Chapter 6

I woke up the most refreshed and relaxed I had in months, sleeping in my own bed even though it wasn't in my room was fantastic. I got up tossed on a house coat and walked into the house for a refreshing shower in my bedroom. Once I got out of the shower and dressed I walk back outside to find Cheryl looking for me with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"I don't think anyone else is up yet" she whispered.

"I will bet you any money that Mark is up already" I answered.

"Don't take that bet" Mark said as he walked down the driveway with the dogs.

"Did you take them for a run with you?" I asked with a grin.

"Well I tried but they won't go past your property line they just hung out there until I came back" he said.

"Well come on I have breakfast ready, we can eat in the barbeque area as there is a table there." Cheryl said.

We grabbed our plates as Cheryl pushed Cindy down there in her stroller.

"Mmm this is good, are you bringing Cheryl with you on jobs, I sure wouldn't mind eating like this when we are working." Mark stated.

"Yeah I have been thinking about that as well, I think rather than share the good food with you maybe I will just stay home and let you do all of the field work." I said with a laugh.

"Well yeah you are getting ancient, I don't imagine you have more than one or two years left in you." Mark said with a smirk.

"Why you young pup. What are you 20 or something like that?" I said giving him a punch on the shoulder.

"You know as well as I do I am 32 years old." Mark said indignantly.

Jack and Shelly came up then so Cheryl raced off to get them their breakfast and some coffee.

"Well what is on the agenda for today boss?" Jack asked.

"I believe we are on a paid day off thanks to your old boss" I replied.

"Do you think we can get any money out of them?" Mark asked.

"My lawyers think we will do better sitting around here than what we would have done working. I think it is important that I keep everyone ready to go though just in case they say the damages weren't that bad as we had other work or something." I said.

"So you are going to pay us full wages to sit around here for a week and a half?" Mark asked.

"Full wages and a performance bonus if the lawyers are right." I said with a smile.

"Well that is good because with the scabby wages you pay us I am barely able to put Kraft dinner on my table for supper." Mark said with a smile.

I just glanced over at his new motor home. "How much was that one $250,000.00?" I asked.

"No I got it on sale $200,000 even." Mark replied.

I saw Cheryl look at us in disbelief. I could see her thinking mine was a nicer unit than his and if his cost that much how much was mine. I just winked at her as I got up to let whoever was at the gate in.

The flooring guys were here, I was surprised that they got here ahead of the painters but I guess they figured they might as well get started now that they had room to work. The painters showed up a half hour later and told me they would be finished by noon.

It was a hot fall day with a slight breeze, Cheryl went in and opened all the windows in my bedroom and walked around the outside on the second story patio opening the windows, before she went to get Julie and her son Steven.

We were all talking about the coming week and all the motor homes that would be parked here; Mark suggested I make a campground down by the river for occasions like this. I thought that was a great idea so we jumped in my pickup and drove down to the river to see if there was anywhere that might work without too much work. There was a clearing that would work well, but the path on the way down would be a little hard on the motor homes, I came back and jumped into the backhoe I had purchased for building the house and drove down to build a better road. I was digging away pretty good when everyone walked down through the trees to the clearing.

Mike started by staking out his lot and between him and Mark they had decided where everyone would park. I saw Mark walk back into the trees and within a few moments he was back in his motor home waiting for me to finish so he could park. I only had to take off a couple of high points so I was finished fast. As I got out of the backhoe to watch Mark drive in and park the dogs took off back towards the house. I mentioned to Cheryl that someone probable wanted in the gate, so she ran up to let them in. Mark parked his motor home and we all walked up to see who was here.

I was surprised at just how close to the house the clearing was, the walk through the trees was only a couple of hundred yards. We got there as Mark's wife Cathy was walking down to the barbeque area with Cheryl. Cathy spotted me and immediately started doing that thing girls do when they take their bras off without taking off their shirts, by the time I got to where they were standing she had it off and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek leaving her bra on my shoulder as if this was a normal way to greet someone, well for Cathy it was as she had done the same thing to me for all the years I had known her. Cathy was short only about 5' tall a stocky girl with a figure that showed her time on the treadmill or out running with Mark.

"Oh my you have grown" I said looking at the tag on her bra.

She giggled and said "no I just bought that one a little large so you would have something to fantasize about."

"Double D cup" I read "and I thought they were perfect at just a single D" everyone laughed as I leered at her.

I noticed Jack's wife Cathy having a whispered conversation with Cheryl then nodding at her, she called Jack over to move the motor home down to the clearing. We all walked down to help Jack get it backed into where he wanted it and get it level. Both Mark and Jack's motor homes had self levelling built in so it wasn't as hard as it sounds. When Shelly came out of the motor home her bra was noticeably absent.

We spent a little time setting up a fire pit and figuring out the best places for some picnic tables I would have to get. I wondered back to the house measuring the distance so I could get the right amount of hose to hook up water to all of the motor homes. For sewage they were just going to have to go into town and dump there. I got Mike and Mark to give me a hand to take down the construction power center I still had from building the house, I barley had enough cable to get power to the clearing but they would each have to come up with a long extension cord to get power.