Chapter Three

 

 

Abby hurried through the shower, knowing she would need another one later in the day after deep cleaning of the house. The main floor didn’t need too much work, but the basement had been neglected for quite a while. And to get this place ready to show, she would have to go through all the old papers and photo albums to decide what she needed to keep and what she could throw out.

She didn’t relish the thought of sorting through all the things her aunt kept, but it would be a wonderful way to remember the lady who meant so much to her.

By the time she was dressed and in the kitchen getting her breakfast ready, Luke had moved over to his lawn and looked like he was nearly done with it.

He had sure grown up. While at times she could still see the cocky little boy he had been, now he was a full on man and handsome as ever. But she needed to stay focused. She wasn’t here for a relationship or even a fling. She needed to take care of this house, so she could figure out where she wanted to go with her life. She’d considered moving to another city with a lower cost of living, one that still gave her the options of working in her field. And podunk Maryland was not the place.

By the time she got the basement vacuumed and dusted as well as the obvious trash taken upstairs, it was just about noon. She didn’t want to shower again, but she felt a little grimy after all the house work. Of course, she was just going over to Luke’s house. She didn’t need to dress up and look nice for him.

She washed her hands and wiped her face and forehead with a wash cloth, deciding that was good enough. Her short hair hadn’t really gotten messed up with all the cleaning. Her mascara was still fresh enough, so she called it good with a quick application of lip balm.

When she walked through the kitchen, she eyed the honey and wondered if she should return it to him. She should at least thank him and see if he wanted to split the bottle since they were neighbors. She picked it up and took it with her.

When she knocked on the door, Abby heard a woman’s voice inside call for her to come in. Abby turned the knob and stepped inside slowly.

“Abby, dear. Come on in. I’m so glad to see you again. It’s been ages.”

“Hi, Mrs. Morison. How are you?” Abby stopped short when she entered the front room, where Mrs. Morison sat on the couch with her leg propped up and wrapped in a cast. “Oh my, what happened?”

Mrs. Morison chuckled. “I was in an accident a couple months ago. Not too much longer and I can get this brace off and get a lighter one that will allow for a little more movement.”

Abby visited with Mrs. Morison for a few minutes before Luke came into the room. “Hi, Abby. I didn’t hear you come in.” He smiled at her and looked to his mom. “Did you want to eat in here, or get a change of scenery and move into the dining room?”

“I’d like to move in there, please.” She shifted her weight to get her injured leg off the couch. Luke moved closer and helped her to stand, looking over to the side where Abby sat.

“Could you hand me those crutches, Abby?” Luke asked.

She turned and found the crutches leaning against the side of the couch. She handed them to Mrs. Morison, who thanked her and positioned them under her arms. Luke stepped back and allowed her to lead the way into the kitchen, placing himself behind his mother to make sure she didn’t fall. Abby smiled at the sweetness of the scene. Though the kid she remembered was a little turd, she appreciated the man he had grown into. At least, he treated his mother well. And if he could help her get things moving on the prospect of selling her house, she would put up with his ego for the time it took to get the place sold.

When she entered the kitchen, she spotted the meal on the table. Her brows rose in approval. He had croissants on a plate and a bowl of what looked like avocado chicken salad with grapes and cashews mixed in.

“Did you make this?” Abby asked, before she realized how silly the question sounded. Of course, he had made it. His mother had been unable to get into the kitchen without his help. And even if she had told him how to do it, the fact he put it together was impressive.

“Oh, Luke’s a better cook than I am,” Mrs. Morison said. She glanced at her son and then back to Abby. “Don’t tell him this, but I’ve contemplated breaking my other leg just to be sure he doesn’t leave. I don’t want to go back to eating my own poor excuses for meals.”

“Whatever, Mom. You were the one who taught me everything I know.” Luke adjusted his mother’s chair as she sat down in it and helped push her closer to the table. She positioned her leg out, and then Luke moved over to the other side to pull out a chair for Abby, who blinked in surprise at his chivalry.

“Thanks,” Abby whispered as she sat down. She still held the bottle of honey and tucked it in her lap for the moment as Mrs. Morison continued to praise her son.

“I may have taught you the basics, but you’ve far surpassed my skills.” She pulled the bowl of chicken avocado blend toward her and opened her croissant. “Just look at this, Abby. Have you ever seen anything so delicious?”

Abby shook her head. Though she’d eaten a lot of elegant food in her life, she wasn’t going to argue with a doting mother. Besides, it did look really good, considering she hadn’t had to do any of the prep work or pick from some old cans of soup.

Luke surprised her again by offering a quick prayer of thanks before they ate. Mrs. Morison asked Abby questions about her life and where she lived, what she did for a living and how she had been over the past years.

The meal passed by much more pleasantly than Abby expected when she first accepted Luke’s offer that morning. And as she watched her neighbors interact, she thought how much fun it was to see them again. She remembered Mrs. Morison as a typical mom who had treats and snacks for them when they were done playing, but she also remembered being told not to wear her shoes in the house because they’d been playing in the mud. It was a little difficult to connect the two versions of the same woman, but as the meal wore on, Abby thought she would love to be friends with the woman. It was no wonder Aunt Beverly spoke so highly of her. She was probably young enough to be Aunt Beverly’s daughter instead of peer, but it was obvious they had been good friends.

Aunt Beverly would have been a wonderful mother and though she hadn’t been able to have any children of her own, she’d sure made her mark on people anyway. Even Luke seemed to think of her as an aunt or grandmother type.

Luke picked up the dishes and took them to the sink. He turned to his mother. “We’ll be talking a bit about what Abby’s options are for selling the house. Do you want to stay, or would you like to move back to your chair?”

“I think I’ll go sit where I can prop this stupid leg up better. But first I need to make a pit stop.”

“I’ll be right back,” Luke said, meeting Abby’s eyes.

Luke helped his mother stand and, as they left the kitchen, Abby stood and moved to the sink. The least she could do was wash the dishes. It was the neighborly thing to do. A little of the filling remained in the bowl, so she found a small reusable container and transferred it into the bowl. She put it in the fridge and started washing the plates and utensils. She had just finished rinsing off the last dish when Luke returned to the kitchen.

“I can get those.”

Abby turned to face him. “Too late, already done.” She put the plate in the drain rack, drying her hands on the towel draped over the oven door handle.

Luke put the laptop he held on the table and Abby picked up the bottle of honey from the counter by the sink. She held it up. “I wanted to thank you for this. And since we’re neighbors and all, I wanted to know if you’d like to split some?”

Luke smiled. “I’ll pick some up next week. You can keep it all.”

Abby wrapped her fingers around the top of the bottle to keep her fingers still. Luke motioned for her to sit down. She sat gratefully, happy to move past the awkwardness of her partial apology and thank you.

“So let’s look at your options. Do you have the paperwork that proves you have all rights to the property and are free and clear to sell it?”

“Yes,” Abby said. “I already talked to the lawyers. Because it was in a trust, I don’t have to wait for any kind of probate with a will or anything. I have all the documents. On Monday, I was going to go to the city offices and make sure it was all in line. There shouldn’t be anything slowing me down.”

Luke nodded. “So then we’ll assume it’s all clear and I can get you started with the things you’ll need to do to prepare to list it.”

Abby listened as he explained the best ways to get the house ready for showings and the typical process it took to sell a house. She’d never had to worry about something like that before since she’d only rented in her adult life. It seemed a little intimidating, but Luke acted confident and seemed completely capable of making things happen.

“How long do you think it will take to get this sold?”

Luke leaned back and met her eyes. “Honestly, I think the house needs a little updating and a few small cosmetic things. The curb appeal is okay, but you’ll want to plant some flowers and make it look well cared for. The kitchen is old, and some of the appliances need some upgrades. New fridge and stove, and even a dishwasher, but if you aren’t able to put in a lot into those kinds of things, you can still paint, do some new doors for the cabinets, and put down a newer-looking counter top.”

Abby glanced around his kitchen. “I like the look of this one. It’s clean without being pretentious. The colors are bright, too. Aunt Beverly’s oranges and browns are not appealing at all, but I don’t know how much I could afford to put into a fix up.”

“I know a couple of contractors we do business with who can give you a bid on some different options. It’s all free for the estimate. I can come over and see what it looks like. Give you a ball park figure.”

Luke moved to stand, and Abby looked up at him. “Are you free now?” She glanced at the window. “Didn’t you say you had a lot of stuff you had to get done today? That’s why you were mowing so stinking early.”

Luke smiled. “I have an appointment to show a house in town, but I don’t have to leave for another hour. I’ve got time to just go take a look and give you an idea.”

Abby smiled back. “Thanks, Luke.” She followed him out the door and over the lawn to her house. It felt odd to refer to it as her house, even though it wouldn’t be hers for long. Hopefully.

She opened her door when he paused on the front porch. “So, the kitchen?”

Luke nodded. “The kitchen and the bathrooms are usually the ones you want to start with first. They take the most effort to update.”

They walked through the front room and down a short hallway to the kitchen area. The windows were in a nice location and gave good light to the room. It was spacious enough with a little breakfast nook just to the side of the bar and a semi-formal dining room through a doorway without a door. She surveyed the counter tops and the cabinets with a critical eye. The cabinets were well built and probably didn’t need to be replaced completely, but they could do with some sanding and staining. The Formica counter top had places that were warped or burned. It would for sure need replacing.

The large appliances were older but not ancient, so it could go either way on if she replaced them. The white porcelain sink had a few chips in it that would need to be traded out.

“It’s not as bad as I thought,” Luke said. “You could probably get away with replacing the sink and counter top, then just painting. And I’d seriously suggest you upgrade your appliances. Even buying some of the cheaper models that look new can be a big selling feature.”

“What about the cabinets?” Abby asked. “Should they be sanded and painted?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Luke said. “You could even do a lot of it yourself. Or hire a handy man if you don’t want to do it.”

“I’m not horrible at working with my hands,” Abby said, “but I wouldn’t have a clue of what to do.”

Luke smiled. “Not to brag or anything, but I’m actually a pretty handy man myself. I could easily help you with replacing the sink and cabinets. And I’m sure you could manage sanding and painting. That could save you a lot of money you could put toward the appliances.”

They went through the rest of the house with Luke pointing out some things that could help make the house more sellable and giving her suggestions. She wished she had gotten a piece of paper to take notes on, but she wouldn’t be able to get it show ready for a month or more anyway now that she’d seen the state of her aunt’s storage.

She would have to call her boss at the day spa and let him know it would take a bit longer for her to wrap things up here. She had some money in savings, and some left over in her aunt’s accounts because the life insurance policy had covered the hospital bills and the funeral expenses.

“I’ll give you the name of my buddy who’s a contractor. You can give him a call to see what his bid would be and make your decision on if you want to try it yourself, or we could just go on this together.”

“How much do you charge?”

“A hug and a kiss.”

“Excuse me?” Abby asked.

Luke’s face flushed a little, but then he shrugged and grinned. “It was something I always answered Aunt Beverly when she asked how much for the lawn mowing.”

Abby smiled. “I’ll bet she fell hard for your charm, huh.”

“Yeah, she was a sweetheart.”

Abby nodded. “She sure was. I’m glad she had you and your mom to keep her company. I wish I would have taken the time to actually come out to visit her more often.”

“She would have liked that.”

“But seriously,” Abby asked, “how much would you charge for helping me with the upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom?”

“Well, since you’d be doing most of the prep work and the painting and stuff, I’ll just be doing a little of the grunt work. I wouldn’t charge you anything. But I would appreciate it if you hired me as the real estate agent.”

“I’ll think about it,” Abby said. She took a step closer to him and, before she could change her mind about it, gave him a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. “Thanks for mowing my lawn.”

Luke froze for a second and didn’t move until she stepped away. “No worries. I’ll do it again next week, but I’ll try to wait until a more reasonable hour.”

“By next week, it won’t feel like four a.m., so go ahead and mow when you need to.”

Luke nodded and turned the handle on the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He stepped outside. Abby watched as he walked across the lawn to his house, looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.