Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Lomax Family Ch. 7 Larry Max Moves On

Finally the “two couples and a dad” started discussing the big house in earnest and after much arguing and laughing the outcome was that Mike and Lucy preferred to move to their own smaller place while Andy and Holly wanted to stay at the house. 

And Larry Max had a bombshell for them; he wanted to buy a new house of his own, too. He was finally ready to move on with his life. He’d already spotted the place and he passed around a photo. It was very sleek and modern on the outside, but what yard there was didn’t seem suitable for much landscaping or gardening.


“But, Daddy, there’s no place for your greenhouse, in fact there’s hardly any yard at all!” Mike said.

“I know, but I really wouldn’t have time to work in it any way. I’ve spotted a little restaurant in Bluewater Village that I’d like to buy and refurbish,” he looked at their astonished faces and hastened to explain, “It wouldn’t be a fancy place at all, just a little café open for breakfast and late lunches available to the business people there. I won’t try to stay open into evening, not yet anyway—probably just 6 am to 3:30 pm. And it will be down home, comfort food—the kind I feature on the show.”

“What about your show, then?” Lucy asked timidly.
 
“I’ve given my notice,” Larry Max replied with an amused smile--he knew the kids just did not know what to make of him and he was enjoying that for the moment and then he added, “I think I’m going to call it 'The Good Eats Café’.”



“What will you do for—I mean, won’t you be bored when you don’t have the greenhouse and the pond?--not that you can’t come over here and fish,” Andy hastened to add.

“Well, I hope I won’t be bored…I plan on finally spending a little time dating once I find a woman who is interested.”

His sons and their wives all looked back and forth at each other.

“Um, do you have someone special in mind?” the forthright Holly asked.

“Nope, not really. So I’m going to have to get out there a little more. I’ll probably hit some clubs on weekends, maybe even try one of those online dating services.” His sons couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d suddenly danced on the table. Lucy and Holly looked at each other and smiled in understanding. It was time. Larry Max was ready to let go of depressing memories, certainly he deserved some happiness of his own. Leaving behind the house would help him clear out the cobwebs that remained from the painful events that he’d gone through there.


Now that the plans had been discussed and finalized. Mike and Lucy began house-hunting and Larry Max bought the restaurant and began remodeling it. He taped the last three shows for the season and was now an unemployed former TV cooking show host.

The twins were growing fast and kept Andy and especially Holly busy pretty much all the time, but having children was something they had looked forward to and were now enjoying. Once they were the sole occupants of the house they planned to make over several rooms to suit the needs of what they hoped would be their growing family and to this end they spent several nights making up sketches and plans to redo two rooms upstairs and one downstairs.

When Larry bought the house and moved in Mike, Lucy, Andy and Holly finally got a chance to check it out. The floor plan was definitely unique.


Upon entering the front door they stepped into a small but light and airy living room. There was an arched entryway into the huge kitchen, definitely designed for someone who loved to be in the kitchen.



In the center of the house were two staircases going to the second floor. Across the other side of the first floor there was also a den with a big flat screen TV, seating for five, a bookcase and a stereo system. The only bathroom on the first floor was a half-bath off this den.



Upstairs Larry Max was using the second bedroom as the place for his music, with a guitar, bass and piano in there as well as a book case and armchair for a little reading. There was an en suite bathroom off this room, too.



The master bedroom was large enough for a desk and dresser and a sliding glass door led to the deck that overlooked the tiny pool. The master bathroom was tucked away but definitely the jewel of the place—large, masculine and yet built to relax in luxury.




“Wow, what a bachelor pad, Daddy, you must have big plans for your sex—um, I mean, social life!,” Mike marveled, sounding a little jealous. He looked at Lucy; he was somewhat startled and offended because she had just elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“Ouch! What’d I say?”

Lucy just frowned and looked away in irritation.

“Great kitchen, Dad,” Holly smiled, “You’ll be able to do all the cooking you want and still have lots of room for your guests. Looks like it would be great for throwing casual parties.”

The first guests had dropped by the day Larry Max moved in and he knew all three of these neighbors; David Lassiter, Heather Ferguson and Bridget Ottomas, who had just recently moved back to Pleasantview. The weather had grown cooler and Larry Max fixed them a hearty lunch of chili con carne with a Caesar salad, cornbread, and pinto beans. Of course, there was freshly shredded cheddar and jack cheese, and chopped Vidalia onions to sprinkle over the chili. The friends stayed until evening and it was an encouraging first day in his new home.


Not long after the day his kids surveyed his new digs, Larry Max made calls to Mike, Corky, Andy and Chelsea to tell them that the restaurant would be ready in about a week and he hoped they’d come and bring their wives--and Chelsea her husband--to check it out. Free meals for family; now that sounded agreeable to all.

The cafe was still not running smoothly, however. Larry Max had originally thought he would do the cooking and just hire servers and a host. It soon became apparent that he would have to run around putting out brush fires a lot of the time so he hired an excellent cook, Jenna Blackford. She was not a professional chef but she knew how to cook the kind of meals Larry Max wanted and she was eager to try his recipes. He had to be careful not to call her Jenny—the names were too similar—but he could hardly ask her to change her name to work there. Then his host quit one memorable day so he was the host until he could hire someone else. As he learned his way around the restaurant business, he felt sure he could make it a success eventually, but it certainly was taking longer than he’d originally envisioned. 




On the first day off he had from the café, Larry Max decided to check out the Club Dante after dark. It was Wednesday, a very slow night at the club, but it was also their “Talent Night”. So he got up and played drums with the owner of the club, Dylan Ottomas, and the manager, his brother Brian Ottomas. It was a great jam session, but not many women came in that night. He decided he’d have to go there on a Friday night. Dylan had assured him that Friday night was "singles night" and many more women came, while Saturday somehow always seemed to be a "couples night".



So many hours and days had been consumed by the cafe that Larry Max hadn't had much time to work in his new kitchen or really to enjoy his new surroundings, even. And still he did not have much of a social life, but he was determined that would change. His remark about trying some of the online dating services had been meant to be funny, but it no longer seemed like a joke. He wondered if those things really worked or if they were a scam…
   

3 comments:

MrsSimGirl said...

I like that house a lot! Did you build it? Right not much for the gardening area - but he is a single guy, who needs it right? lol I am glad he is getting into his own - good luck with his uh... social life ROFL

Lorry said...

Seriously love Larry's house!

Lorelei said...

Actually I found this house in the lot bin and waited for the right guy to move in lol I've NEVER built a house from scratch on TS2! All I do is mess with the ones that are already there. I mess a lot with them, sometimes I make them look pretty goofy just trying to get more room for my Simmies. I only tried once to build a house and it was not pretty, I bulldozed it lol (I hate roofs).