The workout Chapter 8

The workout
Chapter 8

True to his word, Steve and his crew finished the kitchen and master bath in nine days and received the Certificate of Occupancy a day later. The CO meant they could now legally move into the house despite having one and a half baths yet to be remodeled.

"Tim, would you call your realtor friend and see if she's interested in listing the cabin?" Tim's partner, Sarah, said.

"So, you've made up your mind to sell?" Sarah asked her tone a mix of surprise and concern.

"Yes. I don't want it to be vandalized or worse after we move to Dahlonega. Better some other family enjoy it. Besides, I love Dahlonega and have been going there often for years. I don't have the same attraction to this place in terms of coming for a weekend. And I'll clear enough to pay for the new garage there."

"Wait, you're going to pay for the garage at MY house? That doesn't make sense. I'd assumed

I would be paying for it. I can afford it."

"I've done some checking, and now is the right time for us to discuss it. There are three options. You could sell me the parcel of land it will sit on, which we can easily carve out as it already sits on one property line. But when I pass away, it will be challenging for you to bring that parcel back together with the farmhouse. Two, you could give me a ground lease, and I could rent the parcel for about one dollar a year. Then you still have the entire three acres together. Third, you could sell me a half interest in the entire property, with the cost of building the garage counting towards what I would owe you. The lawyer I spoke with suggested three is best, two is okay, and one we should probably avoid."

"Okay, that all makes sense. I vote for number three. I like the idea of the farmhouse truly being 'our' home, not just a house you live in," his partner said, her voice filled with excitement and a sense of belonging.

"Okay, but I want us to get a sort of prenup even though we aren't getting married. Let's have a contract that spells out what happens if one of us decides they want out of our relationship.

And before you say anything," he'd noticed she was about to object, "no, I have no intention of ever living without you. I don't want any issues for you."

"Alright, we'll talk about it. Let me call Carol about the cabin."

"Once we move the furniture out, I want someone to refinish the floors. Before Tess passed away, her nails scratched them. And we'll have to go through everything and maybe have a yard sale, although I don't know how well that will work is so far outside of town," Tim said.

"Let's do a walk-through and make final decisions on the furniture. We'll take all the kitchen stuff, pictures, knick-knacks, etc. But some of the furniture won't work."

They spent a half hour deciding on each piece, with Becky making a list as her handwriting was far neater than Tim's. The sofa, matching recliner, dining room table, chairs, two small end tables, and log bed frame wouldn't make the trip.

"I'll have to go through the stuff in the garage attic. I may take all the hardware if I have little projects that need to be done there. And the library has all those great bookshelves, so I'll take all the books. I whittled them down when I moved here since I had no place for all the ones I had, but I kept my favorites."

"Are we going to hire a moving company or rent a truck?" Becky asked.

"Either a truck or maybe a trailer. I'll ask my trainer, Marty, to help me bring the freezer and futon from the loft. You and I should be able to handle everything else."

"We might be able to get those, too," she said. "I'm pretty strong."

"Yes, you are. We'll see. I will take some pics and post the sofa and recliner on Marketplace.

Say $200?" Tim asked.

"That should sell quickly at that price. There's just a little wear damage on one arm of the sofa, and the rest looks brand new."

They discussed asking prices on the remaining items they planned to sell and decided to go to Dahlonega in the morning to shop for more furniture. Now that they had the keys, they'd take his truck and as much furniture as possible and drop them off at the farmhouse.

Later that night, they went to bed and, as was their practice, made love and spooned all night.

When they woke the following day, Tim went down on Becky, bringing her to a sweet, satisfying orgasm, and then showered together. After breakfast, they headed to Dahlonega and sought out the largest furniture store after moving the furniture they'd hauled into the farmhouse.

Becky had taken pictures of Tim's many Persian carpets, several of which he'd inherited from his parents. They knew which room they thought each would enter and used the pictures to guide their choices for fabric and finish colors. It took only an hour to select the reclining sofa and matching rocker/recliner, which they thought would work well with the carpet and farmhouse style.

They also found a bed frame they both liked. It had a very 'old farmhouse' look but was new, as anything antique would be too small for the new king-size mattress set he had ordered.

Unfortunately, it must be requested and arrive in at least six weeks.

"Should we put the foundation on the floor and sell the log bed frame or bring it and then sell it once we get the new bed?" Becky asked.

"Let's bring it and sell it later. Dahlonega has as many cabin-style and rental places as Clarkesville, so selling there should be as easy. That way, we don't have to sleep on the floor," he replied.

Tim's phone pinged as they were ordering lunch, and he saw a message from Marketplace.

Fearing it was one of the meaningless "Is this still available?" ones, he was tempted to ignore it but opened it up anyway.

'Hi. We're very interested in this sofa set. When can we come to see it?'

After discussing it with Becky, he messaged back, 'We'll be home at about 4. I'll send the address just before that. Thanks.'

After lunch, they browsed some antique malls but found nothing new. They headed back to the cabin, and when they were fifteen minutes out, Tim handed his phone to Becky, who messaged the potential sofa buyers their arrival time and address.

Half an hour after they got home, a pickup truck pulled up their driveway. A couple got out, and
Tim opened the door for them. They entered the living room, checked the sofa and recliner out, and decided to purchase it at his asking price.

"Can you help load them into my truck," the man said.

"Sure. I suggest you back up to the mud room door, as there are fewer steps on that end of the porch. But I'd like to ask a favor in return. Can you help move our futon from the loft down here so we can sit somewhere?" Tim told him as the guy counted out ten twenty-dollar bills.

They maneuvered the sofa through the front door and down the porch into his truck, then returned for the recliner.

The man and Tim got the cumbersome deluxe futon mattress down and then handled the much lighter but tricky futon frame down the stairs that turned ninety degrees near the bottom.

But they finally managed to position it where the sofa had been, which Becky had vacuumed while moving furniture.

"Well, that was a pretty successful day, I'd say!" Becky exclaimed. "What's on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Let's go through the stuff in the attic. We can't move it until the new garage is built, and that will be at least a couple of months. But if there is stuff we need to yard sale or donate, we should know what it is so we can move on," Tim replied.

"And Carol is coming to check out the cabin so she can start figuring out an asking price.

That's at 10 a.m."

It had been a long day, and after solo showers for each of them, they fell happily into bed, content to cuddle that night.

The following day Becky woke Tim with a blowjob. It fits perfectly into the sexy dream he was having at the time, and he didn't even realize it was real until he shot it off into her mouth. "Oh, geese! I thought I was dreaming!" he cried out.

"I'm your dream, baby. Glad you enjoyed it!" she smiled.

Tim reached for her pussy, but she pushed his hand away. "Too much to do today, hon. You'll owe me one," she said as she got out of bed and dressed in work clothes. She entered the kitchen and started coffee and breakfast as he made the bed. Afterward, they climbed the exterior stairs to the attic above the garage and began sorting through the things there.

Tim was very organized. After finishing the walls and floor of the attic, he built racks to hold plastic storage bins. Each bin was labeled with its contents—plumbing, electrical, hardware, etc. They pulled each one off the shelf and put things they didn't want to keep into a 'donate' box, leaving the rest in the bin.

Having already moved the furniture they'd purchased at antique stores to the farmhouse, there was ample room in the cabin garage for the bins. Each time they had to go downstairs, they took a bin and carefully stacked it downstairs.

It wasn't long before they had the attic cleaned out, except for partial paint cans left for the new owners to use for touch-ups and a metal cabinet initially used to store blueprints. It was heavy, but Tim had a two-wheeled dolly and thought he could get it down the long staircase.

They removed all the drawers to lighten the load and wheeled it to the stair landing outside the door.

"Let me get in front of it, and I can help hold it back," Becky suggested.

"Not a chance. If I lose control, this thing will knock you down the stairs and land on you. It will get wrecked if I lose it with you up here. I'm willing to lose the cabinet, and I'm not willing to lose you," he insisted.

It was a struggle, and twice, he thought he would lose it, but eventually, he felt the tires land on the driveway. Once he, too, reached the drive, it was an easy roll to get it into the garage.

Becky returned to vacuum the attic, and they considered this chore handled just as Carol arrived.

"This is darling!" Carol exclaimed as she got out of her car. I love the patina of the siding; the stain on the porch and stairs looks new, and there's no lawn, which is perfect for a weekend or vacation home. I can't wait to see the inside!"

Tim and Becky gave her the grand tour. Becky described each area's pros, and Tim filled in the background. Both sang the praises of the cork plank flooring in the mudroom/laundry, master bath, and closet. Tim told Carol that once they had moved out, he intended to have the pine floors on the first floor sanded and resealed to remove the scratches from his former dog.

The metal roofs of the cabin and garage were already scheduled to be pressure washed the following week.

"Fantastic! Can you give me the dates of the water heater, HVAC, and so on?" Carol asked.

Tim handed her a sheet detailing the dates and costs of all the upgrades he'd done over the past few years. Carol was thrilled. "This should be a great sale. The only negative I see is that the driveway has some issues, particularly around the top of the circle. Do you plan to fix that?"

"Not really. Finding a good asphalt company to do small jobs like this is tough, and I don't want to throw good money after bad. If I were staying, I'd plan to wait until it got unbearable and then have the circle redone in concrete."

"That would make sense, long-term. Okay, let me run some comps, and I'll get back to you with a recommendation, probably tomorrow or Tuesday."

Once Carol left, they decided to take another load of stuff to the farmhouse and have lunch when they got there. They loaded the dressers and drop-leaf table from the loft and other small pieces they could easily do without and drove to the farmhouse. With the addition of the carpets from the living room, dining room, loft, and master closet, it was starting to look a bit like a home.

Over the next week, several remaining pieces of furniture they didn't want were sold online.

The cabin was pretty barren, so they moved into the farmhouse. They spent a few hours packing their kitchenware and foodstuffs and brought all their remaining clothes and toiletries.

"I guess this is it. We're Dahlonega’s now!" Becky declared.

"I guess we are. Are you happy about that?" Tim said.

"Extremely. I love our home and this town. I love being with you. We have much to do to finish settling in, but it will be fun. And we can live together openly without worrying what anyone might think or say."

"I'm glad, hon. I can't remember ever being this happy or comfortable in a relationship. We still have tons to do, but we can handle it. I can't wait until the garage gets done. I hope the cabin doesn't sell until it is because I have nowhere to store my classic cars till then."


The start of their lives together