Granddad's House (On Geneva Shores) (14 page)

The older man paused and peered intently at him. “I’m probably out of line for saying this, but you’re the kind of man I’ve always wanted for her. These modern girls—they want their careers and they seem to wait forever to get around to having a family, too. Not like when I was young, when the women—most of them, anyway—just wanted to get married and have babies. The only ones who had a career then were those without men, those in the war. I’ve never interfered with who
Livvy sees—not that she would let me. I’d probably get a tongue-lashing, but I think it’s too bad you and she—well, she has her standards. It’s really too bad.” He shook his head. “Maybe I spoke out of turn.”

Beau detected a wily glint in the old man’s eyes. “So you’re saying that if I had my own agent, she might be willing to get to know me?”

“Maybe. Maybe not, but it might help. Women—they’re sometimes hard to read, but she reminds me of my wife. She was the same way when I first tried to get her to notice me. She was working in Seattle and every time I went over to see her, she wouldn’t have a thing to do with me. Kept telling me I was interfering with her career advancement.” He took another bite of the cookie. “Hell! She was in the third row in the secretarial pool. I’ll bet her boss didn’t even know her name. But she was so careful about things like that, until after the night I took her dancing. Women used to go to the USO then to dance with the troops, morale building and all that.”

“You were in the service?”

“We all were. I was on medical leave when I saw her. Recovering from my Purple Heart wound—which wasn’t all that much, but it sent me home. That’s how I met her. First, watching her whirl with my shipmates. So I tracked her down where she worked at the Port.” He smiled in remembrance. “Livvy is so much like her. Same red curly hair, too.” He reached for another cookie. “Back to you—and her. Maybe I should have asked you this first, before shooting off my mouth. Do you like her? Personally, I mean? I don’t give a hoot what you think of her as a realtor.”

Beau took a quick breath. “She’s an excellent realtor.”

Robert smiled. “Well, that’s good. I’m glad you think so.” He put down his coffee cup. “And?”

Beau paused.
If you could read my mind …
Keeping his voice calm, he replied, “I would like to get to know her better.”

“Good. Do that, except you may have to wait until we can get this house sale business taken care of. Which brings me to something else I thought of when I came over here.”

“What’s that? Would you like more coffee?”

“Sure would, but you better not indulge me with another cookie. If Olivia or my doctor found out, they’d both string me up. Type two diabetes, you know.”

Beau refilled Robert’s cup and removed the empty plate from the table.

“It looks like there are apartments in the upper floors of this building. Am I right?”

“Condos. I own one of the penthouses.”

“You don’t say. Are they expensive?”

“They are pricey. But when you sell your property, you’d be able to buy one. And prices are less on the lower floors.” Beau leaned forward in his chair. “Would you like to see mine? It’s a little fancier than the others, but I can point out the differences to you.”

“That would be great! Does your place face the lake?”

He nodded. “One of the reasons I bought it. Follow me.” He escorted Robert to the elevator. They exited on the fifteenth floor into an entry area that provided access to only two units. “My neighbor’s door.” He pointed. “His unit faces the other direction. This one is mine.”

They entered a spacious great room with vaulted ceilings and skylights. The main floor-to-ceiling window provided a panoramic view of the lake, glistening in the freshly scrubbed light of mid-morning. To the left was a fully-
applianced kitchen separated from the great room by an eating bar. A breakfast nook nestled on the view side of the room.

“All the shelves in the pantry and below the counters have pull-outs.” Beau demonstrated. “My partner specializes in designing kitchens. He’s worked with so many chefs—in the restaurants we’ve done—and he knows what women like in their own kitchens, too. The only difference between this space and the units on the lower floors is I have skylights and vaulted ceilings. The kitchens are the same. Would you like to see the rest?”

“If you don’t think I’m prying.”

“Not at all.” He led Robert down a short hall.

To one side was a full bath. On the other side of the hall was a guest bedroom with an angled view of the lake. Further down the hall was a large master bedroom suite. Its windows also had an angled view of the lake, a large walk-in closet and a bath with a separate double-headed shower and jetted soaker tub.

“That shower looks big enough for two!” Robert exclaimed.

“Call it my one acknowledgement to bachelorhood.” Beau chuckled. “Though I’ve not used it that way—not yet, anyway.”

“Well, what’s stopping you, young man?” Robert laughed.

Maybe I would have with Heidi, but it wasn’t finished until after …
Beau imagined what Olivia might think if she saw it. He felt his neck grow warm. To distract himself, he continued, “Here, too, we set up the organizers in this closet. Another thing women want lots of these days—space for clothes and shoes and other things, without being crowded. The smaller units don’t have quite as much closet space, but we did organizers there, too.”

Robert nodded and pointed to the room across the hall.

“This last room is another bedroom, but I use it as an office, even though I could easily zip down the elevator if I want to work at night. But the view here is nicer.” He grinned and opened the door to the smallest of the bedrooms, also with an angled view of the lake. A laptop and printer occupied part of a corner desk.

“Is this the kind of place you’re looking for, Mr. Brown, when you sell your home?”

“Call me Robert. Maybe. I really don’t need but two bedrooms at the most, but your view is something. What about parking?”

“Underground and secure. If you parked to the left of our office, you probably drove right by the entrance. We tried to hide it in the exterior design of the building. People who live here activate the door with an electronic system. They don’t even have to get out of their cars, another safety feature we knew people would like.”

“You thought of everything. And that’s how you’ll be working when you make the changes on my property, if we can get past this permit problem?”

Beau smiled. “Yes, if we can get past that.”

“That balcony you have. It gives you quite a view.”

“It does. On nice days I usually eat dinner out there and watch the sun go down.  It’s a nice way to relax.”

“I can see that.” Robert edged over to the balcony and looked out. “I think it might make me dizzy, though. I think I’d rather have my feet on the ground.”

“We were the design team for some condos that overlook Commodore Park, closer to where your house is. They don’t have a lake view, but some of those units back up to the park. The first floor units have little garden areas in the back, if that’s something you might like.”

Beau glanced at the man, his face becoming serious. “I don’t want you to think that I’m pressuring you to sell to me. I’ll understand if it’s not possible at this time, what with Olivia’s concerns and all.”

“Can we sit down for a minute? I’d like to admire your view from a safe distance.”

“Of course.” Beau took a seat in the living room.

Robert looked around, taking his time.

“You have something on your mind, sir. Another question?”

“What was the fourth U.S. national park? I’ll give you a hint. Grover Cleveland named it.”

Beau looked back at the man, so serious with his question. “I have no idea. Crater Lake, maybe?”

“Wrong, but you’re not from around here, so I guess you’re entitled to miss that one.”

“What’s the right answer?”

“Mount Rainier. Ever been there?”

He shook his head. “No. The closest I’ve come is seeing the peak in the distance from my balcony.”

“Maybe you could ask Olivia to take you there. She used to work there summers—when she was at the university.”

“Do you think she would show me around?”

The old man sat on the occasional chair that matched the nearby couch. After a long pause, he took his eyes off the view and focused on Beau. “If you ask nicely, she might. She loves the park and The Mountain. That’s what
us locals call it, you know. The Mountain. You may think I’m an interfering old man, but you’re the kind of person I’ve been hoping would bump into Olivia one of these days. I guess I’m repeating myself, aren’t I?”

Bump into her I did.
Beau gulped, thinking about that, and what had happened after the bump. He rose and motioned for the older man to accompany him.

Robert continued talking as the elevator descended.  “That boy who’s been hanging around for the past year or so. I can’t figure what she sees in him.”

Ah, yes. Ned at the Greasy Spoon or whatever it was called. Beau had regretted agreeing to go there with Fiona’s brother until Olivia had walked in, sun-blushed in that summery dress with hardly any back.
He almost stopped listening to what her grandfather was saying.

“
… and he doesn’t really appreciate her. He takes her for granted, always dashing out of town and then dropping in on her without a moment’s notice—as if she has nothing to do but wait for him. I don’t like him. She can do a lot better, if you ask me.” Robert cleared his throat. “Thank you for showing me your place. It’s real nice.”

Beau wondered why he was feeling light-headed, then realized his pulse was racing thinking about Olivia as they returned to his office.

“It was my pleasure.” He shook Robert’s hand and escorted him out of the building and down the block to his car.

He mentally debated finding an agent to represent him, someone other than Olivia. Someone else from her office, perhaps? He’d seen Bruce around and knew he was experienced, but the man was probably too busy. He rejected Melanie—she’d seemed too new that day he’d overheard her asking Genevieve questions, and she was sure to ask Olivia for assistance, too, which would never do if his goal was to create some distance between the two of them. He
Googled the office, but none of the names that appeared were familiar to him. Maybe someone from another agency. Then he decided to wait until after he heard from George.
I’ll leave her alone, let her think I’m not interested.
Except his interest was climbing by the hour. Maybe her curiosity would get the better of her and she would call him. He smiled to himself at the thought and went back to work.

Chapter 8

“Granddad, what’s this about you going with Mr. Dunston to see some townhomes near Commodore Park?” Olivia scanned the piece of paper with several properties starred. “And why didn’t you ask me to find you some properties to look at? As your realtor.” She stopped biting her lower lip when he glanced at her.

“Of course you are, but he offered and I thought it might be a good idea—to see what kind of work they do. He also made some calls and arranged for me to see how they fixed up some houses like mine. George said one of them went on the auction block and was about falling down around their ears before the buyers gutted it and fixed it up again. He and Beau did all the plans for the renovations. It might give me an idea of how they plan to treat my old digs. I know it’s kind of old-fashioned.”  He held up a vase filled with newly-cut roses. “Put these on the dining room table, will you,
Livvy?”

She took the heavy vase from him, her brow wrinkled. “But your house is not a fixer. It doesn’t really need much help, except maybe in the bathrooms.” Come to think of it, she did wonder about the wiring. Why hadn’t she checked that before they put the house on the market? She decided to look at the electrical panel before she left. What about the plumbing? Was it still being serviced with the original pipes? The roof was new. She remembered when Dad had hired roofers to replace the old cedar shakes with composition shingles to reduce the fire hazard. She scanned the room. The wallpaper in the dining room looked tired. Why hadn’t she seen that before?

George was nice, but … “Can I come along—to see those places?”
I have to see their work, to make sure Granddad isn’t influenced.

“Sure, honey. George is supposed to be here any minute. Beau was going to show me around, but he had some big meeting, so George is going to do it. Why don’t we have a cup of tea while we’re waiting? Guess what question they asked on
Questions
last night?”

“Tell me. I wasn’t home to see it.”

“Something about the Space Needle. Have you been there since that time you took me to celebrate my birthday?”

“No. Do you want to go again?”

“Maybe. Or perhaps you should go there with a nice man—for a romantic dinner. Isn’t that where we saw those newlyweds?” He peered at her over the tops of his glasses before pushing them higher on his nose.

“Granddad. Are you and that lady you met at the senior center trying to set me up again with her grandson?” She raised her eyebrows, her hands on her hips. “You know I don’t like it when you do that.”

“Never mind. It’s just that … you’re not still seeing that Fred character, are you? What you see in him—”

“Ned. No. I’m not,” she interrupted. “The teakettle’s singing. Let me get it.” She was relieved that he didn’t ask her any more questions or make suggestions she didn’t want to consider while they sipped their tea. But when her grandfather opened the door minutes later, it wasn’t George whose face peered in through the screen door.

“Beau. How do?” Her grandfather practically pulled the man into the house. “I guess you finished your meeting? What happened to George? I thought he was going to take me to those places he mentioned.”

“He got called out on a job and there was no way he could cancel, so I volunteered to take his place after my meeting was cancelled. I hope you don’t mind,” Beau replied.

“Not at all.” Granddad looked out the front window. “Are we going in that fancy car of yours? Won’t that be fun!”

Olivia stood up, not sure now if she should go with the men. Why did her stomach have to do somersaults every time Beau James showed up? She slid a hand past her ear, pulling at her curls, suddenly nervous.

Beau winked at her and doffed an imaginary hat in her direction. “Hello, Miss Olivia. Are you coming, too? Or don’t you want to see what George and I thought your grandfather might like?”

“I think I’ll pass.” Now that Beau was the tour guide, she didn’t trust herself. “I’ll look at them later.” Maybe she would wander through Granddad’s house with a checklist to see how much updating really was needed.

“Oh, come on, honey. I know you’d like to see the kind of work Beau does. Won’t that make you feel better about what he might want to do here—assuming he gets all those permits taken care of?” Granddad turned and followed Beau toward the front door. “How is that permit work coming, young man? Almost done?”

“We’ve submitted everything. Now we have to wait until the office calls. Usually they have questions at least once before we get the go-ahead. You’re welcome to come with us,
Olivia.” Beau gave her a little smirk. “And you’re dressed perfectly for where you’ll be sitting. In those skinny jeans.”

She craned her neck and saw that he was driving his two-seater with the little bench behind the bucket seats. She groaned under her breath as she followed the men outside. “I think I’ll just follow you in my car. But then she wouldn’t be able to hear what Beau said to Granddad.

“Olivia, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud,” her grandfather said. “We’ll be room for you, won’t we, Beau?”

Now Granddad was on Beau’s side?
The two men now stared at her, each seeming to dare her—in their own way—to join them.

“We can make this work,” Beau assured her. “I’ll just move some of my things.” He pulled out several architectural drawings in long tubes and tossed them into the trunk. When the back of the car was empty, he opened the passenger door for her. “Climb on in.”

Was he ogling her bottom as she wiggled into the space and moved her jeans-clad legs so that they were behind the driver’s side head rest? 

“Your turn, Robert, in the bucket seat.”  He trotted around to the driver’s side and climbed in. “Comfy back there?” he asked with a lopsided grin.

“Not really,” she muttered under her breath.

“You could sit on my lap,
Livvy,” her grandfather offered.

“I’m okay. Besides, I’d squash you.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You used to sit on my lap when you were five. Don’t you remember? And I used to touch your sides and you would giggle, thinking I was going to tickle your ribs, even when I didn’t.”

She blushed. “No, I don’t remember that,” she replied, wishing he would stop with the reminiscing.

“Well, I do, and you never squashed me then.”

“I’m bigger now.”

“But you’re just as precious.” Her grandfather finally stopped talking and began looking at the homes they were slowly passing.

Beau looked at her in the rearview mirror and grinned. She stuck out her tongue at him, then looked away.
If he says a single word, I’m going to walk home.

At their first stop, she crawled out from the back and stretched against the side of the car. “This was
so
not a good idea.”

“I thought it was just fine,” Beau murmured as he stood next to her while her grandfather wandered in the direction of the condos they were here to see.  “Otherwise, you couldn’t see these places.” He grinned and reached for her hand. “Come on. Your grandfather’s waiting.”

She let him hold it if only to prevent a scene, acutely aware of the zinging of her nerves where his fingers touched her skin, until her grandfather began to turn around. Seeing her chance, she slipped out of Beau’s grip and walked toward him. “What do you think of the grounds, Granddad?”

He nodded his head vigorously. “Nice, very nice. Any chance we could see that one on the end?”

“Do you have a key, Beau?”

He checked both pockets and pulled one out.

“Never mind,” Olivia said. “It’s listed and the agent will want to know it was shown. I’ll use my realtor key.” She activated the lockbox and held the door open.

Her grandfather wandered in. “Well, would you look at this?” He pointed to the airy, well-lit kitchen that looked out onto a small garden area with a brick patio on the other side of the French doors. “I always wanted to do something like that in my garden. Never got around to laying the bricks.”

“You built the rose arbor for Grandmamma instead, don’t you remember?”

“You could be right. I want to see the rest of the place.” He left off his approach to the garden and pointed to a door down the short hallway. “What’s over there?”

Beau opened the door and Olivia followed her grandfather into the master bedroom. A bath area with a large shower was situated off the same wall as a spacious walk-in closet.

“
Looky there! The same kind of organizers you have, Beau,” the older man exclaimed.

Beau nodded. “Yes. The other bedroom closet has them, too.”

“You don’t say. Let me look.” Robert exited the master bedroom and walked across the hall to the smaller bedroom. “Very nice. And I can see the park from this bedroom.” He turned and almost collided with Olivia. “What do you think, Livvy? Think I would be comfortable here?”

She was quiet, not wanting to admit it was perfect for him. All on one level. She wouldn’t worry about him falling down stairs. All the appliances were new. He wouldn’t be tempted to take his old ones with him, something they had argued about before she listed his home. Two bedrooms, so she could sleep over if she wanted or he could use the smaller one as a TV room. That little garden area off the kitchen reminded her so much of the larger version behind his house. And the garage was attached to the house. He wouldn’t even get wet going from his car to the house. Finally, she nodded. “
It looks like it was designed with you in mind.”

Beau smiled.

“Yes, I think you’d be comfortable here. But how you feel is more important, Granddad,” she said, her eyes filling in spite of herself.

Her grandfather was walking back toward the kitchen. “Wait one. I need to check something.”

“Wanna bet he’s looking for pull-outs in the pantry?” She had forgotten that Beau was nearby until he spoke up quietly. She jumped at the sound of his voice. “What makes you think so?”

“He seemed impressed when he saw them in my kitchen.” He grinned. “Next time you come over—”

“When was he in your kitchen?” Her neck and face heated up as she remembered the only time she’d been there.

“Next time you come over,” he repeated, “I’ll show you, unless you’d prefer to explore other rooms.”

“Stop leering at me,” she whispered.

“Leering?” His hands came up as if in surrender. “I was just giving you a friendly smile.”

“Right.” She scurried away from him and toward her grandfather, who had exited into the garden area.

“This place needs some roses,
Livvy, don’t you think, and maybe a little pond with some fishes or at least a bird bath. That’s right, a bird bath.” He glanced in Beau’s direction. “Name two birds that like bird baths, young man.”

“Robins, maybe?”

He nodded. “But the ones they mentioned on
Questions
the other night were warblers and other thrushes. Livvy, what are they asking for this place? I think I’d like to make an offer.”

“But, Granddad, you haven’t sold your place—yet.” She stole a glance at Beau. “I—I—I—don’t know if the builder will take a contingent offer, especially one with such a long closing date.”

Robert looked over at Beau. “Any idea when you expect to hear from those permit people?”

“I wish I knew. They seem to take their sweet time these days.”

Olivia spoke up. “Bruce is showing your house tomorrow, Granddad. Maybe his people will write an offer—and bump Beau’s, er, the first offer.”

“Well, call the agent representing the builder and find out, will you? Except I’ll have to get rid of some furniture. Maybe I should go home and start thinking about that.” He rubbed his hands together. “
Livvy, can you get me the room sizes, too? That way, I can play around with those little cut-outs you showed me once, about where to put things on that grid paper.”

“I’ll get back to you about that.”

“Great! I guess it’s time to go home.”

Beau held the door open for Olivia’s grandfather. “Are you sure you don’t want to see any of the homes we renovated?”

“Maybe another time. This is the place I’d like to buy.” Granddad smiled. “Be sure to tell George what I thought of it—and that I like his pull-outs.”

Beau chuckled. “I’ll tell him.”

Olivia was about to step outside when she remembered. “I forgot to leave a business card on the counter.”

“It won’t matter. When you call Pitt, he’ll know you were here—since you used that special key.”

She nodded. “Yes, and why would I be calling if I hadn’t already been inside?” She sighed and slipped a card between the front door and the jamb.

“Want to sit on your grandfather’s lap going back—or mine?” Beau asked, his voice a low purr.

Her head jerked up. “No.” She stalked toward the car, her neck stiff, trying to figure out how to ride more comfortably in that back space.

When they returned to her grandfather’s house, she eased her way out as quickly as she could and let him tell Beau good-bye.

Minutes later, her grandfather scolded. “That wasn’t very nice, Livvy. Since when are you rude like that—not thanking Beau for the ride and all?”