Gulf Coast Wedding by Maggie Miller

Chapter Eleven

Sam had prepared herself for whatever lay behind the front door. She’d seen the pictures. She knew the house was going to be outdated. She knew it was going to need work. Her mind was open to the possibilities.

She realized two things pretty fast. One, the pictures hadn’t accurately shown how dark it was inside, but that was probably partially due to how overgrown all the landscaping was. The front windows were almost blocked. There was a lot of wood paneling that seemed to absorb the light as well. But the second thing was that she hadn’t expected it to smell quite so bad.

“Mom.” Clayton tugged on her hand. “It smells like Grunt’s socks in here.”

Theresa spoke up quickly. “There was some water damage, which has been dealt with, but yes, with a house like this that’s shut up, there is bound to be a musty smell. Also, the homeowners had a dog. I’m sure that’s a contributing factor.”

Travis stared at the ceiling. “Where was the leak?”

“In the attic. You’ll see in the next room, there’s an area that needs dealing with. The other side of this adjoining wall.”

“Dealing with?” Travis glanced at Levi.

He shrugged and looked a little unsure. Sam knew Levi liked this house a lot. For his sake, she hoped the wall wasn’t anything major.

They followed Theresa through the foyer, past the living room and into the dining room next to the kitchen. All of the lights in the house were on, making Sam realize that Theresa had already been in here before they’d arrived.

Theresa must have been dreading them seeing some of this stuff. Or at least wondering how they’d react. And trying to figure out if they’d keep looking or decide they’d seen enough.

Sam’s brows shot up as the wall in question came into view. “That wasn’t in the photos.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Levi said.

On the dining room side, all of the drywall was gone, leaving the studs and electrical exposed.

“No.” Theresa sighed. “Those photos were taken a couple months ago. The leak was only recently discovered. It’s part of why the homeowners are motivated. The homeowners lived here for nearly thirty years, but they’ve since moved to assisted living and the family is desperate to sell the house.”

That was a little sad, Sam thought. But she also liked the idea that this house had been loved enough to be lived in for that long by the same people.

Travis went to inspect the wall more closely. After a moment, he spoke. “There are two bits of good new. I don’t see any signs of mold, despite the smell. And this wall doesn’t look like it’s load bearing. You could take this whole thing down and really open up this space.”

Sam liked the sound of that. “That would brighten things up.”

“And modernize it,” Lilly said. “But overhauling the landscaping would bring a lot of light in too.”

Sam nodded. “I was thinking that too.” On the outside wall of the dining room were sliding doors, currently covered by blinds. She pointed at them. “Getting rid of those would help too.”

Theresa’s face brightened a bit. “Does that mean the wall isn’t a deal breaker?”

Levi looked at Sam, clearly letting her make the decision.

She smiled and shook her head. “It’s not for me. So long as we’re not talking about mold.” She glanced at her father. “This is all fixable, right, Dad?”

He smiled back. “Yep. Well, I haven’t looked in the attic yet, which I should.”

Theresa nodded. “This house is being sold as is, so there won’t be a home inspection unless you pay for one. And whatever you find, you’ll have to take care of.”

Levi’s brows pulled together. “I’m sure I read that in the listing, but the full meaning of that didn’t really sink in until just now. We should definitely look in the attic.”

“The pull-down stairs are in the garage,” Theresa said. “We can absolutely go out there and you can go up and have a look around.”

“Let’s do it,” Levi said.

“Meet you there.” Travis gave him a nod. “I’m going to get a flashlight out of my truck.”

With that, they all moved to the garage, opening the overhead door to let more light in. Sam was glad to see there was a garage door opener and that it worked. Levi pulled the steps down, then he and Travis went up.

While the rest of them waited, Sam looked around the garage. There wasn’t much to see. Some cans of paint, a couple of shelves, the hot water heater, and some HVAC stuff. The floor was heavily stained, but she knew it could be painted and made to look brand new.

Several long minutes later, Levi and Travis descended.

“Well?” Georgia asked.

Levi looked at Travis.

He turned his flashlight off. “No signs of mold. I can see where the leak was, but like Theresa said, it’s all been repaired. Looks well done, too.” He glanced at Theresa. “How old is that roof?”

“Only six years old, thanks to a hurricane. Insurance paid for that.”

Travis nodded to Levi. “That’s a good thing. You should have at least another nineteen years left in it. Assuming those are twenty-five-year shingles.”

Levi exhaled. “That is a good thing.” He raised his brows. “Lots of storage up there.”

“Always nice to have,” Sam answered.

“All right, then,” Theresa said. “Let’s go have a look at the rest of the house.”

The kitchen seemed functional, but certainly not very pretty. Avocado green wasn’t really her color, but Sam could live with it. Functional was just fine for them.

Theresa put her hand on the stove. “This will need to be replaced. The oven doesn’t work.”

So much for functional, Sam thought.

“We’ll get all new appliances,” Levi said. “I’d like to redo this whole kitchen actually.”

Sam frowned at him. “That’s not going to be cheap.”

“No, but we’re going to live in this house for a while. It should be to our tastes as much as possible. Besides, an upgraded kitchen is good for resale value too.”

“He’s not wrong,” Lilly said. “And when it comes to kitchens and bathrooms, they can be very expensive to redo, but they don’t have to be. I’m happy to help you navigate all of that. If you’d like.”

“That would be great,” Sam said. “Maybe we could afford an hour or so of your time.”

Lilly made a face. “Afford? Sam, I wouldn’t dream of charging you. You’re practically family. Besides that, it’s my wedding gift to you.” She looked around. “It’s been a while since I did something with a budget. Might be a fun challenge, actually.”

They went on to the bedrooms and bathrooms. It was a split plan, so the master bedroom and bath were on one side of the house with two more bedrooms and another bath on the opposite side. Clayton immediately decided that the bigger of the two bedrooms would be his.

That was fine with Sam. He was a growing boy, after all.

Levi stuck his head into the smaller bedroom. “We could definitely use this as a combo guest room office. Especially since I’m going to be working from home.”

Sam smiled. “If we have guests, they can stay at the inn.”

Georgia laughed. “There you go.”

Unfortunately, much like the kitchen, the bathrooms had seen better days. The pink tile with matching bathtub and sink was just a little too much pink for Sam’s taste. The master bath was slightly better, but still very dated.

But the space was good. Sure there were some hideous shades of shag carpeting and wood paneling that desperately needed removing, and the smell to deal with, but the bones, as her dad liked to say, were good.

When they’d finished touring the house, Theresa led them back to the dining room. “We’ve saved the best part for last.”

She reached for the string on the blinds and started cranking them back, revealing the back yard, the screened in lanai, and the pool. The light that spilled in was proof of how bright the house could be, too.

“Oh boy,” Clayton said. “Can I go out there?”

“By all means,” Theresa said. She opened one of the sliders and pushed it wide.

Sam smiled. The backyard was nice. There wasn’t anything she immediately wanted to change, other than the landscaping which was just as overgrown here as it was in the front. There was a nice mature live oak, too, that provided some shade.

As they all stepped outside, Theresa continued her sales pitch. “The lanai has recently been rescreened since that last hurricane took out a few panels. The pool has also been maintained beautifully, as you can see. The heater and pump system was replaced three years ago.”

Levi came to stand next to Sam. “This is a nice backyard. Once we get it cleaned up, there will be all kinds of room for Clayton to run around back here, don’t you think?”

Sam nodded. “Absolutely. I like all of this. I can see us having dinner out here. Maybe throwing a family cookout sometime. Or just the two of us, sitting here in the evening, enjoying the night air.”

“You really like it? I know there’s a lot of work to be done.”

“That doesn’t scare me. And if you think you can afford it, and you don’t mind spending the money, then I’m in.”

He grinned. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“All right then.” He looked at Theresa. “We’d like to make an offer.”

A little trill of anxiety zipped through Sam. They were really doing this. Getting married, buying a house, making a life together. It was exciting and scary all at the same time. Was it really the right thing to do? Maybe they were going too fast.

Then she saw the look on Clayton’s face as he stared out at the backyard. Was he daydreaming about the adventures he’d have out there? About swimming in that pool? Or having all of his new friends over?

Whatever was on his mind, his expression was one of pure, innocent happiness.

That was all the reassurance Sam needed to know they were doing the right thing.