The house is coming together pretty nicely, considering I bought it “sight unseen.”
I guess that’s not totally accurate. I’d seen the outside of it before and the floor plan is pretty standard for the area. I’d just never stepped foot inside this particular house until I backed the U-Haul into the driveway this morning.
It hasn’t taken long to get everything unpacked. Joie, my sister, came with me to help and she’s the most organized person I know. Almost obsessively so. When we were kids, it used to annoy me, but every time I’ve moved, her color-coded boxes have come in handy for getting things where they need to go.
There are more boxes with purple labels than anything else. That was Peyton’s color. She’s going through a phase and everything has to be some form of lavender. Sheets, pillows, stuffed animals, clothing, even her toothbrush. I don’t mind. Peyton probably has the most stuff, but being that she’s not yet three, everything is fun-sized anyway. Even her furniture.
The hardest part of it just being the two of us was maneuvering my sofa through the front door. I had no idea those little block legs on the bottom of the couch would make it so hard to get through a standard doorway. Thankfully, Joie had the exact right tool we needed in her giant bag. She calls it her purse. I call it a “Mary Poppins bag.” There is no telling what kinds of shit she carries around all day long. Seriously. I noticed a loose heel in one of my loafers while we were packing up the other day. Joie pulled a portable shoe repair kit out of that bag. Who the hell carries around a portable shoe repair kit?
My big sister, that’s who.
“I have to admit, this place is way nicer than I thought it would be,” she calls out while breaking down another cardboard box with a giant yellow label. She said yellow was the color of sunshine and a kitchen should always be bright and airy, hence, why all the kitchen boxes have a yellow sticker on them. I don’t understand the logic, but I don’t ask. She has been a godsend during this move. The first thing she started unpacking was the eating area, which we both know is the most important room to me. I, on the other hand, tackled the re-assembling of furniture. Between the two of us, it’s taken a few hours, but it’s starting to look like a home in here. “When you told me you were going to buy it without seeing it first, I thought for sure you’d end up with a money pit.”
I grab two beers out of the fridge and hand her one. “You don’t have a lot of faith in me.”
We clink bottles and both take a drink before she speaks again. “Wrong. I don’t have faith in almost everyone except you. I still think the seller is hiding something. But I guess it’s too late to worry about that now.”
“Relax, Sis. There’s nothing wrong with this place. The old guy who used to live here kept the lawn meticulous. It’s reasonable to assume he kept the inside meticulous, too. Did you see how clean the hot water heater is? And look at this place.” I open my arms wide and gesture around me. “So far, I’m right, right?”
Sure, the three-bedroom, two-bath brick house needs some updating. All the counters and cabinetry are original, but the big things have been updated and painstakingly cared for over the years—A/C, flooring, appliances. Even the pergola in the back yard was updated a couple of years ago.
“Yeah, but the price…” she maintains.
“Joie…” She looks at me and sighs, knowing what I’m going to say before the words even come out of my mouth. “If you inherited your grandfather’s house, a house that was totally paid off, would you want to waste time bartering for a better deal, or want to unload it before you had to pay all the taxes on it?”
“I know, I know. It’s just so hard to believe. Especially for this neighborhood.”
“It was a once in a lifetime deal,” I admit, walking to the window and pulling down the blinds to see out.
Joie comes to stand next to me and we look out on the quiet street. My new neighbor across the street is mowing the lawn. Someone from down the way is pushing a stroller. She waves at a jogger and her dog as they pass by. There hasn’t been much traffic since we’ve been here, which will be great when Peyton spends the weekend. And I’m sure she’ll want to play with the girls that live next door. We’ve missed them.
After three long years of waiting, Peyton’s weekend visits will start up next month, the weekend after her birthday. Because of our divorce decree, she hasn’t been able to spend the night up to this point. I understood the decision when it was made. She was only a baby when Libby and I got divorced and was really young to be separated from her mother. But knowing her mother isn’t the one that’s normally cared for her for the last few years, it’s been her grandmother, it makes me even more excited to share all the moments I’ve been denied until now. I can’t wait to spend four days or so a month making her breakfast and reading her bedtime stories. We’ve done all those things before. But it feels different now.
“It’s like things are starting to fall into place, ya know?” I say out loud, even though I’m really talking to myself. “The house, the job, Libby… I prayed every day for the circumstances to change and now, here we are.”
We watch as a car drives up next door. I haven’t seen this car before. It’s a smaller four-door. Briefly, I wonder what it’s doing when the driver’s side opens and a familiar face steps out.
“Oh shit!” I yell and drop to the floor so she won’t see me. Joie stands above me, looking like I’ve lost my damn mind. “What are you doing?” I practically screech. “She’s going to see you!”
“She can’t see me through the blinds, Greg,” she argues and turns back to the window.
“You don’t know that!”
“Yes I do. She can see my eyes, that’s it.”
“Joie come on…” I plead. She sighs like I’m a nuisance.
“You moved into the house next door to her, but you don’t want her to see you? That makes no sense.”
“Not yet,” I hiss, grabbing at her shirt, trying to pull her down to the floor. She ignores me and keeps spying on my new neighbor.
“Ooh, you never told me what a looker Elena is. She’s pretty.”
“Would you fucking hit the deck?”
“Where are the kids?” she asks, still ignoring my hysteria. “I wanna see what my future nieces look like.”
“You’re killing me, Joie,” I groan. “I need some time to figure out a game plan.”
The blinds snap shut and Joie puts her hands on her hips, looking at me like I’m even more nuts than she already thought. “You mean you plan to keep this a secret? For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Greg, you moved back here for her.”
“No, I moved back for Peyton.”
She waves her hand, cutting me off. “And then you bought the house next door to Elena so you could be close to her. You keep saying things are finally falling together, but you’re gonna wuss out when it’s finally go-time? That’s not the brother I know.” She turns back to the window and looks back out.
She’s right. I can’t hide from Elena. But I don’t know anything about her life anymore. It’s been six months since I’ve talked to her. She could be dating, or engaged. Hell, she could be married. I don’t know.
“Oh she’s looking this way. I should wave. Hi, Elena!” Sure enough, my asshole sibling begins waving which causes me to panic. I grab the hem of her shirt one last time and yank as hard as I can. She doesn’t see it coming so she immediately falls off balance and lands on top of me with a thud.
“Ahh!” she yells. “What is the matter with you?”
“Can you give me a minute to get my bearings straight before you start forcing the issue?” Quickly, I reach up and grab the drawstrings, closing the blinds. “I don’t want to assume she’s going to run back into my arms and make a fool out of myself if she’s already moved on.”
Joie looks at me as she resituates her now disheveled ponytail, understanding dawning on her face. “You’re really nervous, aren’t you?”
I purse my lips. I hate admitting weakness to my older sister. But I still need her help getting this place set up, so I don’t have much of a choice. “Yes.”
“I’ve never seen you nervous around a woman before. Not even Libby.”
“I know.”
“You really do love her.”
I nod.
She breaks out into laugher and starts singing. “Greg and Elena sitting in a tree…”
“Ohmygod, would you stop?” She doesn’t.
“K-i-s-s-i-n-g!”
“Joie!” I snap my hand over her mouth, cutting her off. “This is not funny. I got Peyton moved, got my old job back, got a house. I still have to think the rest of it through, ok?”
She raises one eyebrow at me. That either means she thinks it’s a given that this is going to work out, or it means she’s about to punch my lights out. Either way, I remove my hand from her face.
She pushes a strand of dark hair out of her face and clears her throat, sitting criss-cross in front of me. “I’m here for a few more days. And I’ll do my best not to race over there and introduce myself, ok?” She interrupts me when I start to respond. “But, we can’t do this every time she opens her front door. Have you ever seen a forty-one-year old woman hit the deck? It’s worse than if I tried to drop it like it’s hot. And the last time I did that, my pants ripped straight down the middle.”
A laugh escapes me. “Seriously?”
“Ask Isaac. He was there. It sounded like an explosion in the back of my pants.”
I smile and shake my head. “I know I’m being ridiculous. I’m just not sure how to break the news to her. How do you say to someone, ‘I know we broke it off completely six months ago because it was too painful, but surprise! I’m your new neighbor now!’?”
“You really don’t think she’ll be happy to see you? From everything you’ve said, it sounds like she loves you.” Joie taps her fist on my knee gently a couple of times. I put my hand over hers. Even though she’s obnoxious, she’s still my anchor when things get rough. She’s a good sister that way.
“I don’t know. Just give me a couple of days to sort it out, ok?” I give her a stern look. “No going over there and making BFFs yet. Promise?”
She huffs, but nods. “Fine. But I will meet her at least once before I go home, no matter what. Back at you promise?”
I roll my eyes. “Fine. Like I could stop you anyway.”
She responds with an evil, big-sister grin.
I’m so screwed.