“No, I completely understand. Don’t worry at all.”
“Tar, we’re going to be gone for a couple of days. I don’t think we’ll be back until Monday or Tuesday. I hate to do this to you.”
“Marie, don’t worry about it. Family is first, always first. Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything?”
“No. Just your understanding and love, that’s all we need. I really hate this. I know you wanted to spend the weekend with his family; I feel like I’m sticking you. I feel horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“Marie! Please! It’s okay! I’ll figure something out. Just give Gary and his family our condolences.”
I turned the washing machine on and added the soap. Shit. What was I going to do now? I had just unloaded the dryer when my phone rang again. All of a sudden I was popular.
“Hi Pete,” I answered glumly.
“You okay?” Pete asked.
“Yeah. No. I just got off the phone with Marie. Gary’s mom passed away this morning.”
After a few minutes of filling him in on what little information I had he got to the reason for his call. He had calculated the cost of the materials to do the stairwell remodel. The steel door alone was several hundred combined with drywall and wood studs came to almost two thousand dollars.
That didn’t include his labor.
Pete figured once he got the work permit Thursday morning he could start later that day, but it would be loud with all the banging and he’d have to cut through the brick wall to make the new outside door.
“I can start the demo of the drywall tonight and get that out of the way. Tammy is going to be busy making food for a luncheon she’s catering tomorrow anyway. Oh, and before I forget to tell you, she booked a party for Saturday, so she can’t work Friday and Saturday nights,” he said.
That put the icing on my cake. I was hoping that Tammy would be able to lend a hand to manage the crowd but now that option was gone too.
I snapped my phone shut and sat for a while. I couldn’t handle the crowds on my own. I was already looking forward to a weekend off with Ryan and his parents. Ryan had just made diner reservations for Friday. His parents already cancelled their hotel stay. Damn.
I let out a big sigh. I couldn’t cancel on Ryan nor jeopardize meeting his parents for the first time. I wandered around the apartment, trying to figure out what to do.
I was leaning on the washing machine when I thought I heard someone scream, instantly grabbing my attention.
“No freaking way,” I groaned, looking out my front window. I could clearly see the line of girls forming on my sidewalk. They were waiting for me to open, and it was obvious that they weren’t here to drink. The line was so long, there must have been forty or more of them.
I hurried down my steps to get a better look at the situation. I peeked through the blinds, shocked at what I saw. Girls were leaning on my walls;
some were sitting on the sidewalk. I looked in the other direction to confirm that the line started at my door. Un-freaking believable!
Right then I made my final decision. I walked to the kitchen to get a piece of cardboard. In my office, I grabbed a fat, black magic marker and wrote in big letters:
I could hear the anger from the waiting crowd when I put the sign in my window. They certainly left me know how they felt about it, but I ignored them and went back upstairs. I had phone calls to make and bands to cancel. There went my Halloween weekend income.
“I’m on my way,” Ryan said when he called from his car. “How’s the crowd? Everything all right there?”
“There is no crowd. Most of the girls left after I put the closed sign in the window, although a couple of them pounded on my door,” I sighed.
“Closed? Taryn, what’s-”
“I had no choice,” I muttered. “Gary’s mom died this morning. He and Marie are leaving for Tampa tomorrow morning to be with his dad. Marie is staying home with him tonight; he is pretty distraught.”
“Jeez, why didn’t you call me?”
“For what, Ryan? To give you bad news while you’re having a stressful day as so as it is? I figured I’d fill you in when you got here.”
“What about Cory? Isn’t he supposed to work tonight?”
“I cancelled him. I cancelled the bands I had scheduled to play this weekend too. Actually I’ve been on the phone most of the afternoon it seems.
Oh and Pete called. He’s coming here tonight to start tearing down the drywall on the steps. That was another reason – Tammy has catering jobs this weekend so she can’t work either.”