Read Online Bygones by Lavyrle Spencer - Free Book Online Page B

with needle-fine stripes, a teal polo shirt with its collar turned up,. and a double-breasted white sweater. “Thanks for coming, Bess,” he said, holding the elevator doors open. They arrived at an upper level. He waved her ahead of him into a door that stood open.
    She wasn’t three feet inside before exhilaration struck. Space! Enough space to make a designer drool! The entry hall was as wide as most bedrooms and held a large, contemporary smoked-glass chandelier.
    Michael took her coat, hung it behind a louvered door, and turned back to her. “Well, this is it.”
    There were two doorways to their right. “These are guest bedrooms,” he said. One was empty; the other held a drafting table and chair. Bess, carrying a clipboard, measuring tape, and pen, glanced over the rooms as she followed Michael.
    Ahead of them the foyer widened out into an octagonal space, in the center of which hung a second, matching chandelier. This space appeared to be the hub of the apartment, created of four walls and four doorways. “The architect calls this a gallery,” Michael said.
    Bess turned in a circle. “It’s very dramatic.”
    Off the gallery were the kitchen, living room-dining room, utility area, and powder room.
    “Which would you like to see first?”
    “Let’s see the living room.” She stepped into it, to be washed in light and delight. The room faced south by southeast, had a marble fireplace, and two sets of sliding glass doors that gave onto a deck overlooking the lake and a small park with a gazebo. “Oh, how marvelous,” she said. The master bedroom led off the living room. It had a fireplace, and a bathroom big enough to host a basketball game.
    The kitchen was next, done in white tile and Formica, with blond oak woodwork. It was connected to a family room, which also had sliding doors to the deck.
    “Well, I must say, Michael, I’m impressed.”
    “Thank you.”
    They returned to the living room, with its magnificent scope.
    Bess said, “This architect knew what he was doing.”
    Michael smiled. “I’ll tell him you said so. He works for me.”
    From the opposite end of the room, she faced him. “You built this building?”
    “I developed the property and arranged to have it built. The city of White Bear Lake came to me and asked me to do it.”
    “Ah . . .” Bess’s eyebrows rose in approval. “I had no idea your projects had grown to this size. Congratulations.”
    Michael dipped his head in a mix of humility and pride.
    “Now for the questions,” Bess said.
    “Ask away.”
    “Did you choose the carpet?”
    She’d noted that the same grayed-mauve carpet was used throughout; it wasn’t a color she’d have expected him to like.
    “No. It was here when I took over the place.”
    He studied the floor. “But I can live with it.”
    “Do you have a sample I can take along?”
    “In the entry closet. I’ll give you a piece before you leave.”
    They moved into the room with the drafting table. “Do you work here much?” “Primarily in the evenings. Daytime I’m in the once.”
    Bess wandered nearer the drafting table. “Do you work. . .” she began, but the question died on her lips. Taped onto an extension lamp over the drafting table was a picture of the children, taken in the backyard when they were about seven and nine. They were freckled and smiling, and squinting into the hard summer sun.
    “Do I work . . .?” Michael repeated.
    She knew full well he’d seen her reaction to the picture, but she was a businesswoman now. She regrouped her emotions and went on. “Do you work every evening?”
    “I have been lately.” He didn’t add, “Since Darla and I broke up” but he didn’t have to. It was obvious he sat here in this room, regretting some things.
    “Will you need a desk in this room?”
    “That would be nice.”
    “File cabinets?”
    “Probably not.”
    “Would you place this room high or low in decorating order?”
    “Low...All right, let’s move on.”
    They