Chapter 6

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Randy was sitting at his desk the next day trying to make sense out of some quotes on specialized steel when Don Bailey walked in. "So, what's happening around here today?" Don asked.

Randy leaned back in his chair – the quotes on the steel didn't interest him anyway. "Not a whole hell of a lot," he replied casually. "I'll bet the rain screws up the trick or treating tonight, though."

"Supposed to let up later," Don grunted. "I'm just glad I don't have to go through that hassle any more. There are some advantages to being a grandparent."

"Yeah, I suppose I'll find out someday," Randy agreed. "So what have you got on your mind today?"

"I guess it's more a case of what have you got on your mind?" Don replied. "I heard you were looking for me."

"Yeah, I've got something I need your opinion on," Randy said. "It's going to take an hour or two. Some friends of mine are looking at buying a house, and they'd like someone to go through it to get a professional opinion on what it's going to need."

"In other words, how much fixing up they can stick the seller for," Don smiled. "Shouldn't be a big deal. Is this going to turn into a job?"

"Might, although not right away," Randy told him. "I don't know what changes my friends will want to make on top of anything the house needs. They won't be moving in until spring, so whatever happens, it looks like most of it might be a nice inside job for the winter."

"Always can use more of those," Don agreed. "No reason I couldn't do it right now."

"Fine, I'll call Binky and see if we can get in," Randy said, reaching for the phone.

Fifteen minutes later Randy drove his pickup into the driveway at what he already thought of as Myleigh's house, to find Binky waiting for them. "That was quick," Don smiled. "She must not be very busy today."

"This is all but sold, assuming you give your approval," Randy replied, shutting off the truck and opening the door. "She's going to grease the skids as much as she can to make it a done deal."

"That's Binky for you," Don agreed as he got out of his side of Randy's pickup. "She doesn't like to let a live one get away."

The middle-aged Vietnamese woman got out of her car as Randy and Don walked up. It was generally agreed around Spearfish Lake that Binky Augsberg held the hot hand in real estate in Spearfish Lake. She made a lot of money at it, and plowed a lot of that money back into real estate investments of her own. She and her husband Steve lived in a modest house across Hannegan's Cove from Randy; it was generally agreed they could afford a lot more but that most of her money was tied up in real estate around the area. In fact, Randy was a little surprised that she hadn't already taken this house off of the hands of the owner to sell at a markup. "Good to see you guys," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, always good to see you, Binky," Don smiled back. "This used to be Lisa deLine's house, didn't it?"

"Still is," Binky agreed. "She wanted the earth and the moon for it, so it's been on the market for a while. She just cut the price since she's got plenty of other real estate she needs to get out of."

That answered the question in Randy's mind about why Binky hadn't already bought the place – not enough profit margin. Binky wasn't in the real estate business to lose money, and she didn't. Randy knew that Binky had almost died escaping from Vietnam on a leaking fishing boat, but along with just about everyone else in Spearfish Lake, Randy thought it was a good thing that she had made it out of there since she was too thoroughly a capitalist to have been able to make it in a communist Vietnam.

"I didn't know she was into real estate," Don commented.

"She wasn't," Binky grinned. "She was into being a pain in the ass, which is her normal thing. Her daughter always said that when she graduated, her goal was to get as far away from Spearfish Lake as she could. She told her mother she'd been accepted at State, but didn't tell her she'd also been accepted at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, which is about as far away as you can go to college and still be in the country. Lisa couldn't stand to have her daughter out from under her thumb, so she moved to Fairbanks and bought a condo. Right after that, her daughter transferred to the University of Miami and told her mother that if she followed her there, she'd transfer again. So now Lisa is stuck with two places she doesn't want and can't afford to move again unless she can sell at least one of them."

"Jeez, Randy, I don't know that you want your friends to have this house," Don said. "I'm not into that New Age shit, but there has to be a load of bad karma hanging around here."

"Right," Binky grinned. "I recommended an exorcist."

"Sounds like a wise move to me," Don agreed with an even broader grin. "Let's get this done."

It wasn't the first time Randy had been on a home inspection with Don, and as always he learned a lot. While Randy may have studied and was proving good at construction management, he wasn't the kind of craftsman who could actually do the work, or even necessarily know what he was looking for. Don, with decades of experience, knew what to look for and how to find it. He picked out things that Randy would have not been likely to see after years of experience, and once again he was glad he had someone like Don working for him. Don wound up going through the place for a couple hours, while Randy carefully kept a list of what he'd found.

"Not as bad as I would have expected," Don summed up finally. "There's lots of little diddly things that really should be dealt with so the house will be up to snuff. Stuff like painting and decoration can't really be charged back to the seller, and there's a couple rooms there that are really kinda sick."

"No fooling," Binky agreed. "Who in their right mind would paint a bedroom that shade of chartreuse?"

"We're talking about Lisa deLine, who was never in her right mind in her life," Don snorted. "If it were me, I sure as hell would strip all that woodwork in the living room. There's probably some beautiful stuff under all that paint, but again, that's something that can't be charged to the seller. Might be something that a homeowner that likes piddly projects might want to do."

"I strongly doubt that Myleigh would want to do it," Randy replied thoughtfully. "Trey, I don't know, and I doubt they're planning on being back in town much before Christmas. About all we can do is run it by them and see."

"Well, get me an estimate," Binky told them. "I'll run it by Lisa, and see how she wants to do it. Randy, as soon as you get me the estimate, I'll run it by your friends, then Lisa. I don't think we've come up with anything here that could be a deal breaker."

"Me either," Randy said. "Don, you want to come back to the office and help me work this up?"

"Might as well, so long as we can swing by the job site and see how they're coming with that trim work."

"Sure, might as well," Randy said. "I've thought I ought to poke my nose in there just on general principles, but I'm reluctant to do it without you being there."

It didn't take long for Randy and Don to pull together an estimate, with Don estimating time and materials needed, while Randy priced out things he didn't know off the top of his head and worked up a list on his computer. The little list totaled out to almost five thousand dollars' worth of work. "Well, I guess we'll see what happens," Randy said as he e-mailed the estimate to Binky. "I doubt like hell we'll be able to get started on the job until the first of the year, and then I don't know what Myleigh and Trey might want to add to it. But like I said, it's a no-rush deal, but it'll probably turn into a couple weeks work for your crew."

"Fine with me," Don smiled. "I'd a hell of a lot rather take a layoff than work outside around here in January and February."

After Don left, Randy turned back to the steel quotes with little enthusiasm. These weren't likely to be the best quotes he was going to get for the gym. There would be plenty of time to deal with that issue when the better ones came in, anyway. He sat and stared at the computer screen for a moment, tempted to send an e-mail to Myleigh telling her of the house inspection, but realized he shouldn't, at least not yet. He didn't want to get between Binky and Myleigh if he could help it; he was willing to give advice as a friend, but there was a limit to how far he could go with that. Besides, knowing Myleigh, she would consider this something he would take care of without bothering her.

Fuck it, he thought. There's not that much to do here today and I need to do some shit at home. I need to get the porch cleaned out so we can get the hot tub into place tomorrow night, and I see enough of this place anyway. He shut down the computer and cleaned his desk, then grabbed his rain jacket and headed for the door. He stopped briefly at Regina's desk to let her know he'd be at home if something came up, then went out to his truck, and headed off of the property.

The rain seemed to be letting up a little, he thought. Maybe the kids will be able to have some fun trick or treating tonight after all.

For once he beat Nicole home. That didn't happen very often, and usually when it did, it was in the dead of winter. The house seemed strangely quiet without her there, quiet in a way it rarely did when he was home alone in the summer. There really wasn't much to do on the porch, just move some furniture and rugs. It was something he could have put off until the next evening, but at least it had served as an excuse to take off from work. It seemed somehow obscene that he was sitting here with nothing to do. If things had gone a little differently, he might be out on the Colorado with Crystal and Preach right now. Where would they be? Somewhere around Redwall Cavern, most likely; he knew the trips usually stopped for their third night somewhere around the huge yawning sand-filled abyss. He glanced at his watch; considering the time difference, they were probably still on the river. Oh, well, too damn bad. He might make the trip again, and maybe not, too – like it or not, his life was drawing away from Crystal's.

Though there was still some magic in his heart for Crystal and Myleigh, he had long realized the time had come to put them behind him. He and Nicole fit together like he never would have with Crystal or Myleigh. Though sometimes it seemed that there wasn't quite the magic there that he'd had with the other two, there was more than enough to hold him. It would most likely just continue to grow, if for no more reason than they were a good fit together and shared a host of common interests, even if there were only rare opportunities to share them.

--

Nicole frowned when she opened the garage door and saw Randy's pickup sitting inside. Although she already knew Karin's planned trick to pull on Crystal at the wedding, he couldn't know she knew it yet, because it would have revealed her call to Canyon Tours the day before. It was a cute idea and ought to add to the fun, and Randy would get a kick out of it. But, she'd wanted to get home early enough so she could tell Randy she'd gotten a call from Karin explaining what was coming down, and today was the day she'd planned to do it. Well, so much for that great notion. Maybe it would work tomorrow.