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“I haven’t spoken to her in a couple of weeks. I told you when she called. I honestly don’t know why she keeps calling.”
Tank asked. “Who’s Cheryl?”
Gray looked at Tank. “She’s a former girlfriend. We dated about four years ago. She broke up with me when she saw the relationship wasn’t going anywhere. She got married and moved away. About two months ago, she stopped in the office to see me and told me that she was widowed and she wanted to know if I was seeing anyone. I told her I was and she didn’t take it very well. She keeps calling me, and she’s stopped in the office again to ask if I’d see her, but I haven’t.”
Tank thought on it a minute, then picked up his phone and punched in a number.
“What’s her last name?”
“It was Hanson, not sure what her married name is.”
Tank relayed that information to someone on the other end of the line.
They went up to the fourth floor with Tank. He went up the stairwell first, with Gray and Sam on his heels. He held his hand up to them to let them know to be quiet and stay on the landing until he searched the room. That wouldn't take long; it was all open space with only the furniture pieces lined up on the far wall by the elevator. He was back in no time, telling them to come in. Once inside the room, he locked the door. He asked Gray if there was a way to lock the elevator and Gray showed him how to do that. No one would be able to come in either way without Tank hearing them. He took up a position by the door, and Gray and Sam looked at each other and shrugged.
“What do you want to start on, baby?”
“Well, I was thinking the bookcases. They’re the biggest of the pieces, and once they’re finished and out of here, there will be more room to work on the other pieces. Besides, I can't wait to see what they’ll look like when they’re finished,” she said, smiling. Despite everything else that was going on, Sam was excited to forget things for a while and work on the furniture and start making some changes here.
Gray looked over at the bookcases and nodded. “Okay, I think the best way to do that is to lay them down. They’re too tall, and without a wall to support them, they’re too narrow to walk on. And, while we’re talking about that, you are never to walk on anything that is taller than you. I don't want you hurt. We’ll lay it down or figure out how to build a catwalk around it or something that’s less dangerous. Do you understand me?”
She saluted. “Yes, Sir.”
Gray looked at her for a moment and walked over to her.
“Baby, your safety is everything to me. I never want to come up here and find you lying on the ground—it would kill me. I need you safe and alive.”
He hugged her hard, and she hugged him right back.
“Sorry, I was snippy. I appreciate that you want me safe. I want you safe, too. I promise I’ll be careful and not take risks.”
They began wrenching the bookcases down from the ceiling-mounted winches. They had two of them laid down and were working on the third one. They took up a lot of space when laying out flat. Sam explained the process of first looking for any part that may need to be replaced or filled in with putty. Then they would sand and sand and sand. Once the sanding was complete, they would wipe them down to make sure the dust was gone, and then they’d start staining.
There wasn't going to be a lot of sanding on these pieces—they were in good shape, except the kickboards at the bottom. But she thought they would sand them to see how it looked. A little “distressing” would look good on them.
Once they had the last one on the floor, they rolled up their sleeves and started sanding. Music played softly in the room—Tank needed to hear if anyone was coming so they kept the volume low. They worked quietly, talking now and again about different things. It was awkward talking about personal things with someone else in the room.
After a couple of hours of sanding, Gray stood up and stretched to release the tightness in his back. She did the same and glanced at Gray. He watched her stretch, his eyes raking over her body. “Have you thought about when we should get married?”
“Ooh, you’re a mind reader; I‘ll need to remember that. Did you have a date in mind?”
He tossed his sandpaper down and walked around to her. “Yes, two weeks.”
“Two weeks! Are you kidding? We can't pull everything together in two weeks! Why two weeks?”
He took her shoulders in his hands and held her in front of him.
“I don't want to wait, Sam. We’ve waited a lifetime already. I want you to be my wife; I want it now. I think two weeks is generous. Besides, between my mother and all the kids, we can pull this off.”
She was speechless. Apparently, he didn't realize all that went into planning a wedding. Sam was almost consumed with panic.
“Did you want a big wedding, Sam? I didn't even ask, but if you do, I understand. We’ll make it happen.”
Dresses, shoes, hall, food, family, invitations, flowers—her head spun with all that had to be accomplished.
“Earth to Sam!” She blinked and saw his eyebrows drawn together in worry.
She smiled weakly, staring into his beautiful brown eyes. “I just ... you just ... I don't know what to do first. There’s so much to do. Doyouwant a big wedding?”
