The Kitchen Renovation Crew Stayed Three Weeks Longer Than the Quote novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Housewarming
The first warm Saturday of the year came in with a clear sky and a south wind.
By noon the whole street was on my back lawn.
Tanner stood at the grill in his flannel with the sleeves pushed up and a spatula in his scarred hand.
He turned each burger once and never looked at the clock.
Kou lined up the napkins in a row on the new table.
It was pine, built that week in the garage, long enough for ten and still smelling of the saw.
Mikko wore an apron that said KISS THE COOK and had no idea who had put it on the hook.
"I bought it," Tanner said.
"You bought it?"
"Wear it."
Mikko wore it all afternoon.
My sister came early with a bowl of potato salad and stayed to boss everyone.
She set herself at the end of the table with a view of the whole lawn.
Whenever one of the three men passed behind my chair, her eyebrows went up and down.
The neighbors came with lawn chairs and covered dishes and the invitations I had written on the backs of the old quote sheets.
The tulip lady held hers up to the sun.
"Britta," she said. "It says here on the front, six weeks."
"That's the estimate."
"How long did it take?"
"Nine," I said. "Almost."
"They charged you for nine?"
"They charged me for six."
She turned slowly and looked at the grill, at Tanner, at Kou refolding a napkin, at Mikko in his apron.
"They stayed three weeks past the quote and didn't bill you for it."
"They did."
"Well, I'll be damned," the tulip lady said. "Do they do bathrooms?"
"We run over," Mikko called from across the lawn. "It's a thing with us. Fair warning."
"I'll take it," she said, and tucked the invitation in her bag.
The man from across the street came last, with a pie in both hands and his leaf blower nowhere in sight.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Kitchen Renovation Crew Stayed Three Weeks Longer Than the Quote are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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