Walking out of the factory, Riven carried a large box on his shoulder, a joyful smile on his face as he whistled a little tune.
Jessica followed along closely, her gentle yet stern voice filling the air as she told him the rest of his schedule. "After this, Miss Sera requested our assistance with her cafe."
"Correction, she wanted my help with her cafe, you're just tagging along to find a nice place to relax on your days off." He said with a knowing look.
Jessica felt a warm blush creep across her cheeks as she cleared her throat. "Ahem, should we drop off the umbra variants first?"
He shook his head. "No, we'll keep them in the trunk for now. I don't want the girls getting home and seeing them by chance in my office."
"Why not put them in one of the areas you forbid the girls from going into?"
"We don't know how long we might spend helping Sera, so better to get there sooner than dropping the umbra variants off at home."
She nodded. "I understand." Walking forward, she quickly unlocked the car, opening the trunk as well. Once the box was securely placed in the trunk, and she and Riven were both properly seated, she started the sedan.
A low rumble filled the air before the vehicle darted off, vanishing down the street.
***
The car came to a slow stop just outside the cafe, where a truck had just stopped close by. Turning the vehicle off, Jessica nodded to Riven.
Stepping out of the car, Riven looked around the still somewhat desolate street. And though his mind told him something was wrong with this street, he excused it as just an idle thought, believing it was just nonsense.
"Hey, Riven, you're here, great," Sera called out, walking over to him.
Riven cocked his head to the side, smiling. "Yep, and not a moment late by the looks," he said, his gaze flicking to the truck for a moment.
Looking behind her, she looked back at him, flashing a radiant smile, "Oh yeah, all the supplies we need to fix the floor and the counter have arrived."
"Good, then let's get to work," he said, walking by, ready to begin this lengthy project. As he got to work, checking the quality of the materials with Dutch's help, Sera and Jessica had a small conversation of their own, though the topic remained unknown.
"Alright, Dutch, let's see what we're working with and make sure they didn't mess up our order," he said, walking up to Dutch, who stood behind the truck.
Dutch grasped the latch and rolled up the back door, the metal slats rattling as they coiled overhead. The smell of fresh oak and varnish spilled into the air.
"Well, we know the wood is in there," Riven smirked, his hands already covered by heavy-duty work gloves as he lifted himself into the cargo bay.
"These red oak planks are about six by three-quarters[1], wide enough to keep the seams clean but durable enough to last decades. Good choice," he said, knocking lightly on the stacked-up pallet of wood.
Looking through the rest of the items, he made sure everything was correct, from the double-glazed tempered glass, which needed to be ten to twelve millimeters thick[2], and the pieces of laminated safety glass for the display.
One being five to eight millimeters thick,[3] normal laminated glass. Another being Low-E laminated glass with anti-fog treatment, which was six to eight millimeters thick[4]. The final piece of laminated glass was tempered laminated safety glass, which was eight to ten millimeters thick[5].
They were to be used for each of the sections of the display: one room temperature section, one cold, and a final hot one. Looking at all the glass, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Looks like we'll need a lot of AR coating[6]."
Next to the glass was a package of LED strips that would also go with the display. They almost didn't buy them if not for Nyra's timely reminder, who happened to see the order list.
Finally, the most important thing was the block of quartz composite, which was the centerpiece of the whole counter and one of the first things customers would notice, hopefully. It was made from crushed quartz and resin; it had a nice cream tone, with faint gold and bronze specks dotted about.
Seeing that it was there meant everything was accounted for, he walked back to the opening of the cargo bay, "You got all the tools we'll need?"
Dutch nodded. "Yes, sir."
Jumping out of the truck, Riven landed smoothly on the ground. "Good, let's get to work."
Riven and Dutch immediately got to work removing the old planks of wood from the ground, while Sera and Jessica developed an initial opening plan.
Since all the furniture was removed the day before, all they had to do was remove the fixtures and baseboards along the wall. Dutch began to pry the baseboards free while Riven went to turn the breaker off. Once everything was off, he then assisted Dutch in prying all the baseboards away.
Streaks of paint curled like ribbons, dust flaking off with every ten-foot stretch, and before they knew it, nearly twenty minutes had slipped by.
Once they were done with that, they then moved on to removing any light fixtures and small wall fixtures. Riven focused on removing the light fixtures, and since he wouldn't need any help, he had Dutch remove the small shelves on the walls and then begin removing the old counter space.
Unscrewing the hanging lamps, he wrapped the wires with tape before gently setting them aside so they wouldn't break and make more work for them.
Finally, it was time to remove the counter, and even with both of them working together, it took well over an hour to cleanly remove the counter. And by noon, the last strip of trim lay in a pile; what should've been a morning's work bled into the afternoon because the paint wouldn't let go.
"That was the last of it, right?"
"I believe so, my lord."
"Good, now we can get started on this floor." Riven reached for his phone."But first, we should get some help to make this go faster."
"Well, we're done over here, so we can help," Sera called out as she and Jessica walked over from Jessica's car.
Pointing over his shoulder, Riven said, "Oh, good, Dutch has some gloves and goggles in the truck."
While they went to get their safety gear, Riven picked up the circular saw, crouching near the corner. He ran his hand over the warped planks.
"These boards really are beyond saving," he said, setting the circular saw's depth. The whine of the blade filled the room as he scored the old floor in sections, careful not to cut into the subfloor.
On the other hand, Dutch began instructing Sera and Jessica on what they were currently doing. With a few precise strikes with the pry bar, the wood began to lift, splinter by splinter. Nails squealed against the subfloor before he pulled them free with practiced ease.
"We'll remove the whole floor, then clean the base and sand it smooth," he added, brushing the dust from his gloves. "With a fresh start, we'll put down the red oak."
Both of them nodded before Jessica made a suggestion. "Since I'm probably the weakest here, I'll take the lifted pieces of wood and put them away safely to be disposed of."
Dutch nodded. "Good idea, Lady Jessica. Let's go ahead and do that."
With their roles assigned, they quickly started lifting the floor and moving the pieces of wood out of the way. Once Riven had finished cutting up the hardwood, he joined Jessica in transporting the wood out.
After an hour, the hardwood floor was completely removed, they then began to sweep up any remaining debris while also removing leftover fasteners.
Now all that was left to do was to sweep or vacuum the subfloor one more time, remove any glue, and make sure the subfloor was dry enough to begin laying the new hardwood.
After all that was done, the sun was getting closer to the horizon, and the day's work had begun to take its toll on them.
"We'll finish the rest tomorrow," Riven said, closing the door behind him. "Wait, I don't have anything on my schedule, right?"
Jessica shook her head, a small sigh slipping from her lips. "No, sir, your schedule is completely clear."
"Good, tomorrow it is, though we should get Kyle and Sylvia here to help."
"I will notify them promptly, my lord," Dutch said, retrieving his phone and texting the two.
"Hmm." Riven nodded. "Speaking of which, Sylvia should be arriving soon. I had her pick up my car since I left it at the company, didn't want to impose on you much longer, Jess."
"Then I'll head home," Jessica said, bowing softly.
Sera reached out, stopping her. "Oh, wait, Jessica, if you want, you can come over for dinner. I don't think Riven will mind. I'll also make you some of those treats we talked about."
"I will gladly take you up on your offer," Jessica nodded, a faint twinkle in her eyes at the mention of treats.
"Good," Sera replied with a smile.
"In that case, I might as well invite the rest of the family. So there will be enough for everyone to take some home." Riven added, his mind already honing in on the recipes he would make.
"Great idea." Sera paused mid-sentence, a past conversation crossing her mind. With a quick flick of her wrist, she pulled out her phone. "Oh, but I know Herta, and you still aren't talking, so I'll invite her myself."
"That works." Riven nodded.
Just then, a sleek car glided to a halt beside the cafe, its engine purring softly like a contented cat, breaking the stillness of the deserted street.
Instantly recognizing the vehicle, Riven clapped his hands. "Alright, let's go. Oh, and Dutch ride with Jess. She could use the company."
Dutch nodded in acknowledgment as he followed Jessica to her car. Meanwhile, Riven and Sera slipped into his vehicle.
The ride home was quiet, except for the rhythmic taps of Sylvia's fingers on the steering wheel, though neither Riven nor Sera spoke. Why would they?
The silence spoke volumes for them; it was a nice yet somber symbolism of their relationship. There was no business to talk about, no reason to bring up the past, and even talking about the twins made no sense since they both already knew what they were up to.
When or if they started a new conversation about anything else, a sense of awkwardness would always fill the air, relegating any new attempts to just chat randomly. They were sadly just too focused on other matters.
Maybe when things calmed down fully, and they entered a steady rhythm, their relationship could recover to the point of at least being friends, but for now, this silence would be a frequent guest in their conversations.
Though the silence was a bit uncomfortable for someone else in the car. "Um, I'm just going to turn on the radio if you don't mind, my lord."
As he nodded, Sylvia swiftly turned on the radio. The voice of the news anchor quickly overtook the silence, becoming white noise in her ears as she drove down the road.
[1] 6in 3/4 = 15cm wide and 1.9cm thick
[2] 3/8–½ inch
[3] 1/4—3/8in
[4] 1/4—3/8in
[5] 3/8—1/2in
[6] Anti-Reflective coating