Love on the Lake

Chapter 7 : The start of a busy day

*Juliet*

The next morning, my internal alarm woke me up as early as ever. I begrudgingly get out of bed and go into the kitchen to get some food to hopefully wake myself up. Once the coffee is ready and I've eaten some strawberries, I get back to work.

I manage to fill five more bags and once again have to drag the bags to the front door because they're so heavy but I don't take them outside yet. I don't think I have any more room in the car at the moment. Also, I am enjoying the AC that I have set way too high and I am not interested in going out in the heat just yet.

I wrestle all of the mattresses out of my grandparents' room and my mother's room and put them in the living room against the wall. I blow out a breath because that was quite a workout, then go back to the rooms to disassemble the bed frames. It takes almost an hour to get everything taken apart and put in the living room.

I check the time and realize Logan will probably be here soon and I look disgusting. I quickly go to the bathroom to freshen up. I splash some water on my face, fix my hair, and swat the dust off my clothes. I brush my teeth quickly as well.

Right at 8:55 a.m., there is a knock on the door. I smile and go to open the door. Logan is standing on my front porch once again and is staring at the windows.

“Wow, you really have beef with those windows, huh?" I ask, teasing him right off the bat. Logan looks up at me, confused.

“What does that mean?" Logan asks and I laugh.

“Nevermind. Come on in." I step back and hold the door open for him to come inside. He looks at the window again then comes inside and checks it out from the inside as well.

“We should probably fix those soon. I'll put them on top of the list. I have the measurements for the windows and the ones I ordered should be in by the end of next week," Logan informs me and I nod.

“That's great. I did notice the electricity bill has been very high with the heat from the sun getting in through the cracks," I admit.

“Looks like you've gotten a lot done since I was last here," Logan comments, looking at the crowded living room.

“Ah, yeah. If it's in the way, I can move stuff around. The mattresses aren't that old so I was going to see about reselling them but honestly, they might just end up in a dumpster," I inform him. “I think this couch probably needs to be tossed. I don't know why my grandparents didn't get rid of it years ago. I'm pretty sure they had this before my mother was born." I shiver at the idea and Logan laughs.

“It's in pretty good shape for an older couch," Logan admits, looking over the couch.

“Oh, don't get me wrong, they took great care of that couch but still there is probably something illegal about it now. The wires or stuffing in the pillows, there's probably been some government ban or warning about whatever those are made of," I grimace looking at the old couch.

Logan lets out a loud laugh and I smile, pleased that Logan is enjoying my commentary.

“Hey, at the next bonfire, you can offer the couch up to be sacrificed," Logan suggests with a smile.

“Oh, I don't know about that, that might be too toxic," I laugh, getting into our banter. “I'd probably get fined for the noxious fumes the couch caused."

Logan's phone goes off and he glances at it. He notices the time and his eyes widen a little. I look at my phone and see we've been just standing around talking for almost half an hour. We both need to get back to work. Logan looks down at his phone and responds to whoever messaged him.

“Oh, I meant to ask, is the pool up to date, or does it need any work?" I ask for professional reasons and not at all to pull his attention back to me.

“The pool?" Logan looks up at me. “No, the pool is fine. I just put it in a couple of years ago so you should be fine for a while. Though, if you're concerned I can make sure everything still looks good."

“Oh, no. It's okay." I wave away the offer. “Actually, I don't know how to work the pool system or take care of a pool. That is probably something I should know while I'm living here and using the pool."

“I can give you a crash course on how to handle the pool. And if you decide to keep the house, we can go more into depth about how to maintain it," Logan offers and I nod my head in agreement.

“Okay, that sounds great. Thank you." I smile at him and he smiles back.

“I have some guys coming over today to pick up some of the bigger furniture. They mentioned that they had spoken to you about selling them." Logan looks at me for confirmation and I realize that is who he was responding to.

“Yes, that's great. I've had a few people reach out to me but at this point, it's really just whoever can get here first." I shrug. I'm not too attached to anything and we need to clear out the house so Logan can rip up the carpet, paint the walls, and take down one large wall.

“You aren't going to keep anything?" Logan asks and I shrug again.

“I don't know," I admit. “I don't have space for anything back home and I don't have room in my car to even get big items back home."

“You can always get a moving van if you need to. You don't even need to get a big one, just one that attaches to the back of your car," Logan suggests.

“Yeah, I don't think my car would be able to handle that. But it is something to think about," I say so he doesn't think I'm just dismissing his ideas.

“The guys that are coming for the bigger furniture can probably take the mattresses as well if you want them to," Logan offers.

“That would be great. I need to get everything out of the house for you guys to be able to work on the floors anyway," I laugh, a little embarrassed that I haven't done enough to be ready for them to get started working right away.

“No worries, we've got it figured out. I can also call some people who are good at this type of thing if you want any help." Logan pops open his clipboard and grabs a business card for me. “I have a lot of resources if you ever need anything."

“Wow, yeah. It seems like you do." I chuckle a little and take the card from him. “That's impressive, and good to know but I'm on a budget, and doing as much as I can by myself is a great way to save money."

“That might be true but the faster you get everything done then the quicker you can get the house on the market and get back to your life and job, and whatever else you left behind to come here," Logan says and toward the end of his response, he starts to speak with a hard tone and it throws me off.

Is he mad that I'm going to be leaving when everything is finished? Why would he be mad? He put a stop to my flirting pretty quickly.

“Okay, yeah. I'll look into it," I say and look around the room. “Well, I should probably get back to work and leave you to get started. I'm going to be in my room working for a bit if you need anything."

“Sounds good," Logan says and I guess he's done with longer sentences.

Marcus did mention that he doesn't talk that much.

I leave Logan in the living room and go back to my room. I start to take everything off the walls. I have to throw most of it away since it is old posters and pictures stuck up with thumb tacks and most don't come off the wall unscathed. I'm just finishing with the second wall when Logan knocks on the door to get my attention. I move to the next wall and start pulling off posters but look over at Logan.

“Yeah?"

“Sorry to interrupt, but the guys are here to get the furniture. Is there anything else you wanted them to take or that they could buy from you?" Logan lets me know and I nod.

“Sure." I set down one of the posters and follow him out of the room. Luke, the man I have been in contact with about buying the furniture from me, and his friend have already loaded the dresser from my grandparents' room and the two bookshelves from the living room. They are headed out the door with the buffet when I come out to the living room. “Oh, wow, that was speedy."

“Thanks for the deal on the furniture," Luke calls out as he and his friend carry the buffet together. “I just bought my first house and didn't think about the expenses that come with filling a big house with furniture after moving from a 600-square-foot apartment."

“Glad I could help," I laugh. “Oh! I have a couple of mattresses too and the bedframes if you want to take a look at them. I'll give them to you for cheap," I offer, hoping to get them out of the house today.

“That would be great. Two hundred bucks for both sets?" Luke offers as he and his friend come back into the house and I shrug.

“Honestly, you're doing the heavy lifting and getting them out of the house so that sounds good to me," I agree and shake his hand.

His friend goes over to grab the first mattress as Luke pulls out his wallet and starts counting out hundred dollar bills. He gives me the original price for all the other furniture and then adds on the extra two hundred as well.

“This is awesome, thank you. Hit me up if you're interested in selling anything else," Luke offers as his friend ushers him out the door.

“Wow, that is such a huge weight off my shoulders. Thank you for coordinating them coming out today, that was incredibly helpful," I practically gush to Logan, feeling so much better about this project.

“It's no problem." Logan looks a little embarrassed by my gratitude.

“Oh, I met Marcus," I tell Logan, changing the subject. Logan looks up at me with an apologetic face.

“I hope he wasn't inappropriate," Logan says, watching me.

“Why would he be inappropriate, Logan?" I ask, crossing my arms and looking at him. I try to hide my smile, curious to see what his response will be.

“I know his reputation around pretty, young women," Logan replies and then he blushes when he realizes what he said. A smile grows on my face.

“Oh, so you think I'm pretty?" I ask and take a step toward him. Marcus' heavy flirting last night gave me a lot of confidence.

“Pretty young," Logan amends and it makes me smile even more.

“Yeah, that is not what you said, but it was a good cover," I tease him, making him even more uncomfortable. “And no, he wasn't inappropriate. Well, he did hit on me but after all the rejection lately, it helped boost my confidence," I say with a laugh.

“Rejection?" Logan asks and then he raises his hand to stop the conversation. “I apologize, that is none of my business, and completely unprofessional."

“Sorry, I tend to overshare sometimes," I admit. I turn on my heels and walk toward my bedroom, gesturing for Logan to follow.

“It's okay. So, we have the dumpster here today, it just arrived a few minutes before Luke pulled up. It will be in the driveway most of the time we are renovating. You can use it as well but be careful because we will be throwing in sharp things," Logan explains and I look at him when we stop in the middle of the room, raising my eyebrows. “Sorry, you probably understand the safety issues."

Suddenly, the ceiling starts creaking and I hear the pipes groaning.

“What is that noise?" I look at Logan with wide eyes. Logan looks over at me slowly, a grimace on his face.

Everything starts to move in slow motion from there and before either of us can react, the ceiling drops around us and we are doused with water.