Chapter 10

The doorbell took Spencer out of his thoughts and his work. He had installed a doorbell extender with a wireless receiver, so he could hear if someone was at the door.

“Come on in! It’s open! I’m here in the backyard,” he yelled.

Lindsey entered the house and made her way very shyly to the backyard.

Spencer waved at her from inside a big shed that he used as a workshop. It has been a week since he had talked with her at the reception. He had been trying to come up with a reason to see her again, but couldn’t find any without having to see Melissa too.

Spencer took a good look at Lindsey as she walked towards him. She had a tiny nose and a very appealing petite figure. Her tanned skin tone held the warm color of old copper. She was not gorgeous in the typical Hollywood ideal, but she was beautiful in a very unique way.

“Hi, Spencer. I hope I’m not bothering you at work.”

“Hi, Lindsey, welcome to my workshop. You’re not bothering me at all. Come in, take a look around. One of the good things about being my own boss is that I can take breaks whenever I want,” he said smiling at her.

The smell inside the shed was wonderful, a mixture of wood, varnish, and sawdust. Lindsey thought it was the best smell ever. It was right up there with the smell of Spencer’s Eau de cologne.

As she looked around, Lindsey was amazed by all the gorgeous furniture she saw. She had never seen anything that was made of wood look so warm and lifelike.

“Do you like it?” Spencer’s voice made her jump.

“Yes! I love everything I see. You’re a true artist. These chairs are magnificent.”

Spencer’s smile grew bigger. “Thank you, Lindsey. You flatter me.”

“Just telling the truth.”

“So is this what you do for a living or is it just a hobby?”

“It was a hobby at first. Dad was an amateur carpenter so I was always playing with his tools and wood scraps. When I got my graduate degree in Business Administration four years ago, I landed a job in Portland with a wonderful company and was making more money than I’d ever seen. I was also brutally unhappy. I mean, cry me a river, right? A cushy paycheck. A house and a new car. From the outside, my life appeared enviable, and in many ways, it was, but every Monday when I dragged myself to work, I felt as if I were drowning. So I quit to pursue my passion to build furniture.”

Lindsey could relate to what Spencer was saying, but she could never see it happening to her. “Quite a life-changing decision.”

“Indeed. When I quit my job, in my mind I was opening an old wooden door, leading to a room full of dreams. For many reasons, not the least of which were society’s ideas about what it means to ‘grow up’ and ‘get serious’ and ‘be a good provider’, I had closed that door years before. For me, that door opened onto a woodshop, this shed, to be exact,” Spencer opened his arms. “I don’t make as much money as I did, but I’m happy. And stress-free.”

“People must have thought you were crazy,” Lindsey commented.

“Some of them did, but I’ve never been the kind of person to follow the crowd. I’ve learned that handcrafting a life is a lot like woodwork. You know you want to create something beautiful, a piece that will last. So you take some lumber, make your first rough cut, and go from there. And the process that carries you from the first rough cut to the last finishing coat, that’s what makes the masterpiece.”

As Spencer explained everything to her Lindsey felt a sense of freedom she hadn’t felt in a long time. A feeling that made her smile. She was also stuck at a high-paying job that led nowhere. Like Spencer, she had settled for the old-fashioned definition of success.

She was struggling with anxiety regularly. She had sleeping problems. She didn’t have time to relax and enjoy what she was doing. All she knew was hard work, stress, pressure, and exhaustion. She was usually busy juggling a lot of things at the same time.

“You gave me a lot to think about, Spencer.”

“I’m sorry, I suppose you didn’t come here to hear the story of my life. So, what does Melissa want this time?”

Lindsey couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know her pretty well.”

Spencer shook his head, “I used to. I remember how stubborn she can be when something gets in her mind. At least she didn’t change on that.”

“No need to beat around the bush then: she wants a second chance to reconnect with you. Rekindle your friendship if it’s possible. Believe me when I tell you she never got over you.”

“And what Melissa wants, Melissa gets...” Spencer said with a hint of sarcasm. “Well, you can tell her The Rolling Stones were right, you can’t always get what you want.”

“Just this morning she told her agent and her manager that she wanted to take a break from acting and they gave her a hard time about her decision. I’m pretty sure they are going to try really hard to make her change her mind. But she’s determined to stay here in town for a while.”

Spencer was a bit surprised to hear that. “It’s about time she started doing something to help your mother besides sending money.”