onto it because it’s the one thing the bank couldn’t take away. Flanner owns it outright. Well, that, and the old truck he drives. Like I said before, if there’s anything else I can do, just let me know. I’m more than happy to help him any way I can.”
“You bet. I guarantee you’ll be the first person I call.”
With directions to Flanner’s cabin in hand, Gemma brought Rufus and Rolo along for the ride through the countryside. The dogs would bolster her first line of attack. She had a battle plan, and she intended to stick to it no matter what kind of resistance she met. She’d take baby steps on the march to victory. Flanner didn’t know it yet, but he didn’t stand a chance against her determination.
Following the directions, she found the property tucked back off the main road in a small clearing surrounded by a thicket of baby redwoods.
No one appreciated craftsmanship more than Gemma, which was why her first look at Flanner’s cabin took her breath away. Calling it a cabin might have been a stretch. Shack didn’t do it justice. No, it was more like an artfully put-together, one-room shed, built on top of cinderblocks.
Flanner’s cabin was perhaps ten feet by ten feet square, constructed using mismatched lumber in various lengths. It even had two windows with green trim on each side of the front door. The door had also been painted green and looked like it had been repurposed from some other building. He’d used sheet metal for the roof.
To her surprise, Flanner had even strung a single wire for electricity that ran from a nearby power pole with a meter box attached.
He’d also found two faded Adirondack chairs that he’d set out on his “porch,” which consisted of paving stones placed along the cabin's width.
Gemma loved the look of the place. She just wasn’t convinced that it was a suitable spot to live and sleep, twenty-four-seven.
She got out of the car and let the dogs out to romp in Flanner’s front yard. She didn’t have to knock. Flanner opened the door and looked surprised to see a visitor.
“What are you doing here?”
She held up a bag. “I brought chocolate and figs. I told you yesterday that I make chocolate in my shop. The figs—don’t you dare make me take them back. Birdie Sanger gave them to me, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by telling her that I’m not a big fan. Neither is Lando. So you have to take them off my hands.”
Flanner grinned. “Sure. I’ll figure out something to do with them. You wanna come in?”
“Sure. Or we could sit out here on the porch. Got any coffee?”
“Yeah. But I make it strong.”
“Strong is good. Can I take a look around inside while you make the coffee?”
“Sure. You have two dogs?”
“Rufus is the Lab. Rolo is the Westie. Have you ever thought about getting one for yourself?”
“Me? Nah. I can barely feed myself, let alone a dog.”
Gemma followed him into the cabin. He’d taken advantage of every square foot of space, using the back wall for storage and shelving. One side wall held his built-in bunk with a mattress. Next to the bed was an old pot-bellied wood-burning stove he used for cooking and heating.
On the opposite wall was his kitchen. For counter space, he’d recycled an old bucket sink from somewhere else and mounted it into an old dresser.
“You did all this in three years?”
He scooped up ground coffee into an old metal pot before adding water, then putting it on to boil. “Necessity means getting creative. I didn’t have electricity until two months ago. Some guy from the electric company in town showed up out of the blue and said I could hook up to the nearest power pole out by the road. But I still don’t have running water yet. I get that from the water spigot on Trask land. I drive my truck around to fill up my tank a couple of times a week. The water’s clean, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“The caretaker doesn’t mind you using the water?”
“Nope. Bruce’s been good about it. Not all that friendly, though, which is fine by me.”
Gemma wondered if Lucy had somehow sent the power company out to hook him up to the nearest power box. But she didn’t want to bring it up. “Your work is amazing. Do you think you could build something like this for me to use as an