Now it was his mother who spoke again. “Statler should be at your brother Julian’s house. Jules and Petula invited him over for supper tonight.”
Vincent jingled the keys in his hand. “Then forget the text. I’ll head there and see if there’s any dessert left.”
The dogs heard the keys and ran over, wagging their tails.
“Not this time, guys,” Vince crooned. “I’ll make it up to you, tomorrow.”
They seemed to get the picture, because they both turned with a huff and went back to their beds.
“Tell the kids we say hello,” Ellen called out as he headed for the door.
She’d already hit play on her show, so there was no need to answer.
The drive took ten minutes—with one quick stop—and sure enough, Statler’s beat-up old truck was in the driveway. Vince chuckled. He didn’t know why the man didn’t replace that piece-of-shit, but there was some odd attachment there, and nothing would convince Stat to part with the old beast.
Had Statler owned it even during his high school days?
From Vince’s recollection, ithadto be the same one.
But what did Vince know? Before coming home, Vince hadn’t seen Statler in over twenty years. And even back in the day, being from different high schools, they’d only played club football together for a local, fall league; chumming around, but never actually hanging out very much.
But with Julian now in love and living with Statler’s sister, Petula, Vince and Stat had started seeing a lot of each other; finding that they had much in common as adults, and enjoying the hell out of each other’s company.
Vincent was just happy right now that Statler’s newest job, a big factory build up north, had kept being postponed due to finalizing agreement signatures, and gaining permitting. If the projecthadn’tbeen on hold, Statler wouldn’t be able to help out with Vince’s proposed remodel.
As it was, Vince hoped the man’s schedule wasn’t too busy with current, smaller projects.
Knocking once on the door, Vince let himself in, knowing that everyone would probably be out back, enjoying the cool night air.
Sure enough, he walked through a couple large rooms that were the opposite of the construction in Lace’s house.
Here, there were plain, smooth white surfaces and soaring ceilings, as opposed to the pocked plaster of slightly crooked walls that held ancient oil paintings of unknown origin in Lace’s antique cape, where low beams crisscrossed eight-foot ceilings. And that was speaking generously.
“Yo. Stat. Bro,” Vince called out so he wouldn’t scare anyone as he pushed through the back door onto the expansive deck.
“Andthe lovely Petula, of course,” he added, going over to lift and kiss his future sister-in-law’s hand. He whipped a bouquet of flowers that weren’t fake, out from behind his back. “I picked up something for you since your boyfriend has probably already lost his romantic touch at this point in your relationship,” he teased with a wink.
“Asshole,” Julian mumbled good-naturedly.
“Aw, Vince. That’s very sweet.” Petula shot Julian a smirk, then graced Vince with a charming smile. “You must want something.”
Vince sputtered, then laughed. “Okay. You got me. I need to talk with my general contractor friend.”
“Something to do with a certain antique cape owned by one Lace Heiger?” Julian put in impudently.
“You’re kidding,” Vince groaned. “Mom told everyone already?”
“Nope. Buck,” Julian smirked. “He and Bobbie went to retrieve Cooper and Reyghan, had a quick chat with Mom and Pop, then called me.” He ended triumphantly.
“It’s only been fifteen minutes, tops,” Vince groused, then shook his head. “I can’t believe this family.”
Statler didn’t bother getting up.
“What’s this project you have up your sleeve?” he asked immediately. “Just know if it’s anything illegal or immoral, I’ll be charging you double.”
Vince snorted. “Nothing like that,” he assured his buddy, taking a seat and snagging one of the last brownies on a plate that looked like it might have been full, earlier.
“I need a quick bathroom remodel. I was hoping you’d have some time before you head north.”