21
I walk into the living room, sit down on the couch and take my phone out of my purse. Arte jumps up on the couch and curls up next to me. She looks up at me, so I scratch her between the ears for a few seconds before turning my attention back to my phone. Spencer is still in the air, but I want to text him about my mom and about my visit to the doctor. I write out a text and hit send.
Hey, I’m sure you won’t get this for a while… but I wanted to let you know what’s going on here. I decided to go see my mom after you left. She’s doing OK… but still doesn’t seem to be herself. She said her doctor is planning to release her soon, so I have to try to figure out what to do with her. I left there and dropped Arte off with Sheki while I went to my appointment. The doctor said everything is good and he cleared me to start back as of tomorrow, which is good news. That’s kind of it. I miss you terribly and I can’t wait to see you in a couple weeks. I love you.
I lean back on the couch and stare up at the ceiling. My mom mentioned going back to work and I’m starting to wonder if Spencer was right when he suggested she move to Greenville. It seems possible that familiar surroundings might help her on the road to recovery and she could at least connect with her friends there… and have some support she won’t find elsewhere.
I pull up the web browser on my phone and search for ‘Greenville real estate’. There’s not usually a lot in the way of rentals there and only a couple of apartment buildings, so I figure it might give me a better idea of what to do if I look at everything. I end up on the top search result and quickly scroll through a few rental houses. The only one that looks even remotely interesting is the old Masterson house. I think they got a divorce a couple of years ago, so that’s probably why it’s for rent. The main problem with it is that the house is a few miles outside of town… and I’m not sure she’s going to be driving anytime soon.
That’s when I see it. I almost scroll right by our old house. I tap on it and see the price—it’s being listed for just over two-hundred thousand. It would have seemed like a lot of money just a year ago, but I could comfortably pay for that right now just with the money I’ve made off the film I did with Dex and Spencer. Would it be weird for me to buy our old house? I could offer to let my mom live there and if nothing else it could serve as a real estate investment.
There’s no number listed for the real estate agent who has the listing, but there’re other agents in the area listed on a sidebar advertisement. I click on the one for Greenville Realty and the number pops up on my phone. I hit call and hold it up to my ear.
“Greenville Realty… how can I help you?”
“Yes… I’m calling about a house for sale in Greenville.”
“Is it a house we have listed?”
“No… but I saw your number on the side of the screen, so I thought I would give it a shot.”
“OK… I can definitely help you. What’s the listing number?”
I put the call on speaker and swap back over to my browser window.
“One… three… seven… nine… two… one… zero.”
“Give me one second while I look that up,” she says.
“Of course.”
“OK… I’ve got it pulled up on my screen. What would you like to know?”
“I think I’d like to purchase the house.”
“Oh… well… did you want to go look at it?”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“Uh… OK… well… do you have any questions about the house?”
“Not really,” I say.
“I do have to tell you… the house is a bank foreclosure. Greenville Credit Union holds the title. It’s been my experience, dealing with them before, that they aren’t keen on negotiating the price. They seem to feel they have already put it up for sale at a fair market price.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think it’s worth close to that… but if you’re serious about buying it, I don’t see why I can’t get them to come down a little.”
It strikes me as kind of odd that she seems so surprised that I’m interested in the house. The only thing that would make sense is that I might sound young on the phone, but that still doesn’t seem like a good reason to not take this call seriously.
“Would you like to come down to the office and we can talk about it?”
“I’m in California, actually… so that won’t be possible.”
“Oh… OK… well… what can I actually do to help you?”
“I’d like to put in an offer on the house… for whatever price you think the bank will go for.”
“I’m going to need proof of funds before I move ahead with making an offer. I assume that’s not going to be a problem. Do you have a lender you’re working with?”
“Um… no… I was actually hoping to just write a check.”
“Oh….”
She doesn’t say anything for the next few seconds. I think that caught her off guard.
“Is that a problem?” I ask.
“Of course not. I’m just going to need to see proof of funds… like a bank statement.”
“I can do that.”
“Good. Just have your bank fax it to me with an official cover letter and we’ll be all set to go. It’s getting late here... so if you want to do it today, I won’t be able to get in touch with Greenville Credit Union until tomorrow.”
“That’s fine. I’m not in a huge big rush… I just want to get the process started in the next few days.”
“If you go to your bank today… I’ll stay here until I get the fax and I can call you to confirm.”
I take a deep breath and think about what she’s proposing. She’s pushing awfully hard all of a sudden, which is fine because I do want to get this done before I head to Europe in a few weeks. I also don’t know what this next week might hold, so doing it today might not be a bad thing.
“OK… I’ll head over to the bank right now.”
“Sounds good… my name is Ann, by the way. Do you need our fax number?”
“Amy. Yeah, I do.”
She tells me the number and I add it to my contacts.
“I look forward to your call, Amy.”
“Bye.”
I end the call and look over at Arte. She’s out cold next to me on the couch and I feel bad about disturbing her. I don’t think I can take her into my bank and I don’t feel like dropping her of with Sheki again… twice in a day seems a little much—I don’t want her to think I’m taking advantage of her daycare service.
“How would you feel about staying home alone for a little while?”
Arte opens her eyes and looks up at me.
“I’ll try to be fast… I promise.”
I stand up from the couch and put my phone back in my purse. Arte jumps down and follows me around as I get ready to head over to the bank. I feel kind of bad about leaving her here, but it really shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes… and I feel like I should get her in the habit of staying here by herself, at least for quick trips like this.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can… I promise.”
I lean over and rub her between the ears. She tries to follow me out the door, but I close it most of the way so she can’t escape. Arte pushes her nose into the crack and cries.
“Sorry… I wish I could take you with me.”
I reach out and touch her chin with my fingers. She licks my fingers in a final attempt to go along. I gently move her head out of the way of the door and close it. She starts to whimper and I can hear it through the door. She’s such a baby.
Arte assaults me as I open the door and step back into the house.
“Hi!”
She jumps on my leg and tries to climb me like a tree. I pick her up and carry her into the living room. I love how excited to see me she is… it’s so cute. I sit down on the couch and put her down next to me. Arte jumps on my lap and licks my chin as I reach into my purse and take out my phone.
“I know… I missed you, too.”
I rub her a little and finish with a kiss on her nose.
“Mommy needs to make a phone call… and then I’ll play with you. OK?”
She curls up on the couch and rests her head on my leg. I reach down and pet her for a few seconds before pulling up the number for Greenville Realty. Ann answers almost instantly.
“Greenville Realty… how can I help you?”
“Ann… it’s Amy.”
“Hello.”
“Did you get the fax?”
“Yes… I did. It just came through a few minutes ago. Everything looks good. We can make an offer whenever you’re ready. I don’t expect to hear from them before tomorrow, though.”
“That’s fine.”
“How much would you like to offer?”
“I’m not sure. What do you think?”
“Like I said… they can be kind of… strict… when it comes to offers lower than their asking, but I think ten thousand under would be a good starting point, if you’re OK with that.”
“That’s fine. I trust your judgment.”
“Perfect. I’ll get it ready and send it over before I head home.”
“Awesome. Do you need anything else from me?”
“No… not right now, but I’ll call you if I do.”
“Let me give you my number,” I say.
I give her my number.
“Wonderful. I don’t see why they wouldn’t accept your offer… so I’ll call you tomorrow as soon as I hear back.”
“OK. Just so you know, I’ll be working tomorrow… so I might not be able to get back to you right away.”
“That’s fine. There hasn’t been any movement on this house, to my knowledge, so it’s not like someone is going to get it before you. Talk to you soon.”
“Sounds good… thanks.”
I end the call and set my phone down on the coffee table.
“Well, Arte… it looks like we’re going to be buying your grandma a house.”
She looks up at me.
“I know… I’m sure you could tell she’s not a big fan of dogs.”
Arte lets out a heavy sigh and closes her eyes.
“I agree… we should take a nap.”
I smile as I reach down and rub her little tummy. It feels good to be putting an offer in on my childhood home. It holds a lot of memories… and not all of them are bad. I’m not sure I’d ever want to live there again, but my mom might like it. I think it’s going to be a good thing, moving her back there once she’s released.