“Wait…they had a kid, right? A daughter?” Kyle asked, suddenly unsure what the reports said happened to the child.
Steve nodded somberly. “Fortunately, Haley wasn’t in the car with them. They were out on a date night.” He shook his head. “It was a bit of a mad scramble because Daren doesn’t have any family left—only child and his parents had him later in life—and all of Tracy’s family was out of state. Haley was sleeping at a friend’s house and was able to stay with them until Dan, Lisa, and Sydney were able to get here.”
Kyle took another sip of his drink before asking, “Definitely a tragedy, but…what does this have to do with me?”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Steve said with a small laugh. “Sydney has decided to move here. She’s Haley’s guardian. She’s going to move into their home and raise her niece here in Magnolia.”
“I’m still not seeing…”
Jake was the one to respond. “Daren and Tracy had just purchased their home a few months ago. It’s located on Sound Drive, down near the end. Older home. They were very excited about renovations. Apparently, they got an excellent deal on the house because it needed so much work.”
Okay, now it was all beginning to make sense.
“So Coleman’s going to do the work?”
Jake nodded. He was the owner of the largest construction company in the region and it made sense that he’d be involved.
“I planned on talking to you about it on Monday,” Jake said, giving Steve a quick glance. “But…maybe it’s the kind of project that you’d like to take the lead on.”
“Me?” he asked incredulously.
Steve just smiled serenely. “I just wanted you to have a little backstory so you’d take it into consideration. Right now, Sydney needs all the help she can get. Losing her sister, becoming a full-time caregiver to her niece, moving, finding a new job, and dealing with a home that needs a considerable amount of work is a lot for anyone to take on.” He smiled again. “Just…promise you’ll think about it.” Then he congratulated Domenic again and nodded to both Jake and Kyle before walking away.
“That’s the kind of story that just breaks your heart and makes you thankful for all the good we’ve got in our lives, doesn’t it?” his father asked.
Jake nodded solemnly. “We can talk about this on Monday, Kyle. I didn’t expect Steve to bring it up in the middle of the party.”
“Just…just tell me about it now.”
With a frown, Jake straightened. “The church is raising funds to help with the renovations Sydney is going to need to do on the house. I went over there on Thursday and checked it all out, and…it’s kind of a mess.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. I know.” He paused. “It’s not just cosmetic; it’s everything. Whatever it was that Tracy and Daren paid for that house, I think it was too much because it’s a lot of work. I know Daren was kind of handy and he started a few things, but we’re looking at plumbing, electrical…hell, I wish we could just gut the place, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Is it even safe for her to be living there? And with a kid?”
“It’s not ideal, but now that we know exactly what the issues are, we’re going to do what we can to get things fixed as soon as possible. The plumbing and electric had to come first.”
He nodded. “Right.”
“Luckily, both those guys were willing to donate their time and only charged for materials. The church already had enough money in their fund to cover that.”
“Okay. Great.”
Jake took a moment and looked around the room, waving to someone and smiling, and Kyle felt like he was more confused than he was a few minutes ago.
“Um…Jake?”
Facing him, his boss gave a grim smile. “Do you remember Ezekiel Coleman?”
“You mean the guy who started Coleman Construction? Founding member of Magnolia Sound? Um…yeah.”
“He was also my mentor. He spent his life working to make this town everything it is today and always strived to help the people in the community. I want to follow that example.”
He nodded again and figured there was a point to this story.
“The thing is, I don’t have the funding behind me that Zeke did. If it were up to me, I’d cover the cost of all the work Sydney needs. I’m going to do what I can, but…I need someone I can trust to be there every day to make sure the work is getting done and getting done right.”