by L. M. Reed
Chapter 28
“It’s perfect,” I breathed in awe.
“Needs work,” James frowned, unconvinced.
We had made several trips trying desperately to find a place to live, even if only temporarily, without any success and were beginning to get nervous.
“I know we’ll have to fix some things…”
“Some things?” he questioned wryly.
“It’s just a few broken windows and…”
“Holes in the walls and old dirty diapers on the floor with…what is that stuck to the tape anyway?” he asked, peering closely at one of them. “Oh, man, that’s a dead cockroach.” He jerked away from the offending sight quickly. “You’d think someone would have cleaned up this mess before putting it up for sale.”
“It’s a repo, James,” I reminded him. “You have to look past the surface stuff. A little paint and some new floor coverings will make a world of difference,” I assured him. “The realtor said it’s only about ten years old. It just needs a little TLC.”
“More like a wrecking ball,” James muttered under his breath.
“It’s sitting on two acres, it’s well-built, with a concrete foundation, it’s huge, and it’s cheap,” I continued, pretending I hadn’t heard him. “We’d be able to pay for it with Elsee’s fifty grand and have the other thirty thousand left to fix it up. The other houses we looked at were half this size and still going to take most of our money.”
“You really like this house?”
“Yes I do,” I said, eyes shining. “It’s so big and roomy and I know I can make it look like new. I’m not afraid of a little hard work.”
“We’ll need to get a professional inspection done,” he warned. “And if there are any major problems, no deal…fair enough?”
“I’m sure there won’t be…”
“Any major problems…” he interrupted firmly.
“I understand,” I could barely contain my excitement.
I never thought we would be able to afford such a large house, and we wouldn’t have been able to but for the last owners failing to take care of it. It hadn’t been on the market long and the obvious signs of neglect had turned off all other buyers. I could see past all of that. There was no doubt in my mind that I could restore it to its former glory.
I relished the thought of transforming the trashed-out place it was into the immaculately well cared-for home it would be. As soon as it was ours, I would immediately set to work cleaning and then we would fix what we could and hire the local handyman the realtor had mentioned to do whatever was beyond our capabilities.
“Okay, we’ll make an offer,” James sighed heavily.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I breathed, knocking the wind out of him as I catapulted myself into his arms.
“I hope you feel the same way after we buy it,” James murmured quietly against my hair.
