Janet Evanovich owns most of these characters. I'm just borrowing them.

/

Previously:

As I watched him drive away, I thought about the past several months. My life had changed a lot in that time, for the better. I was financially independent, I learned more about myself, and gained some new skills along the way. While I didn't plan to be in Jacksonville long, when the plan changed, I was able to adapt and roll with it. All in all, I was truly proud of myself for the first time in years.

That being said, it was now time to think about wrapping things up in Jacksonville so I could stage my return to Trenton. I had a relationship I needed to nurture, and people to show the changes I've made in my life. I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I got back to Trenton, but a few ideas were rolling around in my head. (taken from Time Out Ch30)

/

Back in the Game

Ch1

Spring in Jacksonville. The grass has finally turned green and the daffodils and tulips are blooming. Doris and I were sitting outside on lawn chairs in my front yard watching Steve and Doris' grandson, Jimmy, paint the shutters and eves on my house. Yes, that's what I said. My house. Late last spring, my long-lost great-aunt, Elizabeth Price, made me her sole beneficiary and I inherited her house and a fair amount of money. I'd been living in Jacksonville, Illinois ever since. A lot has happened since then.

Ranger, my super sexy, totally badass mentor, agreed to try a relationship with me. He actually stayed with me in Jacksonville for a few weeks around the new year after he returned from a months-long mission. It was surprisingly easy to slip into a relationship with him. Since then, he and I have made several trips between Trenton and Jacksonville for visits. I was scheduled to visit Trenton in a few weeks and already had my plane ticket, but Ranger told me last night he'd been called for a mission and was leaving in a few hours and wasn't sure how long he'd be gone. It was about this time last year that he'd been called away for several months. Hopefully it wouldn't be that long this time.

My house renovation is finally nearing its end. Steve wasn't joking when I hired him. He told me it'd probably take longer because he had a smaller crew than some of the bigger companies in town. I had no complaints about his work. Steve was into historical preservation, and did a good job of updating the house into the 21st century, while still maintaining most of my home's original character. My house went from a twelve plus bedroom monstrosity with no closets and one bathroom to a six bedroom, four and a half bathroom family friendly home with a separate one bedroom one bath in-law apartment on the ground floor. The kitchen was no longer sixties avocado green chic. Every bedroom had a good-sized closet. All of the hardwood floors had been carefully refinished. All of the original trim had been stripped and refinished as well. Steve even managed to re-use the extra original wood-panelled bedroom doors on the new closets. Nothing was wasted.

Doris recovered pretty well from her broken hip. Her grandson, Jimmy, was her only living family and he was in Afghanistan when Doris was injured. He finally made it home and did a great job of caring for his grandmother. I liked Jimmy. He was a good guy, and he reminded me a lot of the Merry Men back in Trenton. Jimmy was mostly unemployed. Taking care of Doris took most of his time once he got home. Recently, he's been helping Steve out a little bit. I think he was starting to get a little antsy though.

Jane Holmes, the crazy woman who caused a heck of a lot of trouble, was in a secure psychiatric facility after it was determined that she was not mentally competent to stand trial. Jane pushed Doris down, causing Doris' broken hip. She attempted to steal a bunch of gold bars that were hidden in my basement. She blew up my car. She vandalised my house. Needless to say, I was not sorry to see the last of her.

The gold bars were back in the custody of the U.S. Treasury, after a months long investigation into their ownership. They were stolen in a bank robbery several decades ago and Jane's Grandfather Price hid them in a secret room in the basement of my house. I may not have been able to keep the gold, but the authorities did give me a $100,000 reward for turning the gold in.

/

Once Steve and Jimmy finished the shutters and eves, the work would be almost complete on the house. There were still a few rooms that needed paint, but everything big was finished. Doris and Jimmy even helped with a little landscaping work. Well, Doris did the planning and directing. Jimmy and I actually did the hard labor. It was a huge improvement over the weedy lawn and hideous bushes from before. My landscaping abilities ran more to mowing the weeds to all one level and taking the hedge clippers to the bushes just enough to get to the front door without scratching my arms. Doris had us till and re-seed the lawn. The ugly bushes were ripped out. Tasteful, easy-maintenance perennials and shrubs now graced the front of the house.

I told Doris a while back that she should have been an interior decorator, after she and Steve surprised me with a luxurious master suite. After seeing her landscape design abilities, I knew the master suite wasn't a fluke. She had a good eye for color and detail. As we sat in our lawn chairs watching the guys work, I voiced a thought that'd been tumbling around in my head for a week or so.

"Doris, I have a job for you. I need your help and I'll pay you. Are you interested?"

"Well, dear, I don't know. What's the job?"

"The house is about ready to put on the market. Most of the rooms are empty, just because I don't have enough furniture to fill the house. I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff, right before I move out. What I want is your expertise. I want to use the stuff I have and move it from room to room so we can get pictures of each room filled with the appropriate type of furniture so buyers will see the room's purpose. I think they call it staging. I know that staging is supposed to help sell houses and in theory the house should be furnished for viewings. I was thinking I could have an easel in each room with a big poster of how we temporarily staged it. Does that make sense?"

"Have you been watching HGTV again, Stephanie?" Doris asked with a grin. "It's a different take on staging, but I think it could work. Of course I'll help you. You don't need to pay me though. I enjoy doing things like this, even though I'm no expert."

Doris is pretty hard-headed, so we'd have to negotiate the pay thing. We went back and forth a bit, but finally I agreed to only pay Steve for his help in moving stuff around. We decided we'd had enough of watching the guys work and went inside so Doris could look over my existing furniture. Doris was still using a cane and didn't move as fast as she used to, so we took our time.

The next few weeks were a concentrated education in home decoration. I had a few different bed sets, but not enough for every room. Doris suggested we mix and match the bed sets with different chairs and dressers so it wouldn't be as obvious that we were re-using them in the pictures. I chauffeured her to Wal-Mart where she picked out a few inexpensive but pretty reversible quilts. We'd use one side of the quilt in one bedroom photo and the other side in another bedroom photo. She also picked out some inexpensive modern poster art and frames at the big discount store. I had several original works of art and a bunch of antique prints, but Doris thought seeing more modern pieces mixed with the old might be attractive to potential buyers. She even chose the paint colors for the rooms that still needed paint and explained why she picked the colors. I learned a lot, and I was glad I'd asked her for help.

Steve was a big help and didn't complain when Doris changed her mind about a chair and had him carting in potential replacements. The photos turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. You'd never know that we were using the same pieces in different combinations unless you looked very closely. Doris did a good job of distracting from the furniture with the different bedding and art work. We even tackled the downstairs rooms. The library shelves were still mostly empty, but Doris leant me several from her own collection so the room had a minimalist feel instead of just empty. Steve was recruited to cart around armchairs and chaise lounges from the library to the small sitting room to the formal living room. Again, Doris distracted from the furniture with art, rugs, and different throw pillows. It was amazing!

I contacted a local realtor to come take a look at the house. The woman acted every enthusiastic as she toured the house, but then it was her job. She liked the photo staging thing that Doris helped me with and the easels set up in the empty rooms held poster sized photos of the furniture filled rooms. She also liked the history of the home and it's reported connection to the Underground Railroad. The number she gave me as a tentative asking price seemed a little optimistic to me considering the area, but even if it closed for less, I'd still come out way ahead. Steve did good work, but he didn't charge me excessively.

The time quickly came to make a decision on whether or not to use my plane ticket to Trenton. Ranger wouldn't be there, which was the main reason for the trip. But, I could always hang out with Connie, Lula, Mary Lou, and my family. I also wanted to start looking for a place to live for when I finally got back to Trenton for good. Ranger and I hadn't discussed living together, and while I loved spending time with him, I also liked having my own space. Mental musings complete, I decided to make the trip and started packing my bags.