Tiny House, Big Fix Read online

  Alice immediately texted back, I’m in! Where does he live?

  How about I pick you up on the way? I’d been to her apartment a few times. She lived right in the heart of our village.

  She messaged right back. I’ll be waiting outside.

  See you at five.

  I dug through my closet for a summer dress and sandals. Then I took the time to put on makeup and arrange my hair around my shoulders. I slipped on hoop earrings and a matching silver necklace and stepped back to inspect myself in the mirror. I hadn’t worn a dress in ages. It looked good on me.

  When I came out of my room, both of my girls seemed shocked. “Mommy!” cried Maggie. “You’re wearing a dress!”

  I smiled. “I guess it has been a while.”

  Maggie crossed her arms and frowned at me. “You said this wasn’t a date. You said Liam and you aren’t a thing.”

  I smiled a little at Maggie’s use of her older sister’s slang. “It’s not. We’re not.”

  “Then why are you all dressed up?”

  It was a good question. If this wasn’t a date with Liam, why had I bothered to put on a dress? I didn’t have an answer to that, even for myself.

  “I think you look nice,” said Zoe. Then she nudged Maggie to get her to stop being rude. “Doesn’t she?”

  “Yeah, you look pretty, Mom.”

  “Why, thank you.”

  On our way to pick up Alice, the girls and I stopped at the small local grocery for some two-bite brownies. As an afterthought, I picked up a six-pack of beer for Liam. I had left work early on Friday, leaving him shorthanded. I owed him one. And a beer might soften the blow when he realized I wasn’t into dating him.

  From the store I drove across the highway to pick up Alice. She lived in an apartment above the drugstore in our village and was waiting outside as promised. She jumped into the front of the truck as Zoe climbed in the back with Maggie. Alice was dressed casually, in jeans and a red T-shirt. Her hair was pulled back under a bandanna, just like she wore it at work.

  “Wow,” she said, scanning my dress. “Look at you! You clean up good.”

  I shrugged off the attention. Then, as we drove to Liam’s, I told Alice about my problem finding a place to rent.

  “If you need to, you can stay in my apartment,” Alice said. “Until something turns up. I have two bedrooms. The second bedroom is set up as an office right now, but I hardly ever use it.”

  I shook my head. “Zoe, Maggie and I would have to sleep in one room. We need more space than that. We’d drive each other crazy and take you along with us.”

  Zoe snorted. “You can say that again. No way I’m sleeping in the same room as her.” She pointed a thumb at her sister. “She snores.”

  “Hey!” Maggie said. “You’re the one who snores.”

  “You do!”

  “No, you do.”

  “That’s enough, girls,” I said, eyeing them through the rear-view mirror. They had just proven my point. We would drive each other nuts. “Thanks for the offer,” I told Alice. “But honestly, I just couldn’t do that to you.” Or myself, I thought.

  She shrugged. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

  Liam’s directions took us down a winding country road. When we arrived at the address he had given me, I was surprised to find a tiny house parked on the edge of a patch of bush. The little house was built on a trailer, so it could be moved. But Liam had also attached a small deck to the front.

  “Liam lives in a tiny house?” Alice asked. “I had no idea.”

  “Me either,” I said, laughing. The little house was painted bright yellow and had a red tin roof—it was like a child’s crayon drawing of a house.

  “Look!” Maggie cried. “There’s a fort in that tree!”

  The tree house looked very much like Liam’s tiny house. It was also painted yellow and had a red tin roof. Liam was right when he said the kids would love the house. It was magical.

  When he saw us parking the truck, he stepped onto his deck and waved.

  “Wow!” said Maggie as she got out of the truck. “Your house is so cute!”

  “Thanks!” said Liam, grinning. “Made it myself.”

  “It’s like a kid’s playhouse,” said Zoe. She tried to sound like she wasn’t impressed, but I could tell she was. Excitement lit up her face. Maggie, Zoe and I had often watched TV shows about tiny houses. But we’d never been in one before.

  I stepped onto the deck, and Liam’s eyes widened as he took in my dress. “Sadie, you look amazing,” he said.

  “Um, thank you.” I felt myself blush.

  “Really, you’re beautiful. I don’t think I’ve seen you in anything but your work clothes.”

  “You look nice too.” Liam was freshly showered and shaved. He wore clean jeans and a dress shirt. His hair was neatly combed off his face. He almost seemed like a different guy.

  “Alice!” Liam said, turning to her. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”

  Alice glanced at me with an eyebrow raised. “I thought I was invited,” she said.

  “I asked her to come,” I said quickly. “I hope you don’t mind, Liam. I thought we’d make an office party of it.”

  “Sure, sure. That’s fine.” But he shot me a questioning look. I knew I’d disappointed him.

  “Hey, girls!” he said, hugging first Maggie and then Zoe. I held up the bag of brownies for Liam. “I didn’t have time to bake my own. Hope these will do.” Then I offered him the beers. “And this is to make up for leaving work early on Friday.”

  Liam laughed and took the six-pack from me. “Apology accepted.”

  “I brought veggie burgers for myself,” said Alice. “We can throw them on the grill with your burgers.” She paused. “I hope I’m not the third wheel here.”

  “No, of course not,” he said, glancing at me. “You’re welcome to join us. Come on in.”

  SIX

  THE TINY HOUSE was only about three hundred square feet. But the ceiling was high, and there were big windows on each side of the house. Standing outside, you could see right through it. The open floor plan made the house feel big, not tiny.

  Alice whistled. “This is beautiful!” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I had no idea tiny houses could be so—”

  “Big?” Liam asked.

  She nodded. “It does feel big.”

  “The light in here is great,” I said. “It feels like a mini apartment.”

  “I love it!” said Maggie, twirling.

  “Is that an elevator bed?” Zoe asked Liam. She pointed at a queen-size platform that was hung by metal cords over the couch in the corner.

  “An elevator bed?” he asked. “Yes, I guess it is. It goes up and down like an elevator.” Liam pushed a button, and the bed lowered.

  “I used a garage-door lift to rig this up,” he said. “I can lower my bed at night to any level I want. I just put these pins in place, and it stays put. Then I raise the bed up so it’s out of the way during the day.” He pushed the button again, and the bed rose even higher, nearly to the ceiling.

  The couch under the raised bed was a sectional, made of separate pieces that were shoved together. “My boys sleep here when they stay with me,” Liam said. “Check this out.” He shifted the pieces of the couch around to make two twin-size beds. Then he put the pieces back in place to form an L-shaped couch.

  “When you live in a tiny house, everything has to serve more than one purpose.” He lifted the foam cushion off the couch to show us. Underneath there was room for storage. He kept blankets and pillows in there.

  “You made all this?” I asked, running my finger over the kitchen cupboard.

  “I built the couch, the cupboards—everything. And it cost a lot less than you’d think. I used recycled materials wherever I could. Bruce let me take waste wood home from job sites. It was just going to the dump anyway. I bought the rest from a warehouse that sells salvaged building materials.”

  Maggie danced over to
the kitchen at the far end of the house. “Where’s your table?” she asked.

  “You just walked by it,” Liam said. He pulled up two cupboard doors. They hung on hinges, and when they were horizontal they formed a table. Legs folded out from each, like on a card table. “I use this for a desk as well.”

  “This is so cool!” Zoe said. She was no longer trying to hide her excitement.

  The kitchen was small, like what you might find on a boat. But there were lots of cupboards above and below the counter. Liam’s bike and skis were hung up high on the wall over the windows. They looked nice up there, like art pieces.

  The house was one big room. The only inside door was to the bathroom. And that was at the far end of the house, just beyond the kitchen. Inside the bathroom, Liam had built a small closet for his clothes next to the shower.

  “Is this a composting toilet?” I asked.

  “Yes. And I have a rain barrel that collects water from the roof for showers and washing. Solar panels on the roof power the place.”

  “The house is off the grid then,” Alice said. “You’re not hooked to sewer or electricity.”

  “And I’m mortgage free.” Liam grinned. “I got tired of handing the better part of my paycheck over to a landlord. Now I’m completely out of debt. I’ve even put a few dollars in the bank. Before I built this place, I was living from check to check, just barely making ends meet.”

  Alice turned to me. “Maybe this is the answer to your problem,” she said. “Build yourself a tiny house.” She looked around. “I could live in something like this.”

  I shook my head. “I couldn’t afford it. And it would be too small for the three of us.”

  “Problem?” Liam glanced from Alice to me. “What problem?”

  I sighed. “My landlord is kicking us out so she can rent the place to her daughter.”

  “You have to move?”

  I nodded. “I’ve been looking everywhere. It’s nearly impossible to find a place to rent right now.”

  “I hope that doesn’t mean you’re going to leave the area.”

  I glanced at my daughters. Neither of them wanted to move away. And I didn’t want to talk about that possibility now, not with Maggie in the room. She would likely cry and ruin the evening.

  Zoe gave me a knowing look. “Come on, Maggie,” she said to her sister. “Let’s go see that tree fort. I think the grown-ups want to talk.”

  “It’s really cool,” Liam told her. “My boys built it. With a little help.”

  “I built mine too!” Maggie said proudly.

  As soon as my girls were outside, Liam gestured for us to sit on the couch. “Oh, Sadie,” he said. “I’m so sorry you’re losing your place. That’s harsh, especially with the kids.”

  “I have to find something before the end of the month. But nearly every place I’ve phoned was already snapped up. And monthly rent is now more than double what I once paid for a mortgage.”

  “Have you thought about buying another house?”

  “I’d like to. I’d much rather pay a mortgage to a bank than rent to a landlord. At least I’d know the money was invested instead of just going out the window. But house prices are so high now. I don’t have enough for a down payment in this market.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Alice. “When my uncle died, I inherited an acreage. It’s outside city limits, so taxes are cheap. But it will be a while before I can afford to build a house on it. That’s part of the reason why I took that construction program at the college. I figured I could learn how to build my own home.”

  “I didn’t know you had property,” I said.

  “It’s on a small lake. More like a large pond, really. Pretty though. There are lots of trees. I’ll take you and the kids out there before the weather turns. We could pack a picnic. Go for a swim.”

  “I like that idea,” I said. “Buying a piece of land, I mean. And building a house of my own.”

  I knew exactly what my dream house would look like too. I went on to describe it to Liam and Alice—a house with three bedrooms and an office space for myself. A big kitchen with stainless steel appliances. There had to be at least two bathrooms, so my two daughters weren’t always fighting over time in front of the mirror. I had to have a great big bathtub to soak in after a day of work. Oh, and a walk-in closet for all those dresses and shoes I hardly ever wore anymore but couldn’t bring myself to throw out.

  “I used to want a big house like that,” said Liam. “But I’m happy with my tiny house now. Living small changes how you think about things.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  He picked up a framed photo of his boys. “Take my kids, for instance. You wouldn’t think it, but sharing a small space with my teens brought us closer together.” He looked around at the small living area we were sitting in. A flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall to the side. Board games were stacked on the coffee table. “When the boys visit, we’re sharing this small space. We’re forced to interact, to do things together.”

  “Huh,” I said, thinking of what Alice and I had talked about earlier. “I assumed I would go batty sharing a space this small with my daughters.”

  “I thought the same thing,” said Liam. “But it didn’t turn out that way. My boys and I get along better now than we have in years. I’ve let go of that dream of a big house. I wouldn’t want it even if I could afford it. A big space with lots of rooms puts distance between people.”

  He put the photo back on the shelf. “But I’ll tell you what I would like,” he said. “I want to run my own construction business. I’m getting tired of working for someone else.”

  I elbowed him. “You mean, you’re getting tired of working for Bruce.”

  “Maybe.” We all laughed.

  “So why don’t you start a business building homes?” I asked. “My dad did. If he hadn’t died so young, I imagine I’d be working with him now.”

  “You’ve obviously got the skills, Liam,” said Alice. She glanced around the tiny house. “What’s stopping you?”

  “Oh, the usual,” said Liam. “Money. It’s a big investment to start a construction business.”

  “Yeah, I’m in the same boat as you two,” I said. “I might have the skills to build a house, but I don’t have enough money to build it. I’d like to run my own construction business too, like my dad did, but I don’t have the money to do that. A nice dream, though, isn’t it?”

  Liam nodded. “Yeah, a nice dream.” And he held my gaze a little too long.

  SEVEN

  WHEN LIAM GAVE ME that long look, I couldn’t turn away. Seeing Liam in his tiny home made me view him in a whole new light. I liked how he saw things, the way he talked about his kids. He didn’t care about owning a big house. He wanted to spend time with the people he loved. He seemed so different here than he did at work. I liked what I saw.

  Alice cleared her throat to break the moment and remind us she was right there. Liam and I quickly turned away from each other. Awkward.

  “Well,” Liam said. “I should get supper started.” He grabbed the burgers from the small fridge under the kitchen counter. Then he slipped out to the deck to light the barbecue.

  “Liam is full of surprises,” I said.

  “Yes, he is.” Alice shook her head. “I shouldn’t have come with you tonight. It’s clear Liam wanted you to himself.”

  “That’s exactly why I asked you to join me,” I said. “I don’t want him to get the wrong idea about us.”

  “You sure about that?” Alice asked. “It seems to me you like him as much as he likes you.”

  “I’ve always liked him,” I said. “Just not romantically, at least not until—”

  “Until?”

  “It’s just—” I looked around at the tiny house. Liam had more fine carpentry skills than I was aware of. At work we just nailed together walls all day. But he’d built the cabinets and cupboards in this house himself. “Here at home, Liam is way more creative and interesting tha
n he seems at work.”

  “He certainly has an artist’s eye,” Alice said. “And I imagine it doesn’t hurt that he cleans up so nicely.”

  “You’ve got that right.” I grinned. At work I’d never thought about Liam that way. But here? “Maybe I can see myself with him.”

  “Go talk to him,” said Alice. “Let him know you’re interested.”

  “But the kids—”

  “I’ll keep the kids busy,” she said.

  She grabbed two beers from the six-pack I’d brought and put them in my hands. “Go talk to him. Now.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Alice gave me a last stern look before leaving the tiny house. She headed out back to the tree fort to hang with the kids.

  I found a bottle opener in the kitchen and uncapped the beers before taking them out to Liam. “It’s a great house,” I said, handing him a beer.

  “Thanks.”

  “No, really. I love the layout. With the high ceiling, it doesn’t feel cramped at all. And how you’ve used every nook and cranny for storage space is really smart.”

  Liam put the burgers on and closed the barbecue lid. “The best part about building this house was getting my kids involved,” he said. “They worked with me during every visit.”

  He took a swig from his beer. “They grumbled at first but really got into it. We took about five months to build the place. If I’d been working on it fulltime, we could have finished it in two months.”

  “Huh.” I thought about that. I could throw together a tiny house during the winter season, when we worked less. It would be tough hammering away on my tiny house after a day on the job, but I could do it. “Who knows?” I said. “Maybe this is the solution to my housing crisis.”

  Liam shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that. I’ve had a hard time finding a place to park this thing. Trailer parks won’t take my tiny house because it doesn’t fit park standards. They want a sewage tank. And the municipality doesn’t see it as a real house because it’s so small and doesn’t hook into sewer and power.”