Unwelcome

I looked at Ellie and shrugged my shoulders before I asked her, "Where would you suggest?"

That surprised her so she smiled and made a cute face before she said, "I...well along one of the walls maybe, but...well we'll...sorry, you'll probably want stairs to replace the old ladder, but keep the ladder as a...well as a memento of sorts," and she smiled at me. She was getting into the project now saying, "Okay, the stairs go up parallel to the loft edge to minimize intrusion into the main level. Then...okay, how is this. The bathroom would be at the front wall and near the edge of the loft, and the stairs maybe a dozen feet out."

"Then that's what we'll do," I said to Collin. "And simple barn style railing along the rest of the loft edge on both sides. Oil the existing floor to make it look richer too," I told Collin and he was taking notes as fast as he could.

"What about a wet bar?" Ellie asked me as she leaned into me.

"Great, add a humble barn siding looking wet bar Collin, with acrylic bar surface and we'll have to fully electrify everywhere, ground floor and loft. Okay Ellie, where does the bar go?"

"Someplace more centralized. "Yes, maybe about a third of the way out from the bathroom and centered in the loft with a three sided bar."

"Done," and Collin continued to write.

Ellie was smiling at me, or rather staring at me as she smiled. "Ben, I'm just offering an opinion. I don't expect you to just go with everything I say."

"You have good ideas." Then I told Collin, "I'll try not to hit you with a lot of other things later, but it's hard to think of everything right now. I may find that I just can't afford some things, but we're going to try."

"That's okay. When we get closer I'll need to talk to you about some things."

"We'll have plenty to talk about. Of course the house has to have priority."

"Of course."

"Okay, now don't stroke when I say this. Take your time. Say...well until Dan Atwater gets back. Then see if you can give me a rough, and I do stress rough idea of what kind of money we might be talking about. I need to have a feel for what kind of offer I want to give Dan."

"It will be worse than rough Ben."

"Well figure on the high side for now and then you and I can argue about the details later."

"You'll crap your pants...sorry Ellie, but you will Ben."

"I'll be sure I'm sitting down when you tell me."

Chapter Nine

Dan Atwater's timing was pretty good. Collin called me aside and gave me his rough guess of what it would cost to satisfy my desires, and I wished I was sitting down. I didn't know how I was going to afford myself. Looking at the barn a second time with Ellie all sorts of ideas flooded into my brain, and each of them had a serious price tag attached to them. I went back to Ellie and told her, "I'm going to have a talk with Dan, so wish me luck."

"You have a lot on your mind now Ben so I'll leave now."

I took her hand and then realized what I was doing and released it as I said, "Please wait. I want to talk to you some more."

"You'll need to get on the road home though."

"Please? I won't need long with your Mr. Atwater."

"Okay, maybe it would be good for us to talk Ben."

I went over to Dan and we slowly walked away as we talked. "Dan, just minutes ago Collin gave me the roughest of estimates of what it would cost me resurrect this place. Now I'll admit that I asked him to do some other things as well, but he knocked the wind out of me. It's going to be expensive."

"Well I don't know a lot about construction, but I do know enough to know the fire did considerable damage. Okay Ben, give me your best number if you can."

"I'm almost embarrassed to say the number aloud. Damn it Dan, I like it here. I can't possibly live here long term, but I do like it here and I want to save it and protect it. Okay. The land alone is going to be worth more than I'm offering, assuming you could find somebody to buy this sixty acres and then pay to demolish the house and so forth. But...well the best I can do is fifty thousand."

"My god, that's less than a thousand an acre and nothing for the buildings."

"But Dan, the house is barely worth what it will cost to restore it. The barn is great, but for what? It's past its useful life unless I can think of a use for it. The land? Well Noah owns everything on one side of it and he's in his seventies and says he has no interest in it. Stan Cooper owns the other side and he's older than Noah, so he's not going to be interested in it. At least this way the county gets the back taxes plus a lot of money that it has to do nothing to earn. It's a win situation for both of us. Well that is if I can find a way to keep it from being fire bombed again. With that history the insurance alone will probably kill me." I had stretched the truth more than once, but I could live with that.

Dan allowed a small smile and said, "You may be right about the insurance. Okay Ben, I've been in touch with the other commissioners and they've all said for me to do whatever I need to do to get the damn property off of our hands. The potential for liability lawsuits against the county has been haunting us to say nothing of the lost tax revenue. We're not a rich county. We do okay for ourselves, but we're cautious and that has served us well." Dan put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Get something to Ellie in writing as soon as you can and maybe we can close this in a timely fashion, assuming your bank doesn't hold us up."

"I'd like to keep this secret for as long as possible."

"I can understand that, and we as commissioners will do our best to accommodate you on that, but naturally no guarantees."

"Thanks. I've asked Ellie to wait so I could talk to her about things. I won't need to go through a bank for the purchase, so that should speed things up considerably. Of course the funds for the restoration might be another matter."

"You said that when you are pushed, you push back and I'd say that's just about right, and potentially you could make a lot of money when the time comes for you to sell this place."

"I hope so because I'm sticking my neck out a mile."

He shook my hand and simply told me, "Well good luck Ben and we'll talk again I'm sure." With that he got into his car and left.

I went back to Ellie and said, "I'm buying the place and I'm starved."

"We can go into town and get something, but..." and she took my hands in hers. "Ben, what's going on?"

"With what Ellie?"

"You, or rather us. We barely know each other, and earlier you slipped your arm around my waist and..."

"I'm sorry Ellie, it just came so..."

"I'm not complaining at all. In fact I liked it, and it didn't even dawn on me what you'd done or that I had leaned into you when you did that. Then that business in the barn when we talked about the remodeling. You just went along with my thoughts. My god Ben, you were letting me design the loft and play with a whole lot of your money. I have to say it again, we're still getting acquainted."

"Ellie, you had great ideas. I wasn't being careless or nonchalant. When you and I were in the loft the first time and we talked then, it was easy to visualize something neat could be done with the loft. I hope I can get you to help me with more details about the barn and the house." I paused for just a moment and then pulled her just a little closer to me and told her, "Now about me putting my arm around you. Thinking back on that I have to say, I liked it very much too."

"Ben is there anything you aren't telling me? Anything that I should know?"

"I'm keeping no secrets from you, but you know what?"

"Tell me."

"If we go to Sparta for dinner, gossip and rumors will fly."

"Oh damn. I don't know if I'm ready for that just yet."

"Just yet?"

"Sorry, I'm just a little scrambled at the moment. What did you mean you bought the farm?"

"Dan said give him a number so I did, and he accepted it on behalf of the county."

"Really?"

"Really. Okay, now this idea might not work, but I'm going to ask anyway. I'm not going home tonight. I had planned on staying here tonight, but that won't work. So I'm going up to the Holiday Inn in Cookeville and spend some time on the computer. But first I need to eat and I'd love a drink or two. I'd also love to have you join me."

I felt her hands grip mine firmly as she stared into my eyes as she asked me, "Ben, I really like you a lot, but I can't just go up there and spend the night with you."

Maybe I shouldn't have smiled, but I did before I kissed her lightly and thankfully she received me willingly. Then I told her, "I meant for dinner and drinks, but all night would be great too."

"Oh god of course, what was I thinking?"

"You had a great thought. Can you join me Ellie? I really want to share tonight with you."

"Let me think a second." She looked down and put her hand to her forehead and I just watched her until she finally told me, "Okay, but I have to make a call before we go."

"Make your call and I'll go for a walk around the house." I was pretty sure she was calling her boyfriend, and I would have loved to stand there and listen to her end of the conversation. I could hear her voice as she started to talk, but I was too far away to understand anything, so instead of walking around the house, I stood at the corner and looked toward the barn. I was intrigued by that thing. It was many times the size of the house, so maybe that was part of what tugged at my imagination. I smiled as I remembered following Ellie up that rustic ladder when we explored it the first time, and I thought about us standing there talking about what could be done with the loft. Yes, it was the loft that pulled at me so much. The rest of the barn was great too, but that huge and very open loft area just stirred something in me. In fact I was being irrational about the damn thing. I was prepared to spend thousands of dollars for something I had no idea what I was going to do with, and almost certainly would lose money on. Would that help sell the house? That was doubtful at best, but that didn't stop me. But truth be told, what I bought was sixty acres that just happened to have a couple of structures on it. The third outbuilding was just a small storage building that stood forgotten and empty behind the barn.

All of the foot traffic and the actions of the firemen had beat the weeds down over much of the front area of the property, and I was into my thoughts just enough that I didn't hear Ellie walk up behind me. She slipped her arm around my waist, leaned against me and shared a weak and thin smile with me, but said nothing as she looked toward the barn. I had no doubt that she had talked to her boyfriend and it hadn't gone well, but it would be up to her when and what she would share with me later. I put my arm around her and pulled her into my side and told her, "I've been thinking about the barn." She said nothing so I continued with, "I know that what I'm doing is totally without solid reason, and it's a potential money pit, but damn it Ellie I'm having fun with that. The house will end up being a nice house. Mostly new and very up to date and comfortable. But that stupid loft gives me room to play and to create something unique. I feel like it's a blank canvas and I'm getting ready to try my hand at painting." The late evening sun was low in the western sky and was bathing the earth in its golden glow as I looked down at her and then gently kissed her. She looked up at me but still said nothing so I put my other arm around her and just held her to me and said, "I'm so glad you have come into my life."

Chapter Ten

Ellie was holding me in her arms as she said, "I know so very little about you Ben. I don't know if you have a family or where you live and I don't know what you enjoy doing, and yet here I am, my arms around you and ready to be a part of your life."

"You already are a big part of my life Ellie."

She managed a smile then and said, "I don't even know if you have a girlfriend, or for that matter maybe a wife."

I kissed her again, lightly and quickly before I said, "No girlfriend and definitely no wife, and you'll be able to tell that when you see how my small condo is decorated."

"Maybe we better go to Cookeville and have dinner."

"Do you have to work tomorrow?"

That stopped her and once again she studied me before she said, "Ben what are you thinking?"

"Just that we might be up quite late talking. I'm full of thoughts and questions."

"Oh," and she her smile continued as she said, "Yes, we just might be at that. I do have to work tomorrow, but I could be late getting there."

"Then let's go to dinner and see what we can learn about each other."

It took us over twenty minutes to get to Cookeville and to the Red Lobster, and we went in with our arms around each other's waist. We talked more than we ate, so it was over an hour later before I asked for the check. That's when Ellie said, "Ben, could we just go to your motel room and talk? I can't have any more to drink and still drive home, and it would be easier to talk there."

I got as far as smiling before she did the same and said, "Now we're just going to sit and talk."

"But of course and I love your idea."

Neither of us showed any awkwardness as we entered my room at the Holiday Inn. We kicked our shoes off as Ellie looked around and then sat on the side of the bed. She smiled and told me, "Only one chair," but that wasn't quite true, but who was I to argue with her?

I sat next to her and for the next half hour or so, we sat there periodically holding hands or touching each other and acting like we were committing a mortal sin, but we talked. We talked until I had to go find a vending machine for cold drinks, and then we talked more, ending up lying next to each other with pillows stuffed behind our head and back. And we held hands, smiled and were soon lying on our sides so we could look at each other as we talked. "Ellie, come up to Hendersonville Saturday so you can meet my brother Ted and his wife Dee. We could go to dinner and enjoy the evening. Of course if you would stay in my guest room we could have Sunday to be together too."

"I'd love to. But I better say this too. We've talked about the fact that we just met each other not long ago, and I'm concerned that our new...well relationship will overheat and we could get hurt."

"To that I'll remind you of, what to me, is a very significant point. We're lying in bed next to each other. We're talking, touching and kissing, but that's all. I understand your concern, but I think with just a touch of caution from both of us, everything will be great."

She smiled at me and said, "That was a very nice little presentation, but we both know how quickly that 'balance', for lack of a better word, could fall apart."

I kissed her hand and then told her, "There is no place else in the world that I'd rather be right now than where I am, so I for one am more than willing to take that risk."

She almost laughed as she said, "How very brave of you."

"Thank you. Now here's another point to be made. Let's say that we met and spent an hour talking over coffee or whatever. Then we had dinner twice for, let's give that two hours each. Then after that we spent maybe four hours together followed by another time for a whole afternoon. So let's see, that's what, maybe ten or even twelve hours total, but we've been together five times. So compare that to what we've shared to date. A few minutes the first time. Okay say an hour. Then another couple of hours and then...that time had to be at least three hours. Now here we are spending...let's see, time at the house and then dinner and now here so...wow, that must amount to six or eight hours or more. This is getting complicated now." She watched me spin my story and play fast and loose with the facts, but she didn't interrupt me. "Okay so that comes to about...well nearly the same amount of time and we're still together, so that means we will have spent more time together than had we seen each other in a more conventional, or perhaps a more traditional way."

"Okay smart man, what does all of that mean?"

"I don't have a clue," and she laughed at me.

"Ben are you really going to do those things to the barn loft?"

"Unless Collin shocks me senseless with his numbers I am. Coming up with more ideas love?"

"Not more, but the bar needs to be against the far wall rather than in the middle and it needs a mirrored back bar."

"Oh baby, now you're talking. I wonder if that could be completed in time for a Halloween party."

"That would be fantastic, but that's only...well less than three months away."

"All I can do is ask Collin when I talk to him."

"Who would you invite?"

"Anybody and everybody that I know and or work with, and whoever Ted and Dee want to invite. Your friends of course and whoever else you might want to include. We'd have room for more people than we could ever come up with I'm sure."

"Does your world always move at this rapid pace?"

"Not even close, but things just keep coming up. Damn I hope I can pull this off."

"Can I ask a big favor?"

"Of course you can."

"Would you trust me to work with Collin on the bar? I have some ideas and I'd love to surprise you with what we can create."

"Then the project yours, but don't spend me into poverty okay?."

"I promise I will not exceed expensive."

I laughed and said, "Oh, and I'll have a surprise for you when the loft is complete, assuming I can put it all together in time for Collin to review."

"You're so busy with all of this, when will you work?"

"I'll be working hard the rest of the week to catch up."

Chapter Eleven

Ellie came for the weekend, and we spent a lot of time with Ted and Dee, and Rob even put in an appearance, so Ellie got to meet my favorite nephew. There was no second attempt with firebombs and nearly two weeks later I paid for the farm and collected my keys. Collin had his equipment on site the next Monday so my big project was finally underway. Ellie and I spent all of that Friday at the farm watching Collin and his crew. The front of the house had been ripped away much faster than I would have ever thought possible, but I'd learn that there was a whole lot about construction that I didn't know anything about before the project was completed.

We did our best to stay out of the way and to leave Collin alone so he could do his job, but about midmorning he asked me, "Ben, while I have the heavy equipment here, do you want those small trees taken out?"

I looked where he was pointing and said, "I don't know why they were planted that way, but yeah take them out. We'll have a better view of the farmland that way."

"That's why I mentioned it. Whoever put them there had to be a little squirrelly." He put fingers to his lips and whistled at the frontend loader driver, and waved him toward the trees and then walked away. It wasn't more than ten minutes later that Ellie's and my life was turned upside down again as the front end loader stopped and Collin came running back up to us at the house. "Ben call the cops. We've found two bodies for sure and maybe more."

"Oh shit." I grabbed my phone and then stopped and looked at Ellie. With just a slight hesitation I called nine one one and asked for the state police. As soon as I disconnected I told Ellie, "I'm going to get a lot of crap from Ennis for calling the state police, but with the problems between me and the locals, I want somebody more detached than from town."

"Wait a few minutes and call Ennis. By then the state police will be here. Maybe that will save you some grief. Tell Ennis that the operator made that decision, not you."

I put my arms around her and said, "Pass the buck, I like that. I'm going to run out and look before the cops get here and send me away." I hadn't run more than a few feet before Ellie joined me and we dashed the short distance to where the trees used to be.