“Oh, I don’t think you’d recognize the names, dear. A lot of old friends, but not nearly as many people as I’d usually invite. We don’t have the rooms available to rent. Though it might be a good idea for you to ready a few of them just in case someone drinks too much of Great-Grandma’s famous rum punch and can’t drive home.”
“I’ll make sure to get several ready.” It sounded like most of the people coming to the party would be from Gram’s generation. Not that Julie minded. Thiswasa party specifically for Gram, after all. But maybe she could sneak in one more invite. “Can I invite Ivy and her husband? They’ve volunteered to help cut down a tree to bring inside.”
“Oh, that’s nice. I’m so glad that you’ve been able to reconnect with an old friend. You and Ivy used to be inseparable.”
“I’m glad too. It’s really nice to see her again.” It brought back all the fuzzy memories of when she’d used to spend the summers in Pinecone Falls. The Cozy Holly Inn had been Julie’s favorite place in the world until she’d become a teenager, and her social life hadn’t left much room for month-long visits.
“The best trees are out back near the stream, at the edge of the property. But be careful. That’s close to Klaus’s property, and he might give you some trouble. He’s always been a sore loser. His son too. Maybe even his grandson. Be careful.”
That word of advice was directly opposed to what she’d said of Nolan only minutes before, but Julie held her tongue. Mostly because she agreed. The apple couldn’t possibly have fallen that far from the tree.
But with Ivy and her husband with her, Julie hoped she wouldn’t have any trouble.
Chapter 17
Finally, a day that actually went according to plan. Not only had Julie made a large dent in cleaning the rooms upstairs and putting fresh linens on the beds, but she’d gotten a last-minute call from Ned Wheatley. He could stop by.
He was older than even Gram, if Julie had to guess. It was hard not to hover over him as he lowered himself to the floor of the kitchen and tried to wedge his way beneath the sink to look at the pipes. Now she understood why he hadn’t been certain he could fit her in. Judging by the way his joints creaked and popped, she doubted he could try to fit himself under too many cabinets in one day.
But, despite his frailness, he was a friendly man. The gray hair thinning on top of his head showed age spots underneath. He was still relatively trim, and he moved unaided by cane or walker, as many his age would have needed. His shoulders were bowed, but he held himself with pride, nevertheless.
As he splayed himself fully onto the floor, the cat came up to paw ineffectually at the cabinet holding his food. Julie tossed one of his toys down the hall. “Go away. Go play. I don’t need you getting in Ned’s way.”
Ned chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry about me. He seems like a sweet little dog.” He held out his hand to the cat to sniff. The cat turned tail and retreated out of the kitchen. His posture practically bled disdain.
Dog? Hopefully, Ned’s eyesight wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t fix the leak. Maybe he could only see tufts of fur from his vantage point and not the whole animal.
Julie sat at the kitchen table and tried not to fidget. “Do you need some help?”
“No, no,” Ned said, though he was still trying to wedge his way underneath the sink to see properly with the flashlight he held in one hand.
Julie jiggled her foot then forced herself to stop.
“It’s been such a long time since I’ve been here,” Ned said, his voice wistful. “My brother and I used to come to the Christmas Eve party every year. He’s gone now. I’ll be happy to go one last time for us both, but it won’t be the same.”
“I’m sorry,” Julie said softly.
“Thank you. It wasn’t that long ago that we lost him. Pneumonia, last winter. Terrible thing.”
Julie thought of Gram’s cough and swallowed heavily.
“But when we were younger, we used to get fully into the Christmas spirit. Neil and I used to dress up as elves and help Ida hand out the little gifts she liked to prepare.”
Gifts? She made a note on her phone to ask Gram about these gifts.
“We’re twins, you see. No one could tell us apart in our younger days.” Ned sighed. “Those were the days…”
“It sounds like they were fun.” Julie felt a pang of sympathy. She couldn’t ease the pain of his loss, and strangely enough, she wanted to.
She wondered whether she could find one of those little elf decorations at one of the local stores, to put into Ned’s gift. Gram would have invited him for sure.
“Ah. I see your problem here.”
“You do?” Julie hadn’t noticed when Ned had managed to fit himself under the sink, but she could only see him from the chest down. He’d set down the flashlight in the corner of the open cabinet door and was using both his hands and some of the tools he’d brought with him while he fiddled beneath the sink.
“Yes. This bolt here looks like it’s rusted through, and the threading might have gone on the pipe too. I might need to replace the whole thing. The electrical wiring here is old. You should have it moved.”
Electrical wiring obviously didn’t fall under the purview of plumbing. And come to think of it, why was it run beneath the sink to begin with? The house had been built before formal inspections when people took shortcuts.
