Page 109 of Truth or More Truth
“I talked to one here about listing this house, but I wanted to wait to talk to someone in Chicago until you could be part of the conversation. Hopefully someday my house will be your house, too, so I want to make sure it’s in the location you’d like to settle down in, because the neighborhood doesn’t really matter to any of us, as long as we’re close to Kelli’s school. I also want you to like the actual house.” I chuckle and look at each of the women in turn. “It might be difficult finding a property all three of you women will like, but I think we can ultimately make it happen.”
“I’m not picky,” Nanette says, and she’s right. Sometimes I wished she voiced her opinion on tangible things more than she does. She’s not shy about giving her full thoughts on everything else, though.
“I’m sure we can work things out.” Melissa bites her lip. “Before coming here, I wasn’t sure which areas and neighborhoods would be appropriate to recommend, but now that I’ve seen all this,” she sweeps her arm around, encompassing my entire property, “it doesn’t seem like price is going to be an issue.” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“I think anything you suggest is going to be in my price range,” I say in a wry tone. I don’t like to discuss my wealth, but if Melissa might someday be my wife, she needs to know what she’s dealing with financially. “So lay it on us.”
“Well,” she takes a deep breath. “I’d like you to consider my childhood home in Evanston.”
I’m surprised by this revelation, but it’s a good sort of surprise.
Melissa continues, “My parents have been talking about downsizing to a property that’s smaller and all one level, so it’s easier for my dad to get around.” She looks atKelli and Nanette. “He had a stroke a couple years ago. He’s mostly recovered, but stairs are difficult for him, and the master suite is on the second floor of the main home. They’ve been making do with the rooms on the ground level, but the bedrooms and one full bath on that floor aren’t large, which also makes getting around a bit difficult for him.”
My daughter and ex-wife express their concern for her dad.
“You’re sure they really want to move?” I place a hand on Melissa’s thigh. “This isn’t just something they talk about but will never actually do?”
“I talked to my mom about it this week,” she explains. “I didn’t tell her about the possibility of you moving there, because I didn’t want to get her excited only to later disappoint her, but I did say I knew someone who might be interested in an off-market sale. She said they truly want to move but need a kick in the pants, because it’ll be hard to leave their long-time home, but they know it’s past time to do it. So this could be the perfect solution for everyone, if you three like the place. If not, we’ll figure something else out for both your house and for my parents.”
“That all makes sense,” I say. “Tell us more about the property.”
“The main house is a mock Tudor style and is similar in size to this one—maybe a little smaller. Kelli could have my old set of rooms, which includes a large bedroom, full bath, and an attached playroom—or whatever you’d want it to be since you probably don’t play with toys anymore.” She thoughtfully directs that part at my daughter. “Maybe an art room, or even a bunk room for when you have sleepovers?”
Kelli swallows a bite of coffee cake and nods excitedly. “Both of those would be cool! You think we could do a combo?”
“There might be room for that,” Melissa replies with a smile. “Those rooms are upstairs, along with the master suite.” She doesn’t give details on that area, but I’ll ask about it later. “Then there are two smaller bedrooms downstairs with an adjoining bath between them, an office, a breakfast room, a formal dining room, and two living areas. In the backyard, there’s a two-bedroom guest house—one bedroom is upstairsin the eaves, so that one could be Kelli’s—and there’s also a space downstairs that could be used as a home office, along with a full kitchen and a living room. There’s also room to add onto it if necessary. The property has a pool and a putting green as well. It’s a few blocks from the lake and about a mile away from the Hamiltons. The school I attended along with the Hamilton boys is just a few miles away, if you’d want to look into it as an option for Kelli.”
“That all sounds almost too good to be true,” Nanette says to Melissa and then looks at me. “Can we work it out to go visit in the next few weeks? I’d like to see the houses and visit a few schools while they’re still in session so I can get a good feel of them for Kelli. And I want to visit the foundation’s offices and meet everyone before giving Diego a final answer on the job.”
“I’ll make sure a trip happens,” I tell her as I stack my empty plates on top of Melissa’s. “Let me look at my schedule, and I’ll give you the dates so you can start setting up school visits.”
“Great.” She stands and pats our daughter on the shoulder. “Kell, why don’t we clean up the dishes, since your dad fixed it all for us?”
“But I want to keep talking to Melissa,” Kelli whines.
“And you can do that again in ten minutes,” her mother says. “But right now, you’re helping clean up.”
Kelli pouts, but she stands and grabs some plates. “Fine.”
Once they’ve cleared everything but our drinks and are inside the house for at least a few minutes, I pull Melissa out of her seat and onto my lap, making my chair’s aluminum frame creak under our combined weight.
She giggles and wraps her arms around my neck. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping you close while I can. These next few months are going to be hard.”
“The concrete below us is going to be hard when this chair collapses and we land on it.”
“We’ll be fine.” She shifts, and the chair creaks again. “Or maybe not. Hop up for a sec.” She does, and then I scoop her up in a fireman’s carry and run for the pool.
“Noooooo!”
“Oh, yes!” I shout as I cannonball us both into the deep end of the pool.
After we surface and she splashes me in retaliation a few times, I pull her to my chest so she can wrap herself around me while I tread water.
“Your parents’ home sounds like the perfect place for us.”
“I really think it will be, as long as all of you like it.”
