Core Beliefs - Chapter 22 - Anticipation

Core Beliefs – Chapter 22 - Anticipation

Matt had finally slipped into a deep sleep, finding himself in the middle of a wonderful dream, when a bang on his door smashed the reverie. Aggravation elevated as the blasted noise continued.

“What is it!” Matt yelled.

“I’m headed out to the silo,” Chris cheerfully called back. “Do you want to come?”

Matt loved Chris dearly, but at that moment, he could have throttled him.

“No, I’m going back to sleep! Go on, and I’ll see you later!”

Chris gave a softer and apologetic, “Yes, Sir. See you later.” and was gone.

Matt rolled over and managed to close his eyes, but the dream was gone, and no napping was in the immediate future. Grumbling, he rolled from bed, dressed, noticed the time was barely 8:00, and found Charlotte in the kitchen.

“Charlotte,” he asked, “what has Chris so fired up this morning?”

Charlotte regarded him. “Who’s flying in today?”

“Oh!” memories engaged and an embarrassed Matthew mumbled, “I understand.” Reality jolted past the fuzzy happiness of the last few days. “When does Suchet’s plane arrive?”

“He lands at 3:30 in Kansas City, and Joe is going to drive him down with Charley.”

It was all flooding back, and Matt realized the weekend with Ling had wiped everything else from his mind.

“Does love make all men stupid and senile?” he quietly asked.

Charlotte laughed, snorting through her nose before recovering and wiping her face with a napkin. “No. Oh no, my dear Matthew, just new love and complete and total love will reduce an intelligent, normal man to a blithering idiot.”

Matt almost spilled coffee. The two friends laughed and joked about Chris acting like a kid on Christmas day: excited, nervous, hyperactive, wanting to open his presents.

Matt was sure that Chris and Doug had rushed to finish preparations. Soon, they would try to duplicate “The Event.”

“Did the boy sleep at all last night?”

“Neither of us got much sleep.” A polite but unconvincing smile crossed her face.

“Me either, well, not enough,” Matt grumbled.

Matt cleaned up and spent an hour tackling business emails.

“I’m going to Armonia House,” Charlotte said. “Would you like to come?”

Charlotte’s expression and voice conveyed a great deal of anticipation. Matt could sense the energy flowing through her.

“I think some kind of distraction might be good.”

“Can’t stop, can you?”

“Stop what?” Matt asked.

“Thinking about Ling.”

Matt nodded and hung his head, wondering when he’d become such an easy read.

“Grab your jacket and that roll of plans,” Charlotte directed her husband’s boss.

***

The construction activity was in high gear. Charlotte had scheduled the architect and the contractors to meet at 11:00 a.m.

She wanted to walk through the house before the meeting and arrived early. Matt noted that the workers had moved along quickly with new plumbing and air conditioning systems.

Weaving her way through the house, Charlotte took a black marker and wrote notes on the walls. She marked where they didn’t have the right number of light switches, where the new crown molding had not been properly mitered, and a number of other things. Matt was no longer amazed that she was so proficient but appreciated the detail she paid to each element.

The architect and his engineer arrived a few minutes before eleven, and a supervisor for each of the contractors joined. The meeting took place in the garage, where tables had been set up with folding chairs.

Charlotte introduced Matt as the property owner and advised that he would be sitting in. She asked each contractor to give a progress report. Those not on schedule were asked how they were going to catch up. She wasn’t mean but was direct and businesslike.

When the contractors finished and left, she started flipping through the plans Matt had carried for her. She had written notes in several places and asked the architect if some of the revisions would cause conflicts. They were sure the changes wouldn’t be a problem. Charlotte wasn’t convinced.

Together, they walked through the house. She pointed out her concerns. Several issues were quickly resolved, but two in particular turned out to be problems. As the three of them poured over the plans, Matt eyed the building, picturing possible solutions.

“How to get third-floor plumbing across a second-floor ceiling so they could route it down to the basement,” he echoed the issue. “How about using structural steel truss beams?” he asked aloud. “They take up less space and have more free area between the cross sections.”

“Well, gentlemen,” she gazed at her architect. “Will that work?”

The architect circled the perimeter of the room. “Yes, that will solve the plumbing problem and also let us eliminate the large wood support beams, and if you like, we can open the space fully.

Charlotte stood center room, turning slowly. “We’ll open it some, but the character of the room needs some separation.”

“I agree; very tasteful,” the architect nodded.

“Matt, you are amazing,” Charlotte said as she hooked his arm and made one last tour of the Southern Colonial mansion.

Finished with the inside, they stepped into the sunlight and strolled about the exterior. When they arrived at the rear of the house, Matt realized that the workers had removed the large back porch.

“Did you run into a problem back here?” He asked.

“No,” she said. “I have something special planned for this area.” She glanced toward Matt. “I promise you’ll like it.”

They headed back to the Elsberry house. Chris called, and it would take another day to get things ready. Dr. Kumar had emailed that his flight was delayed. He also wanted to change the sensor array, which would require changes to the programming.

Matt decided to try to get some rest.