Chapter 2

So my wife and I had hired Braden, a contractor that had worked on remodeling our master bathroom as our handyman to get some other things done around the house. Apparently though, one afternoon while I was at work my wife Dawn had decided that in reward for his hard work up to this point that she’d pay him with pussy instead of cash.

So the day after is where this one begins.

So Friday evening Braden was due to be there again this time to finish up the doors and do any touch ups and then hang the new ceiling light in the dining room. He showed up just before 5pm that day and was able to get those things done pretty early in the evening. He then looked to Dawn and I for anything else that we were looking to have done, when he asked us about what was next.

Dawn said, “Well I think I want to get the living room and office painted next, and I have some outdoor cameras with lights installed.” She continued, “I already have the camera lights.” “What about the paint, how much do we need, and what time tomorrow can you come over?”

Braden looked at the rooms in question and said, “What color are you thinking for these rooms?”

Dawn answered back, “I don’t see why it has to be any different than what you painted in the dining room.” “As a matter of fact I think you have some paint left over from that, you can start with.”

Braden looked around to determine how much paint was needed, and let us know, “Ok you’re probably looking at another 3 gallons, but we’re going to need probably 2 gallons primer this time to put over the darker color here in the dining room.” He continued, “I am available this weekend, in fact I can be here tomorrow, say just after noon if that’s ok.”

Dawn looked at me and I nodded, as she told Braden, “That’s fine, we’ll pick up the primer and paint in the morning.” “Anything else you need?” She asked.

Braden thought for a minute and looked over the things that had been left in our house for the project he just completed, “Probably some more painter’s tape, and that should about do it.”

Dawn turned to me and said, “Ok we’ll get some tape, primer, and paint, in the morning before you get here.”

With that Braden packed up his things, he and Dawn discussed payment for the work done that evening and she gave him cash for his time.

The next morning we awoke earlier than normal for a weekend day, and headed to the big box store to pick up the paint, primer and tape.

Just after noon Braden pulled up and unloaded a few things from his car before coming to the door. I went to the door to let him in. He brought things into the dining room to stage for the living room and office paint.

He worked all day that Saturday on taping off the baseboards, removing the light switch cover plates, removing the cover plates to the electrical outlets, taped around the windows and began his painting of the office first. He worked all day and well into the evening having put the first coat of primer on all the walls within the office. About 9pm that evening he was finishing up for the day and asked if he could come back tomorrow to put a second coat of primer on the walls. Dawn and I looked at each other and agreed he could.

I asked, “What time are you thinking, about the same as today?”

Braden responded, “Yeah probably about the same time.” He continued, “Shouldn’t take me as long tomorrow since I don’t have to tape.”

With that we agreed, he’d be back tomorrow, and he began to pack up for the evening, speaking to Dawn about his cash payment for the day. She went upstairs to our safe to get his payment, handed him his money for the work and he left for the day.

After Braden left for the evening Dawn and I had a conversation about how much stuff she had for Braden to do, and how long it might take him to get them done. He still had to paint the office, paint the living room, put up the outdoor camera lights, and we discussed what else.

She said to me, “You know after tomorrow, he should be done with the painting of the office, and next week he can do the living room.” She continued, “We’re going to need to come up with some things if we don’t want to lose him.” She continued, “If we don’t keep him busy, he’s likely to move on to something else, or someone else’s work, we need to keep him, he’s cheaper than we can find out there.”

I agreed with her, and asked, “What else do we have for him though?” Then I said, “Well I know how you can keep him around, I’m betting he’s not getting from others what you gave the other day.”

She looked at me with a scowl, and said, “Is that what you want, do you want me to offer it up to him again? Did you like that or something?”

I responded, “Well tell me that isn’t true.” I continued, “Is that what you want? You want him to stick around doing things? But what you really want is for him to stick around and do you.”

Again the scowl on her face at that comment.

She started looking around the house, seeing if there were any projects that we had not started or completed as of yet, that Braden could finish up or go through the entire project.

She eventually found a few other handyman projects for Braden to complete. Dawn then returned to the dining room and started to apply some of the painters tape on areas that she thought needed some touch up or she had issues with that she wanted corrected.

She asked me what I thought about him painting the hallway upstairs as well as the walls at the stairs that lead up to the second floor, I thought why not, have him do it.

That next day, Braden again showed up just after noon to try to get the office finished off, but before that, Dawn had taken him upstairs to show him the hallway and the walls at the stairs that she wanted painted. He looked over the area and suggested that we’d need probably another couple of gallons of paint, and then asked, “Do you want the ceiling painted as well?”

Dawn responded, “Yeah why don’t we do the ceiling as well, give it a fresh coat.”

Braden agreed and told Dawn that we needed probably another gallon of that ceiling paint for that. They then came back downstairs and Braden began work in the office. He was finishing up much earlier than he had the day before, but again, he suggested it was due to the taping he had to do yesterday. About 5pm he started looking around to make sure he had covered everything and began packing up his things, cleaning the brushes, putting lids on the remaining paint.

By 6pm that evening he had left and Dawn was inspecting his work in the office, applying tape to areas that she thought might need a touch-up and turned to me and said, “Looks pretty good though, don’t you think?”

I agreed, it did look a lot better than it had, and said so, “Yeah I think it looks a lot better.” I then turned the conversation to what was next, “So is he coming back tomorrow for anything?”

Dawn said, “No he can’t make it tomorrow, he might be able to come on Tuesday, but it would be to remove the tape from the office, maybe some of the touch-ups in the dining room and office, if he has time.”

On that Tuesday, again, I had gone into the office, and half expected Braden to be there when I got home, he wasn’t. He arrived, within a few minutes of my arrival though, and started with exactly what my wife had told me. He began to remove the tape from the office area baseboards, and from around the windows, and then grabbed a small brush and with some of the remaining paint began his touch-up work in the dining room and office. After completing that, he was cleaning his brushes and packing his things up for the evening, pretty early, but he didn’t want to get started on anything else, fearing it might be really late by the time he finished it. So he said, “I’ll be back tomorrow evening, probably around the same time to start taping off the living room, if that’s ok?”

Dawn looked at me, I nodded, then she replied to him in the affirmative, “Shouldn’t be a problem, was the taping all you were going to do, how are we on paint?”

Braden looked at the paint cans, which there were a couple of empty cans, but he also had one that was not even opened, and another mostly full can, and then he replied to Dawn, “Should be good with paint, for the living room.” He then looked at the paint he had left for the ceiling, and said, “Yeah even for the ceiling.” He answered the rest of Dawn’s question, “Yeah I think taping is all I’ll be able to get done tomorrow, don’t want to get started on something and only get half way through it.” He continued, “I guess we’ll see how long it takes and that, but that’s the plan.”

On that Wednesday, I had once again gone into the office, while Dawn was working from home, I was running a bit late getting out of the office, and therefore a little later getting home. By the time I had arrived, Braden was already there. He had taped off the baseboards in the living room, around the windows, and the electrical outlets and he had removed all the switch plates and electrical outlet plates.

I could tell he had finished up his taping, and began to paint the living room, starting with the ceiling. I did not immediately see Dawn or Braden on the first floor though. Thinking back to a couple of days ago, I wondered if they were upstairs doing the same thing as last time. Just then Braden came in from the garage, he apparently had not opened the garage door but was out there doing some painting of some trim boards that Dawn had asked him to potentially install. After a couple of hours of painting he had finished for the evening and began to clean the rollers and paint pans. Started preparing to leave for the evening.

Braden then turned to us and stated, “I don’t think I’ll be able to get her tomorrow evening for enough time to get anything done, and Friday evening I won’t be able to make it, but should be available for Saturday, if that’s ok?”