Don't Marry Your Contractor*

Chapter 5 - Home Again

Present Day:

Three nights later on January 5th, Charlotte arrived on the last flight into Boise airport just before midnight. She had to deadhead from Seattle to Portland and counted herself lucky to get the jump seat on the completely full midnight flight into Boise. While waiting in Portland, she texted her new boyfriend.

//J. On my way home. Arriving late. Will call in the AM. ❤C//

The taxi driver dropped her off, at just after 2 AM at the entrance to her new house. She pulled her two airline-style roller bags up the well-lit steps and smiled. Out of habit, she started towards the back of the house and to the base of the long steep stairs that lead to the above garage apartment, she laughed and did a hard left turn and made her way up the beautiful granite steps and up to the elegantly carved oak door of the newly remodeled home, her home.

The Web-enabled security cameras and AI-controlled lights were all working perfectly. During some of her time off over the last week, she had checked the interior and exterior cameras and temperature, water sensors and other smart home systems. It most definitely gave her peace of mind to be able to check up on her house while she was away. She got to the front door and keyed a code into her phone to unlock it and disarm the security system and turn the lights up to a welcome home setting. She walked out of the eighteen-degree January night air into a nice warm kitchen. The app had set the high-efficiency heat pump from away to home mode to just in time to be comfortable upon her arrival. Charlotte put her professional bag on the desk in her office and parked her personal bag in the laundry room. She puzzled a moment, yawned deeply and then went to the kitchen and opened the door to the fridge and saw that it was mostly empty. She removed a chilled bottle of water and drank deeply. Charlotte then made a mental note that first on her list was a grocery run in the morning. She mused that it was probably going to be too icy to walk to the co-op but she would worry about that later.

The next morning Charlotte slept in until past seven-thirty which was late for her. The sun had not started to rise on that late winter morning as she got out of bed. She took a long shower in the luxurious spa bathroom and dressed in comfortable jeans, an old t-shirt and a heavy bright blue Boise State Broncos sweat shirt. The morning went by quickly as Charlotte took care of domestic chores and made a quick trip to the co-op for groceries. She found herself smiling and laughing at the simple joys of being home for maybe the first time in twenty years.

Later that afternoon Charlotte called Justin. He answered on the first ring. "Hi J, how's your day been going so far?"

"Well, it's great now that you called."

Charlotte laughed. "Why don't you come over here after work? I'm cooking my award-winning chili."

"Award-winning?"

"Yeah, I won the squadron chili cook-off a couple of times, but I promise that this will not be as nuclear hot as my secret recipe."

"Okay, sounds good. I'll stop by my place after work to get cleaned up. Does six sound, okay?"

Charlotte hesitated and felt her heart race as she added. "And, um, J why don't you bring your toothbrush and some stuff to spend the night, in case it snows or something."

"Or something?"

The beautiful woman answered. "Yeah, who knows what the night will bring."

That evening it was indeed snowing steadily as Justin pulled his truck in from the alley and parked in the driveway between the old above-garage apartment and the main house. He smiled as the motion-activated security lights came on. As he got out of the truck and picked up his backpack from the seat, he noticed the tall girl with a bright smile on her face holding open the back door. He walked up the icy steps and smiled at his new girlfriend. "You were right about the snow Char."