Glaring up at the broken entry steps Jaya tried really hard not to use one of the loose boards to take a swing at Wade. Unfortunately he was too busy picking his way through the overgrown weeds to peek in the front window, which was also broken, to notice her irritation.
…and she loved him too much to actually whack him with it, darn it.
“You bought this?” She finally managed to say aloud as she continued to take inventory of all the things wrong with the house that needed fixing. Windows, siding, doors, weeds, overgrown bushes and trees, missing steps, rotting wood floors. And they hadn’t even made it inside yet.
His thrilled nod had her stomach dropping.
“Just imagine it Jaya. Could you imagine all the stories this house could tell? It’s vintage old victorian. This porch railing detail trim as well as up there on the cornices, you can’t find it in any of those stupid new houses they build these days. I mean look at it.”
“Wade.” Jaya moaned and once again attempted to reach the front door. “Wade, why this house?”
“Potential. This house has so much potential, baby. It’s drowning in it.” The grin he shot her had her heart flipping. There was a reason he could get away with buying a house that would need to be stripped down to nothing.
He climbed over the wobbly porch railing and was at the door before she was, carefully pushing on the old peeling paint. The entire front door fell with a crash into the house, except for the handle that Wade was still holding.
“One less thing to wonder about.” He was unfazed. “Now Jaya come see what I have in mind for your kitchen and you will be singing this house’s praises before long!”
“This mess of a house has a working kitchen that I am going to love?” Jaya laughed. “Wade there is no way.”
Wade stopped to reach his hand out to escort her in. “My sweet Jaya. You know that I will make you the kitchen of your dreams. Why settle for a plain cookie cutter of a house with a generic little kitchen when I know I can make and build you whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” Jaya could see the bright twinkle in his smile as she spoke. Dratted husband. He knew he was on the verge of winning her over.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. “Double oven. Plenty of storage. Lots of counter space. An island. Space for all of your cool kitchen toys. Now just be careful where you step. I’m gonna call Dave in the morning to go through the whole house with me and check floors. Based on what it looks like on the outside we are going to be stripping down to the studs and starting new. Plus side is, we can switch the layout to be whatever you want. Bigger kitchen, an extra room or two, study, amazing master bath, whatever.”
Step by tentative step they made their way through the living room. There were several spots that looked about to collapse and even a few holes.
“Did someone come through here with a sledgehammer?” Jaya laughed, pointing to a random hole in one of the walls.
“The guy that sold me the house said that some ambitious start up was going to try and renovate the house as a model for what they could do.” Wade laughed. “They obviously didn’t get very far.”
Jaya shook her head and stepped into the kitchen first. Looking around she wanted to cry. The kitchen was going to need a lot of love to be anything. The grand vision for her dream kitchen faltered. Everything in the room looked like it had been shredded and destroyed.
“Wade?”
He came in after her and sighed. “Someone really didn’t like the kitchen setup.”
“This is going to be a lot of work.” She moaned. “And a lot of money.”
Before she could fully collapse into that pit of worry, he pulled her into his arms. He didn’t say anything as he slowly tucked her head into his shoulder so she couldn’t see anything but him. Slowly he began to sway, his arm around her waist moving her body with his. For several minutes they slowly danced, half shuffling around the little space in the kitchen until she sighed and leaned into him.
When he started humming ‘So This is Love’ Jaya chuckled into his shoulder. “How do you do it?”
He stopped swaying and looked down at her, the twinkle back in his eye. “Jaya, you are the love of my life and I want to give you everything, the world if I could. When I saw this house I knew I could make you your own world the way you wanted.” As she pulled back to look at him he threw her a huge grin. “Besides. You don’t know what a killer deal I got for this house and how much I have saved to put into fixing it up.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Care to share?”
Seconds later he was pulling her further into the house. “I have the plans all laid out in the back. The floors are a little better back there for some reason. With what I have planned we won’t go very far into debt with a loan at all. And you’ll love the house. I’ve been planning and designing for months while I waded through all the paperwork involved with buying this house.”
Jaya stopped following him. “Wait. How long did you say you have been planning this? I thought this was a spur of the moment kind of impulsive buy.”
With a shrug Wade blushed. “I may have made it sound that way so I could surprise you.”
“And?”
“I found the house six months ago.”
“Wade!” She smacked him on the shoulder. “Why would you keep this from me?”
His laughter filled the empty house. “It wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if I dragged you over here to a house that looks ready to fall apart, with no prep and no plans, six months ago to tell you I wanted to take on a huge project and drag you into all the stress involved. I wanted this to be a fun, happy surprise.”
Throwing her arms around his neck Jaya squeezed him close. “I love you mister. Even if you drive me crazy sometimes.”
