HOUSE OF PANCAKES: WILLOW CREEK
Chapter 12
Dylan pull his pickup truck onto the lawn of the lot. In the back there was a bunch of construction tools and materials to get the restaurant started. They grabbed the tool benches first where a lot of the work would be done on. Dylan showed the floorplans. They would break up into teams of two to work on separate areas to move things a little faster.
“We’re going to start off in two teams and conjoin up as things progress. I would like the Chamber twins and Emilio to begin working on the foyer and then Greyson, Marco, and Mags to work on the kitchen. I’ll be helping both teams out.” Dylan told the group. Even though they were not on the same team, Emilio looked over at Mags and gave her a smile. She smiled back.
On the first team of the Chamber twins and Emilio, they quickly laid out their plans together. Emilio took the lead. He asked Brandy if she wouldn’t mind doing the sizing and cutting for the walls and then himself and Casey would put them up.
As Brandy was cutting Emilio would make conversation. He asked the two about what it was like being twins. The three would do a lot of small talk, but their work was also getting done fast.
On the other team, it seemed as if Mags took the lead. She knew more about the electrical and other maintenance than Greyson and Marco. This team didn’t do as much talking as the first one. Marco would be in his own world, but doing his share of the work. Greyson was also doing his share, but if he saw a rock that looked different than an ordinary rock, he would pick it up and examine it before putting it in his pocket.
It was now a little after one o’clock when Eliza arrived with lunch. Dylan helped her set up a table and bring out the food that Bob had made. Everyone was hungry at this point.
“Please help yourself to the food on the table.” Eliza told the construction crew. “My husband, Bob, was happy to help out in some form. He’s not a people person, so he won’t be visiting.”
“We can’t thank you enough for lunch.” Dylan said to Eliza. “I’ve been monitoring this group and if all goes well, we should be done by next weekend.”
“That’s great news!” Eliza exclaimed. “No need to rush, though. We’re still working out our finances for this.”
“Unfortunately, I have other projects, so we need to get this done quickly. At least you can admire it across the street while you wait.”
Dylan gives Eliza a wink and she chuckles. Meanwhile, the crew are scarfing down their food and mingling amongst themselves.
“So, are you married?” Emilio asks Mags as she takes a big bite of her garlic noodles.
Emilio begins laughing, but lets her finish her chewing.
“That’s appealing.” She responds when done swallowing. “Ask a girl if she’s single or not as she takes a bit of her food and then laugh at her.”
“It was a playful laugh. And the question is still being asked. Unless you don’t want to answer.”
“I’ll let you know after you answer a question for me.”
“Okay?”
“How many girlfriends do you have?”
“What?” Emilio responds with a small chuckle.
“A tough boy like you with your good looks…you can’t be single yourself.”
“I’ll date here and there, but I haven’t settled with one person.”
“So you’re a womanizer?”
“No! I just haven’t found the right person yet. None of the woman I’ve dated have made a click.
“And you think I might if I am single?”
“I don’t know. Should we find out?”
Elsewhere, Casey and Brandy joined Dylan and Eliza.
“So what do you two do?” Eliza asks the twins.
“I like to play my guitar. I sit outside and play for tips.” Casey replies. “I’m hoping to find a gig in the music industry.”
Eliza looks over at Brandy.
“I’m an Advice Columnist. People write in questions about relationships and I respond to my favorites in a newspaper.”
“You should write to yourself.” Casey jokingly says to his sister.
“Or maybe you should write in to me. I have some advice for you on getting a girlfriend.” She smiles at Casey. “And if you should know, I have a boyfriend. I just never told you about him. We’ve got a lot in common that we both want to have a big family.”
By the garbage can, Marco was enjoying his solitude. He had just finished his lunch. He was more entertained at looking at all the houses and how big or expensive they looked than mingling with the rest of the team.
Eliza approached Dylan.
“Greyson’s been on his phone a lot during break. I hope everything is okay.” She tells him.
Dylan and Eliza approach Greyson.
“Is everything okay?” Dylan asks Greyson. “Do you need to leave?”
“Oh, no. Sorry. I’m on a betting website right now. You see, I’m a Curator. I collect rare items. I really like gems, crystals, rocks, that sort of thing. A lot of times, jewelers will auction stuff like this off.”
“That is cool.” Eliza said. “Do you have a collection built up already?”
“Yeah. Small trinkets. I actually want to do some traveling and seek out new stuff. I’ve applied for Space Camp in hopes to one day go to other planets and do collecting there.”
“Would they allow that?” Dylan asks.
“What they wouldn’t know, wouldn’t hurt them.” Greyson responds with a smile.
As Bob and Eliza worked during their weekdays (and if Bob had it off, he would stay inside), the construction team worked hard on getting the restaurant built.
By the following weekend, everything was all set. The restaurant was installed. Now all that was needed was for the designing to be done. She figured now that the construction part was done, Bob might want to help out with designing it, afterall it was their restaurant together.
“After all the hard work this crew did without pay, I would like to invite them over for dinner. It would be nice to get to know them more as well. They did such a great job on the restaurant. It’s the least we could do.” Eliza said to Bob.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to meet the folks and at least say thank you.” Bob replied.
“That’s the spirit.”
Eliza called up Dylan. He was happy that the Pancakes would do that. However, he had to decline the invitation himself as he had other projects that needed to get done with other crews. He gave her the phone numbers to the volunteer crew so she could personally invite them. All six graciously accepted.