Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and pulled out my phone and sure enough the battery was dead. As I was
plugging it into its charger, Julia yelled from the bottom of the stairs for me
to hurry up; she was expecting a delivery soon and she couldn’t take long.
    I rushed out of the
room thinking I’d make my calls when I got back.
    We had to go out the
front entrance of the shelter to get into the addition. We were waiting to
create the entrance through the house until most of the work was done. We
couldn’t have one of the children wandering into a construction zone. As we
stepped into the wooden framed building, Mark, our head contractor, met us. “Hello
ladies. Are you ready for your tour?”
    We nodded our assent,
suddenly feeling speechless as we looked around. The scent of wood and sawdust
permeated the room. The structure was entirely framed and sheeted with plywood.
The rooms had also been framed; all that was missing were the walls and trim.
    “As you can see we’re
almost ready for the sheetrock. We’re just waiting on the plumber and
electrician.” He glanced at me. “Did you get my message?” When I nodded, he
added, “They will be here tomorrow.”
    “Wow, it’s really
coming along,” Julia commented as we strolled through the addition, our heeled
shoes thumped against the plywood flooring, the sound bounced off the walls of
the structure in a deep echo.
    “So,” Mark began,
pointing at the studded frames. “As you asked for, there are four suites down
here, with a common area in the center; and the same goes for upstairs. But,
unlike in the main house we put in small washrooms in each suite.”
    “Oh, the residents will
love that.” Julia grinned, clearly impressed with the work around us.
    “It looks great Mark,
can we see upstairs as well?” I asked, heading for what looked like a set of stairs.
There were no walls framing it, just the bare planked steps.
    He nodded and headed in
that direction. “Of course, but it looks basically the same. When the sheetrock
and trim is up and we start adding fixtures and artwork that’s when it will
really come together.” His face lit up as he spoke, I could tell he really
enjoyed his work.
    I emerged into the
second floor, thankful to be on solid ground. With nothing to hold onto as we
ascended the stairs, my fear of heights had threatened to come out to play. But
the fear vanished, as I glanced around, picturing what Mark described. Walls,
trim, fixtures and a few pieces of art hanging on the wall in the hallway. I
couldn’t help the giddy excitement that bubbled up inside me. This had been a
dream of mine for months, since I started here at Riley House and it was
finally coming true. A huge grin spread across my face and as I turned to look
at Julia, her face held the same expression.
    “This is going to help
eight more families.” Her voice was thick with emotion and before I knew it I
was in her arms breathing in her floral scent. “You made this happen. You
should be proud of yourself,” she whispered in my ear.
    I pulled out of her
grasp and smiled, a lone tear fell down my cheek. “I am.”
    She was referring to my
quest to add more rooms. Since I had taken over for Nate at helping to run the
charity I had the job of turning people away. Good families that were in
desperate need of help and we couldn’t be that for them because of our limited
space. I had been haunting the city officials, bugging them to let us add on,
but they kept spewing crap about needing a certain amount of space between each
property line. It was hopeless—until the house next door went up for sale. I
wanted to buy it with my inheritance money my grandmother had left me. But both
Julia and Nate refused to let me. They didn’t want me to use my personal
finances in the shelter. But, since when did I ever listen to anyone? I called
the executor of my grandma’s will and he made the arrangements. A few weeks
later, the house was mine. A month after that we broke ground for the addition.
    “It