I could have cried; as if I wasn't already feeling blue enough. My hairdresser and occasional lover of ten years informed me at our last appointment that she was moving in with her boyfriend. JC and I go back over a decade to around the time that her first marriage broke up. I helped her through that emotional turmoil with TLC but now it seemed that I would not only be looking for a new hairdresser, but a new fuck-buddy as well—bad for me, but great for JC. I could only wish her the best and be happy for her, but as the song says... "When a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes."
Here I was in the love-lost funk having just tried to refinish the antique wooden screen door on the front of my house. Standing on my front walk midway between the porch and the street, looking at the blotchy botched job, tears burned behind my eyes and threatened to fall.
"Hey Jackie whatcha up to?" the cheerful voice hauled me back to the present. I turned to see my neighbor, Mary, plastic grocery sack dangling from her hand returning from the convenience store.
"Oh I sanded and put a fresh coat of varnish on the door and look at the mess I made!"
"Yeah that really didn't work out very well," Mary agreed.
"I don't know what I'm going to do. I think it'll have to be replaced, but Jack is so busy with work these days he won't be able to get to it for weeks. In the meantime it's an eyesore and it's the first thing people see when they arrive." I lamented.
"There's a woman who does restorations and fine carpentry work just over on the tenth line. Harry and I have used her a couple of times. She's a graduate of one of the community college home renovation courses. Maybe you should give her a call," Mary offered helpfully.
"That sounds like a great idea! I shoulda gone with a professional to begin with. Do you have her number?"
"Uh... somewhere," my neighbor face scrunched with chagrin. "I'll have a look and give you a call later," she promised as she continued toward her own home.
No point dwelling on the blunder, I started packing the varnishing materials away. By the time I had that cleaned up it was time to start dinner.
When Jack got home he took it all in stride as he always does. "If she's any good get her to give you a price on putting in that new backdoor you've been after me about since last summer," was all he said.
The next day I made an evening appointment with Vivian Campbell. Mary told me that she prefers to be called Vi.
The woman who rang my doorbell early that Monday evening was enigmatic in my view. She looked barely out of her teens. The absence of makeup and her curly, I could say frizzy, golden hair was tied back in a bushy ponytail seemed to accent her youthfulness. She was very slim and wore an olive colored work shirt open over a white 'T' shirt. The lower legs of her convertible greenish-grey pants were zipped off displaying muscular calves that disappeared into her low cut work boots. The knowledge and skills required to do her work, to say nothing of running her own business led me to expect a much older, perhaps I should say older looking, person.
"Hello Missus Welsh, I'm Vi Campbell we spoke on the phone."
"Of course come on in," I invited, "but you're already looking at the first job right here," I said gesturing toward my messed up screen door.
She told me that unless I was inseparably attached to the old door, it would be cheaper to just replace it. She took measurements very quickly, producing a big tape measure form somewhere under her over shirt. Her voice reflected poise and self confidence.
While she was taking measurements for the back door that I also wanted replaced I said, "So you're determined to beat the boys at their own game."
"There's no reason why it's _their_ game!" she snapped with sparks in her eyes. Oops hit a nerve I thought.
"Sorry... I just meant that it's unusual to find an attractive young woman doing this sort of work."
"No I'm sorry," she responded somewhat sheepishly. "It's just that men always dominate and push us aside as if we're not as capable as they are and it's just not true."
"How does your boyfriend feel about all of that," I ventured that she wasn't married.
"I don't have one," she mumbled facing away from me and bending down as she continued to record the measurements of my backdoor. My _gaydar_ went on alert and I was looking at Miz Campbell in a whole new light.
"Is this your last task for the day?" I enquired innocently while scoping out her ass as best I could through her baggy pants.
"Yeah, checking out and quoting new work is always the last thing," she confided looking at her notes and then back at the door frame.
"Do you have time for a cup of tea... or something stronger if you'd prefer." Her expression when she looked up from the pad of paper she was holding was inquisitive even puzzled.
"I wouldn't say no to a beer if you have one," she accepted my invitation.
We were standing at the back door so I said, "Why don't you head out onto the deck and make yourself comfortable and I'll bring it right out."
