Home from the Holidays
Closing the door and leaning heavily against it, Terry rested his head against the wood and sighed. Pushing himself forward, he threw his keys into the dish on the hall table, he walked slowly down to the kitchen. Filling the kettle and putting it on to boil, he leaned against the counter and looked around, the hint of a smile on his lips. “Home”, he mouthed.
The twins had insisted that he didn’t spend the holidays alone, and he’d finally managed to get away from Bron and Ed’s place on January 4th. He was surprised by the fact that he’s actually enjoyed the time with his friends, and he’d even managed to visit Bud and Marie on New Years Day for a few hours.
The kettle boiled and he made himself a mug of tea. Walking through the lounge room he unlocked the patio doors and sat in the shade on the swing seat. For the first time in about twelve days he was surrounded in silence. He sipped his tea and pushed his foot to swing idly in the welcome breeze. He couldn’t remember a summer quite as hot as this one was turning out to be.
He must have dozed off as the next thing he knew there was a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him.
“Sorry, mate. I didn’t want to wake you as you looked so peaceful, but I needed to let you know that I’m here, didn’t want you to think I was an intruder and have you take me down.”
Terry looked up into the grinning face of Jeff. “G’Day, Jeff. Sorry, I’d completely forgotten that you were coming over today. I’ve only just got home and was enjoying the quiet.”
“I can imagine that the twins kept you well and truly in the thick of things over Crimbo, whether you wanted it or not. We all care about you, Ter.”
“Thanks, Jeff. You want a cuppa before you start?”
“No, I’m right, ta. I’ve got some water in your fridge for later. You wanna come take a look at how things are going?”
Terry nodded and got up to follow Jeff up to the master bathroom. His mouth dropped open when he saw how much Jeff had done while he had been away. “Didn’t you take any time off over the holiday, mate?”
Jeff grinned, “Of course I did, but Seb was working from the 27th to New Years Eve, so I came over every day. It beat being on my own, Mum spend the holidays up the top end.”
“You’re a star, mate. It’s almost finished. I know you’re an ace plumber, I’ve seen the work you did for Maximus, but this is way beyond what I was expecting.”
“Thanks, Terry; that means a lot, believe me. I love my job, and doing something like this for a friend and neighbour is a joy.” Jeff replied. “I’m just finishing that corner of tiling today, then tomorrow I’ll come and check everything with you and clean everything up.”
Terry looked around again and grinned, “Can’t see too much mess, mate. You work clean.”
“Ta, but I’ll wipe round everything to make sure there’s no dust anywhere, and check the bedroom floor when I take up the dust sheets. There shouldn’t be any scratches or anything on the wood as all the heavy stuff came up through over the balcony.”
“Cheers, Jeff. If there’s nothing I can do to help I’ll leave you to it. Come and find me before you go, we’ll have a bite to eat.”
“Um, Seb is coming to get me when I’ve done. He dropped me off at the end of the drive before going into Coffs.”
“That’s okay. Give him a call and see if he’d like to eat here, I can get some steaks out.”
Jeff smiled as he gave Seb a call, then grinned as he hung up. “He said not to bother with the steaks, Terry; he’s going to pick up something from Andy’s.”
“Okie dokie,” Terry smiled and left Jeff to carry on with his work. He changed into his shorts and tank, then went down to his study to check the walls. The oil he’d applied had soaked in well during the time he’d been away, and he could see that at least one more application was needed to bring out the best. He was just about to finish the second wall when the doorbell rang. “Bugger it!” he said out loud; he didn’t want to stop until he got to the corner.
“I’ll get it, Terry,” Jeff spoke from the doorway, an icy bottle of water in his hand. “I think it’s Seb. You get to the end of that wall before you stop. We’ll get everything ready out on the patio.”
“Cheers, mate. I’ll be about five minutes,” Terry replied. True to his word, it was only about five minutes later that he walked through the door, drying his hands as he went. Stevo stood up and walked towards him, giving him a hug.
“G’Day, Terry. Good to see ya. Hope you’re okay with seafood, it’s Andy’s special today.”
“Love it, Stevo, thanks for picking it up. Not having to cook gave me time to work on my study walls.”
The three men sat down to enjoy their meal. When their plates were empty, Terry got up to take them into the kitchen ready to load into the washer. Stevo followed him in and went to the fridge. “I got some dessert too, Terry. Hope you have space for it.”
Terry eyed the box from Lucy’s and grinned. “I’ve always got space for a treat from there, mate.”
Stevo carried the box out, asking Terry to bring plates and forks. He placed the box on the table and lifted the lid off with a flourish revealing a wonderful chocolate gateau. “We’ll split any that’s left over, Terry. Your fridge is a bit empty, but at least you’ll have a sugar fix until you’ve been to the store.”
“Thanks for reminding me, Jeff. I’ll head over to Braddock’s later and stock up.”
After a couple of hours catching up, the boys decided it was time to go. Splitting up the cake and placing Terry’s portion in the fridge, they all walked to the door. Jeff reminded Terry that he would be back the following day to finish up, they all hugged goodbye and Terry waved them off down the drive.
He walked back up to the bathroom to see if Jeff had managed to finish everything. It was looking perfect and Terry smiled. “That young man is due a hefty bonus” he said to himself.
He went back down to the study to finish up the last two walls. He was washing up the brush and cloth when his phone rang. Wiping his hands dry he picked it up. “Terry Thorne.”
“Hola, mi hermano,” came the reply. Terry sat down heavily at the kitchen table. It was Dino…