CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dre

“It’s great to see you again, Andrea,” East said, enthusiastically shaking my hand.

“You can just call me Dre. The only person who calls me Andrea is my dad,” I replied.

“I was so glad to hear from you last week. Hopefully we can find you exactly what you’re looking for.” He smiled warmly, revealing two bright white perfect rows of what I would bet were veneers.

“I’m ready to find out,” I responded nervously.

East had come by the house earlier in the week and dropped a list of available homes in the area that were in need of renovation. Of the fifteen or so on the list I’d only asked to see one. The second I saw the picture and read the description something about it spoke to me.

Which was why I found myself standing in the driveway of that house with East, the realtor who’d also assisted with the sale of Mirna’s house, about to go inside and check out the possible first project of for my new venture. Preppy had dubbed it Dre’s Digs, a complete home renovation and design service focusing on reusing and recycling furniture and fixtures.

“Will your husband be joining us?” East asked as I surveyed the yard and street.

“I don’t think so,” I smiled. “Last night his friends threw him a bachelor party so chances are they’re either sleeping or still up to no good.” I almost laughed out loud as I recalled Preppy’s middle of the night phone call to slur ‘I love you’ into the phone while Bear, King, and Kevin threw stuff at him in the background, eventually taking his phone away.

“His bachelor party? I thought you two were already married. I’m sorry, I’ve been calling him your husband this entire time,” East said, sincerely as if the error were his.

“No. We are married. It’s a long story,” I answered. “A really long story.”

“Ah, well we all have a few of those, don’t we,” East said.

“Understatement of the year. So, tell me, what are the yearly taxes?” I asked.

East rattled off some numbers from the print out in his hand. I nodded. It added up with what other similarly valued homes in the area were paying.

“Let’s go on inside,” East said. I followed him to the front door. “As you already know, the house is two stories and about eighteen hundred square feet of living space,” he said, rattling off facts from the listing as I followed him up the cracked driveway. “It’s very cozy on the inside. It has a lot of potential though, just needs some love.”

“So what you’re saying is that it’s small, shitty, and needs to be overhauled?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow at East.

He laughed and shook his index finger at me. “Ah, you speak realtor.” He turned a key into the lock. I took a step back from the door to inspect the front again while he grumbled about not being able to get the door open.

The house looked just like it had in the picture. Moldy yellow siding. Overgrown landscaping. Missing shingles. Broken windows.

Fix me. It called out to me.

So far it was perfect.

“It was built in nineteen twenty-one and back in its glory days was probably owned by a wealthy family and used often as a place to entertain and impress,” East said, finally getting the door to open by pushing his shoulder against it. I ducked under a spider web and followed him into the main living area. “The Ford/Edison estates aren’t too far from here so chances are whoever built this place originally hosted them here.”

“Unfortunately, she isn’t doing much impressing anymore,” I said, trying not to show on the outside what I was feeling on the inside because if I did I’d be jumping up and down saying ‘I’LL TAKE IT YESSSS!!!’ She might not ever be a place for the rich to entertain, but I knew I could make her not just beautiful again, but functional, and even affordable for the right family if I paid extra attention to my costs and did most of the work myself.

“I have to make sure that the bones are still in good shape,” I said “Wrinkles and sags are worthless repairs if they are set on top of broken bones.”

“Ah, so you have done this before,” East said.

“Nope, that’s actually something my grandmother used to say, although I was pretty sure she was talking about something else entirely, I feel like it applies here.”

The trim around the doors and baseboards were all original and only needed a good sanding and painting. The flooring consisted of stained shag carpet and torn laminate floor tiles, the kind that stick to the ground like big stickers. However, when I tugged at a corner of the carpet my eyes landed on a beautiful sight. The original hardwood floors. They’d seen better days but to me it was like finding gold at the end of the rainbow.

The electrical wiring was another story. So old and out of code, it ran outside of the crumbling plaster walls, which also needed to be replaced. Also, the plumbing was virtually non-existent. Since the house had been vacant for over seven years, anything of value had been stolen long ago, including its copper piping.

“It’s on a full two acres which is rare in this area, most lots are only a quarter of an acre,” East informed me as we descended the stairs having just saw the three smaller bedrooms and single bathroom on the second story. The master was on the main level, but would need to be gutted and completely replaced. “There is plenty of room for a nice big deck in the back, even a pool depending on who you plan on marketing to,” he added. “Families may not want that, but vacationers or second homes wouldn’t buy it unless it had one. Plus, it’s the only Victorian style house left in the area that hasn’t already been bought and refinished so there is a market for this style home once it’s been renovated. I mean these days all the new ones are stucco square boxes that look like they came straight from a house factory. I just came from a new development in Harper’s Ridge and let me tell you, they want a million bucks for shine covered shit.” East covered his mouth with his hand. “I’m so sorry for my language.”

I laughed. “Trust me, no need to apologize.”

I ran my hand along the dusty banister, revealing hints of it’s original deep cherry finish. I didn’t want to just remodel this house. I wanted to bring it to life. It didn’t need changing, it needed CPR so it could breathe again.

It was going to be a difficult task, considering all the work that needed to be done, but I was up for it. Excitement surged inside me, but I kept my composure. “I’ll need a full inspection report of course. I can’t see the roof so I’ll need a professional to assess that for me so my offer will be contingent on it not needing to be completely replaced down to the trusses, amongst other things.” East took notes on his smartphone as I spoke.

“Of course,” he said, nodding and tapping one last button before shoving his phone back in his pocket. “You are a natural at this.”

“That is yet to be determined,” I said, “but I guess we’ll find out.”

“What did you do before you decided to do start renovating and flipping homes?” he asked. We were in the backyard, which was piled with garbage carelessly tossed over the fence throughout the years.

“I was in school,” I said, almost tripping over a rusted bicycle with no wheels. “Before that I spent a whole lot of time making mistakes.”

“Well, Jesus forgives our sins, it’s us sinners that usually have a hard time forgetting,” East said. I wasn’t surprised that he was a man of faith. The ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ sticker on his bumper and the ‘Christ is my Superstar’ rubber bracelet he wore were kind of giveaways.

I pushed on the back panel of the wooden fence to test its stability when the entire six panels attached to it all fell to the ground. It failed.

“I grew up in the church. Lost my way for a while, but eventually found my way back. If you and your husband ever want to come by and check it out I could sponsor a visit for you. Ministries of Christ, over on Bayshore Drive,” East said kindly.

“Thanks so much. It’s not really for us, but I do appreciate the offer,” I said.

“Never hurts to ask, right?” East pointed to the plastic piping sticking up in the corner of the yard. “Did you notice that the well and well equipment is fairly new? It was probably put it in right before the last occupants left.”

It took a while to go through my checklist of things I needed to see before I made any decisions. I was standing in the living room looking at the cracked front window when Preppy came through the front door, a joint dangling from his lips, one side of his shirt untucked. He smirked when he saw me.

Looking hella sexy.

“There you are,” he said, pulling me in for a quick kiss then keeping me tucked tightly to his side.

“I thought you were with the guys,” I said, although I was happy to see him. I couldn’t wait to show him the house.

“I was, but this is a big deal. I wanted to be here,” Preppy answered, giving me another sweet kiss. He smelled like cigarettes and whiskey. His words were slightly slurred and his eyes slightly glassed over.

“How did you know where to find me? I never gave you the address?” I asked.

“You should know by now that I have my ways, Doc. I’ll always find you. Always.”

“You drove?” I asked, while swooning.

“I walked,” Preppy said. “You know, you’d think walking two miles in the blazing sun would make the shit just sweat right out of your system. Well, it turns out that’s not fucking true. Fuck, I’m higher now than I was before.” He glanced over to East. “Hey, does that guy look purple to you?”

“Nice to see you again,” East said, extending his hand to Preppy, his eyes darting down to the joint at his lips.

Preppy held it out, offering it to East. “You want?”

“No, thank you,” East declined. “I don’t imbibe in narcotics.”

“Oh, it’s not narcotics, it’s just weed,” Preppy replied, holding the joint out further. “Although if you want narcotics, last night I had a table full of...”

East held up his hand. “Still, no, but thank you.”

“So what do you think, Doc?” Preppy asked, looking around the house. “Think you can work your magic on this one?”

“Yeah. I really think I can,” I said, excitedly. I turned to East. “Before I forget, the contract would also have to be contingent on me being able to obtain financing. I’ll schedule an appointment at the bank this...”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Preppy said. I hadn’t realized he wasn’t standing next to me until he came sliding down the banister, landing on his butt in front of me on the ground. “You won’t need any financing. It’s covered.”

“Preppy, it’ll be over a hundred thousand dollars,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth thinking maybe he read the price wrong or the effects of last night somehow has him thinking he sleeps on a bed of hundred dollar bills.

He pulled himself up and took a drag of his joint. He looked down at me and placed his hands on my arms. “I know how much it is, and I can’t wait to see what you do with the place.”

“How high are you?” I asked, turning my head to the side.

He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “On a scale of one to ten? I’m sure I’m somewhere around a forty.” He turned to East. “Not from weed though, mostly blow. I just lit this walking up the driveway,” Preppy explained, turning back to me. “But not high enough to say shit I don’t mean. You got this, Doc. I know you do. And I’ve got you covered.”

Swoon.

I turned back to East. “Offer the sellers twenty under asking. We’ll put ten in escrow. Let’s see what they counter with. Once we reach an agreeable price, I’ll have an inspector over to verify the structure. As long as a quick title search can be done we can close in two weeks.”

East tapped on his phone again, happily nodding while writing down my requirements. I turned back to Preppy, only to find him staring at me with his mouth open.

“What?” I asked, wondering if I still had cobwebs on my shirt.

“Holy fucking shit, babe. I’m rock fucking hard right now,” Preppy said, planting a kiss to my lips. He pulled back. “She’s so fucking smart, isn’t she?”

“That she is. She’s been looking around here like an expert. I almost thought she was lying when she said she’d never done this before,” East said. “My assistant is drawing the paperwork up. I’ll bring it by tomorrow.”

“Thanks, man.” Preppy leaned over and picked me up by my waist, throwing me over his shoulder. I shrieked in surprise as he hauled me out the front door toward the car.

“Okay, I’ll be in touch,” East called out from the front porch.

“Thank you!” I answered, lifting my head off Preppy’s shoulder. He put me down next to the car, opening the driver’s side door for me to get in.

I sat and swung my legs in, Preppy closed the door behind me. “Listen caveman, why the carry off?” I asked.

“I had to show him who you belonged to. I saw how he was looking at you,” Preppy said, glancing back up at the house where East was struggling to shut the stubborn front door.

“He wasn’t looking at me like anything,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Dre, you don’t see what I see. Or what anyone with eyes sees. You are sexy as fuck and as your equally sexy as fuck husband, it’s my job as the alpha to make sure everyone knows you’re mine.”

“You could have just peed on me and gotten it over with,” I snorted, starting the engine.

Preppy rounded the car and got in the passenger side. “I mean, if you’re into that kind of thing, then sure. I’m game if you are. There’s very little I’d say no to if you asked. Although, I didn’t take you for a golden shower kind of girl, Doc.”

I gave him a sideways glance. “You are really high,” I said, backing out of the driveway.

“Yes,” he agreed, pointing his finger at me. He squinted against the blinding sun coming in through the windshield. “I might also be really, really fucking drunk.”

“You gonna tell me how you came to be in possession of over a hundred grand?” I asked, pulling out onto the road.

“I robbed a stagecoach,” Preppy joked.

“Haha.”

Preppy sighed and pulled out a folded check from his pocket. “Either that or my dead mother’s husband decided to make amends for her bullshit by giving me over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” This time there was no joke to follow. No laughter. He smoothed the check out on the dashboard.

“Wow. How do you feel about that?” I asked.

“I’m not sure just yet,” he said, staring at the check. “Figure if it can help you start your business then that’s how I’ll think of it. I mean, I sure as shit ain’t gonna give it back out of some misplaced moral obligation. I’ve never exactly had a problem taking blood money. But at the moment, I’m still pretty fucked up, so there’s that. And for now?” He sighed, folded the check and shoved it back into his pocket. “That’s perfectly fine with me.”

“Let’s get you home,” I said pulling out onto the road.

Preppy looked out the window at the sky. “Yeah, Doc. Take me home.”