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“Yeah, but she didn’t last long. First, she wanted to remodel everything and all I wanted were the rooms I use. And the pool. To put it nicely, our tastes didn’t coincide. She liked lots of stuff—and frou-frou crap at that.” He looked around the room. “That’s not me.”
No, Levi wasn’t the least bit frou-frou. Which any designer should have known within fifteen minutes of meeting him. “No one else helped you?”
“Not with the decorating. Harlan remodeled it. So he’s familiar with the house and its shortcomings.”
“That will help. Let’s go to the ground floor.” Before looking at Levi’s immensely comfortable-looking bed got to her.
He took her on a quick tour of the first floor. Dana had an impression of many rooms, the vast majority needing massive updating. But since Levi didn’t care about that, she didn’t worry about it either. She knew the cost wasn’t an issue. It appeared that even though Levi was immeasurably richer now, he was still the same man who didn’t see any reason to waste money on things he didn’t need or want. But he was generous. Even when he was merely rich instead of outrageously so, he’d given a lot of his money to various charities and could always be depended on to help a friend out of a jam.
“How accessible do you want the kitchen to be? For instance, do you think Asher will want to cook? Or does he simply need to be able to reach some of the things?”
“I can’t imagine he cooks much. He’s been in the army since he was seventeen. And not as a cook. Besides, Muriel cooks better than either Asher or me will ever be able to.”
“You have a cook?”
“Yeah. She comes in three times a week and cooks up a bunch of food. Works out great. She likes to cook and I like to eat.”
“Are you planning to get an accessible refrigerator?”
“Yeah. I’ll wait to order one until we see if we’re going to use the current refrigerator’s space for the new one or change location. I can find out dimensions of ones I like too.”
“Okay. I’ll sketch out a few updates but we’ll table doing a lot of major work on it until after you talk to your brother.”
Then Levi showed her his den—a game room/TV room/music room where he clearly spent a lot of time. It was already outfitted with Levi’s own smart home system, as were all the rooms he used. “There’s not a lot you need to change in here,” she told him. “Widen the doorway to the hall but the French doors leading to the backyard are wide enough. I imagine you’ll want to make the bathroom more accessible.”
He nodded. “But it doesn’t have to be done first thing.”
Finally they came to the set of rooms that Levi wanted to convert into living quarters for his brother. They were set a little apart, like a mother-in-law’s quarters of a newer house. A brief look around told her it hadn’t been updated in a long, long time. Typical of many older homes, even mansions of this era, these rooms were small, with small bathrooms. “I assume you don’t mind knocking down walls?”
“Whatever you need to do. I want it to be as comfortable for him as possible.”
She hesitated but decided her question was too important to ignore. “It would help me to know what specific injuries and disabilities Asher has. In order to tailor his living quarters for the best possible fit.”
Levi didn’t answer. His jaw was clenched, his eyes held equal parts sadness and helplessness.
“We can talk about that later if you’d rather.”
“No. You’re right. You need to know.” He took a drink from the water bottle he carried around, sucked in his breath and began. “He lost his left leg below the knee. He’ll be in a wheelchair predominately for a while yet. He’ll be getting a prosthetic leg soon, but we don’t know exactly when that will be. The doctors said it depends on a number of factors. His doctors don’t want to rush it. They say they’ve had more success when the stump is allowed to heal longer. Not to mention, as it swells and goes down he’ll need frequent adjustments. He had a number of other injuries, but they are all healed now.”
“Did he have a TBI?” A traumatic brain injury could mean Asher might need even more specialized help.
“No. Somehow he avoided a TBI. But he has depression and possibly PTSD. He denies having either. But that’s Asher.”
“We’ll lighten up the rooms with paint and more windows. Take out walls and widen doorways.” She made notes on her tablet. “The bathroom will most likely need to be completely redone.”
“Like I said, whatever you need to do.”
“I’ll draw up some plans and once you approve them we’ll show them to Harlan and get his take. I have no idea what nifty home helpers you’ve invented or what your virtual assistant can do, so we’ll need to discuss that as we go along.”
“Okay. I’m available.”
Available. So was she.
No, no, no. Strictly business.
But maybe…this time…
No, you dummy. What makes you think a relationship could work this time when it never has before?
