CHAPTER TWENTY
RYAN

According to Elijah, the subfloor in the east bathroom has been rotting since approximately the second Bush administration and now he’s on his knees with a flashlight and the expression of a man who has seen things he cannot unsee.

“How bad,” I say.

“Bad enough.” He sits back on his heels. “Joists are soft. Three of them at least. Maybe four.”

Jake is in the doorway doing the same math I’m doing. Demo, sister joists, new subfloor… “How far out does it push us?”

Elijah stands up and wipes his hands on his work pants. “I can have the demo done by lunch if Matt and Dale pitch in. But I need the materials this afternoon or we’re losing at least a day.”

“Guess I better go see what Rowdy’s got in stock.” Jake pulls out his phone. “Wanna run over there with me?”

“Sure,” I say, already heading for the door.

Jake’s truck smells like sawdust. He drives the way he does everything, both hands on the wheel and the radio low because he’s completely unbothered by silence. 

“Dale okay?” I say.

“Leg’s fine. Ego’s worse.” He signals, turns. “You?”

“I didn’t fall through the floor.”

“No.” He lets that sit for a second. “Heard you on the phone earlier. Is everything okay in Nashville?”

I look out the window.

Main Street rolls past. Ray’s truck in the square lot. Ray crouched over the east garden bed doing something to a plant that looks fine from here.

“I pitched the partners on a regional office,” I say.

Jake’s hands stay on the wheel.

He pulls into the hardware store lot and parks and cuts the engine and sits there for a second. “And?”

“They’re considering it.” I open the door. “They thought Oak Valley would be too small, so we agreed on Crossroads. It’d be a small operation to start, but apparently a music label they have a contract with is setting up headquarters there.” I watch the hardware store appear at the end of the block.

“That sounds like a good opportunity for you.” 

“It is,” I admit. “The partner track is still on the table. They want the formal proposal in their inboxes by Monday.”

Jake hops out of the truck and jogs to the entrance of the hardware store. “Does Dani know?”

Rowdy’s behind the counter. “Jake. Calloway.” He comes around, already moving. “Subfloor?”

“Yep,” Jake says. “How’d you know?”

“Just got off the phone with Elijah,” he says, disappearing into the back as Jake starts down the aisle.

“So,” he says, picking up a box of screws. “Does she know?”

“She heard half a phone call.”

“So… no.”

“Nope.”

He nods once like that’s exactly what he expected and “Figured it was something like that.”