The Homewreckers(29)

“Think of the sunsets?” Tug retorted, with a snort of disbelief. “Think of the termites. The rot, the decay. The bad wiring, crappy plumbing. I bet it doesn’t even have heat, let alone air-conditioning. Mother of God, Hattie! Think of the money it’ll cost. Thirty thousand’s no bargain if we have to sink another five hundred thousand just to bring it up to code. And no bank’s gonna touch a project like this. Not with a ten-foot pole. Not with a twenty-foot pole.”

Hattie had anticipated his reaction.

“Mo says the network’s advertisers will give us product in return for on-air plugs. So, like, we’ll get all the HVAC equipment donated by the manufacturers. Same with the kitchen cabinets and appliances, the hardwood flooring, and the insulation. And the paint and the roofing material…”

“And our subs? You think they’re gonna work for free too?”

“I think they’ll at least cut us a break because it’ll be great advertising for them. And Mo says the network will kick in some money for labor and materials.…”

“Some? Do you really believe this television guy is gonna live up to all his promises?”

“I have to,” Hattie said softly. “Are you coming out here to see the house, or no?”

“I don’t like it, but I will,” the old man said.



* * *



Hattie changed clothes in the truck, slithering out of her dressy pants and into a pair of jeans. She pulled a long-sleeved T-shirt over her head and laced up her work boots.

Cass, with a sullen expression on her face, had already fired up the chain saw and was savagely attacking a fallen scrub pine whose branches were blocking the driveway. Hattie donned her work gloves and began hauling the cut branches out of the way, while Tug whacked at the encroaching undergrowth with a sling blade and a pair of loppers.

Mo spotted the teetering mountain of limbs and branches from half a block away. He pulled onto the shoulder and parked behind the Kavanaugh & Son trucks. Hattie and Cass were in the process of dragging a huge oak limb down the driveway toward the street.

He jumped from the car, grabbed his camera, and pointed. “Stop right there,” he called to the two women, aiming the camera at them.

“Hell no!” Cass yelled. “You can’t take my picture looking like this. Sweaty and nasty with leaves and shit hanging outta my hair?”

“You’re supposed to look like that,” Mo replied. He pointed the camera at Hattie, whose sweaty T-shirt clung to her body. She’d jammed a baseball cap over her hair, and her forearms were dirty and crisscrossed with small cuts and scrapes.

“Look into the camera and tell me what you’re doing,” he coached.

“I’m trying to clear this driveway. Right now it’s impassable,” Hattie said.

“Keep telling me what you’re doing and why. We’ll use this for social media. Give people a sneak peek at what they’ll be seeing once Homewreckers goes on air.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Just say something like, ‘Hi, I’m Hattie Kavanaugh and I’m a homewrecker. Wait until you see the house at the end of this driveway we’re clearing. I can’t wait to get started.”

“I hate that name,” Hattie said. “It makes me sound like I’m trying to steal some other woman’s husband. Makes me sound slutty.”

“Get over it,” Mo said. He looked over at Tug, who’d been watching this interchange and shaking his head. “Come on, Mr. Kavanaugh, you get in there too. Okay?”

“Who, me? You don’t want a fat old geezer like me in your pictures. Take a picture of these beautiful young ladies right here.”

“It’s a reality show, Mr. Kavanaugh,” Mo said. “If you’ll just sort of move in between Cass and Hattie, act like you’re helping them move that tree limb, that’d be great.”

“If it’s reality, why do you want us to act?” Hattie grumbled, as she shifted positions to allow Tug to shoulder part of the weight of the limb.



* * *



They stood in a small semicircle, facing the Creedmore house.

“Jesus, Mary, and Fred,” Tug exclaimed, wiping his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. “Hattie, what have you gotten us into?”

But his daughter-in-law wasn’t listening. She was unloading tools from the bed of the truck, and now advancing on the porch and the boarded-up front door with a crowbar, while Mo trained his camera on her.

“Don’t actually do anything,” Mo called. “I want to save the drama for when our crew gets here.”

“I’m not waiting for a camera crew to get into this house,” Hattie said.

“We could go around the porch to the kitchen door,” Cass suggested. “Did they give you anything like a key at city hall?”

Hattie brandished the crowbar. “This is all the key I need. Watch out for these rotten floorboards,” she called, as the group trailed along the side of the house.

They clustered around her as she examined the back door. The wood was rotted and swollen from the damp. Hattie gave the door a kick, and the bottom panel splintered in half. Another kick and what was left of the door swung open with a creak from the rusty hinges.

“Gonna need a new door,” Cass said.

“This is gonna be awesome,” Mo said, following Hattie inside.