
“A very long day,” he said with a smile, “but a good day.”
“Are we likely to get much more done tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Especially now that we have some extra hands, it should be good.”
“But most of the hands aren’t coming back tomorrow.”
“Well, they’re not coming back first thing,” he said, “but I have a few other guys who might show up.”
“You’ve got enough beer for tomorrow?”
He chuckled. “I do,” he said. “You got enough pizza?”
She shook her head. “No way do I have enough pizza for another gang.” She laughed. “But I can get more.”
Chapter 8
Sunday Morning …
The next morning, Doreen woke up slowly, dragging her body from bed. She was sore in places she didn’t even know it was possible to be sore. And that confounded her because, well, she hadn’t done any of the physical work accomplished yesterday. She’d had a shower before going to bed the previous night, which didn’t work out so well right now. A nice hot shower might work out the soreness in her muscles. But she didn’t think she had time and knew she would need some coffee and food before her day started.
As she checked her watch, she was surprised to realize it was already eight. She hadn’t talked to Mack about what time they would all be arriving to work on the deck but figured it would be soon.
Dressing quickly, she headed down to put on the coffeepot. And then she stepped outside, carefully making her way down her temporary steps that they had put in place so she could get in and out of the kitchen. Although a lot had been done yesterday, still a lot was left to be done today. As they had gotten the foundational crossbeams lined up, one of the guys had started laying down some of the decking boards. But that hadn’t lasted, and he did it more to ensure that it would look good. And honestly, from where she stood, it would look dynamite. But no way to know until it was all done.
It still amazed her just how much didn’t get done, and yet how much, according to Mack, had been done. She figured that maybe the deck could have been done in one day, but then, with all the measuring and leveling and brainstorming, that had been too high an expectation. And what did she know? She had no experience in this stuff.
When the coffee was done dripping, she yawned, poured herself a cup, and then stepped back outside again, making her way carefully to the edge of the lawn. She should have gone through the garage. It would have been easier. She walked down to the creek, rotating her neck and lifting and shrugging her shoulders, trying to ease some of the stiffness there. The animals appeared to be just as exhausted as she was. She looked down at Mugs and said, “It’s nice having the company, isn’t it?”
But he didn’t even bother giving her a growl or a bark. He grumbled a little bit and carried on with his head down, plodding forward. She appreciated that. That was something she could relate to, her
