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"Wha..what is it, honey." she asked sleepily.
"Larynn, it's me, Josh."
She opened her eyes wider and reached for her glasses, "Thought you were one of the kids." she apologized.
"Gee, thanks, mom." he couldn't help saying.
She tried to continue but was stopped by an enormous yawn. "Uh, sorry. What's up?"
She noticed he was fully dressed and looked down at her own attire. She crossed her arms over her chest. All she could think about was, that after all the times she'd teased him on-line with 'naughty lingerie tales' he had to see her in a faded out old t-shirt with the collar sliced open to make it more comfortable. He glanced at the saying that still showed on it: 0 to Bitch in 3.0 seconds. "It was a gift from the boys," she explained. What time is it?"
He looked at his watch. "0830," he said. "Look I've got to get going. I just wanted to make sure you knew about this note, I wrote for you, it's right here on the nightstand. Will you be okay by yourself all day?"
"I'll get by," she muttered. "You didn't have to wake me up for this; I would've found it."
"I was afraid you might wake up disoriented. Anyway, I've got to get going now, so I'll see you later. Okay?"
"Okay." She rolled back over and pulled the covers up around her shoulders. He wanted to say more but couldn't think of anything. Larynn was back to sleep before he got out of the house.
He was already going to be an hour late as it was. Maybe he could spend
more time with Rafael today, he'd developed quite an affection for the
half-Latino runaway since their first 'encounter'. Come to think of it,
that was right about the time Larynn stopped writing. He'd been so involved
with Rafe that he hadn't noticed, right off, that he only got forwarded
stuff from her anymore. He wondered about it but things had just gotten
so busy that he didn't have time to dwell on it. Maybe he should've paid
more attention then. She certainly had his attention now.
-----
Larynn woke up several hours later, disoriented. The first thing she
saw was Josh's note sitting on the table. She picked it up, put her glasses
back on and read it:
Larynn, here is my office phone and pager number. Call me if you
need anything. I'll try to call later on, if I have time. Help yourself
to whatever there is to eat and feel free to look around.
She assumed the scrawl at the bottom was his 'professional' signature. You didn't teach history without noticing things like penmanship. She remembered when Josh had brought the note in and shook her head in disbelief. What was she doing here? She got up and decided to make the best of it by exploring the house. He had talked about it so much that she practically knew how everything was laid out already.
He had talked at length about the renovations and restoration he was planning. He spoke proudly of compleing his first project, a genuine antique sea chest inherited from his great-grandfather, who had served in the Merchant Marines. It sat proudly in the foyer for all to view, next to a Ming Dynasty vase inherited from the same great-grandfather. She especially enjoyed it when he talked about going to auctions to find other special pieces. She remembered telling him about the vanity in her grandmother's bedroom. With its silver-backed mirror, marble surfaces and upholstered bench. Suddenly it hit her. The vanity in 'her room' here had a virtually identical piece! There wasn't a matching bench as Grandma's had had. Or any bench at all for that matter and the stain was darker, otherwise they were the same. It pleased her to know that he was paying attention to her ideas. From what little she had seen he hadn't done much with the bedroom level of the house yet.
There were three levels in all plus a basement. The uppermost level was more of an attic and didn't have any power going to it beyond a couple of hanging lights. All it had ever been used for was storage and maybe, long ago, servant's quarters. But it did have safe roof access. Josh had mentioned setting it up like a minature observatory. Though there wasn't much point with the city lights to dim the view. And it was pretty narrow. All of the hardwood floors had been refinished. That was the first major thing he had accomplished, before he had even moved in. Fortunately, the previous owners had installed new wiring and plumbing about ten years ago so all he'd had to do in that area was rewire the office circuits to handle his computer, fax/copier and printer. Plus adding an additional phone line. And of course, the kitchen had needed some repairs when he remodeled it.
She was impressed with what he had done in just 6 months. The kitchen was the most recently completed room. She was amazed that he had spent so much time with her online plus worked full time and had gotten so much done already. He was still working on the living room and and hadn't even begun on the bedrooms and upstairs bathrooms. They had both had a laugh over the mess he had gotten himself into cleaning the fireplace but it was worth it, he said, to restore the old tilework.
She had already explored the kitchen. Attached to it was a half-bath, which had a deep sink for mops and buckets rather than a standard sink. She decided to explore the middle level next. It had five rooms in all plus two full baths.
The first room she explored was too small to be used for a bedroom. In earlier days, before central heating, it had been called a "warming room". Now, Josh had converted it to a work-out room of sorts. He had put grass paper on three of the walls. The remaining wall was entirely covered by a mirror. It even had a barre. He had mentioned something about the previous owners daughter using it to practice ballet. There was a Japanese sword called a katana on one of the walls and some bamboo artwork on the other. The final wall held nothing but shelves on which he had a collection of martial arts books, a few smaller pieces of art, a portable stereo and a pewter tin full of black and gold incense cones. They smelled of sandalwood and patchouli. There was also a lighter and an incense burner nearby. The floors were bare but there was a pad he used for floor exercises, rolled up against one of the walls.
She discovered Josh's room next. He had one of those fancy, old, white-painted, iron scrollwork beds, with a colorful quilt on it. There was also an armoire, and a washstand he used for a bedside table. It held a small assortment of books, a crystal water carafe and cup set, an alarm clock-radio, a phone and several pharmacy bottles. She didn't look at the labels, maybe he would tell her about it later. Most of all she was surprised to see his collection of small stuffed animals and fast-food toys on the top of the armoire. She thought about making his bed, but didn't so he wouldn't know she had been in there.
She went on to the next room. Which, it turned out, had been the nursery or playroom. It was the largest so far and still had light blue, daisy print, wallpaper with a border of farm animals combined with the letters of the alphabet and some numbers. All of the painted trim was white. It wouldn't take much effort to make the room usable but what use did a bachelor have for a nursery? The only thing in the room was an old rocking chair that could easily be a family heirloom. She'd have to ask him about it. None of the floors were carpeted and she was grateful she had on her authentic Cherokee mocassins or her feet would be freezing.
Finally, she looked into the master bedroom. It was everything Josh had described and more--the major selling point of the house as far as he was concerned. She decided to wait until Josh got home to explore it fully.
The main bathroom could be entered from the hall or nursery and hadn't had any decorating done in it, either. The other was attached to the master bedroom. She was getting very dusty and realized she should take a shower before Josh got home. She didn't even want to think about showering when he was there. Especially, after that email she had sent him one night. She'd be too embarrassed if he mentioned it.
