“Colton!” Sadie shouted from the threshold. “Get your ass out of the truck and show me around.”
Succumbing to her demands, I jumped down from the truck and dashed to the porch to unlock the door for her.
“This place is going to be amazing. I can just imagine sitting on this porch in a rocking chair watching the sunrise in the morning.”
Funny thing is, I had thought the exact same thing when I bought the house and already ordered two sets of rocking chairs for this porch and a swaying bed chair for the upper porch.
I held out my arm, gesturing for Sadie to enter before me, and said, “After you.”
I wasn’t surprised that in the time it took me to make it toward the kitchen, Sadie had already explored the first floor and was using the back stairwell to head toward the upper floors.
“Wow, Colton!” she shouted from the top of the stairs. “That attic space is amazing!”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I made my way toward her.
When I left, the attic was still mostly a barren space except for the skylights I’d had installed to get some more light in the rooms besides the two side windows. The contractor and I had tossed around the idea of dormer windows, but that was going to dig into our timeline and push out the date of the final inspection. The six skylights were a better option and I spared no expense for them. These had a lifetime warranty and claimed to be leakproof.
We would see.
“The attic was just stone and beams when I left.”
“Oh, it’s definitely not that any longer.”
Sadie stepped aside as we approached the hidden third-floor staircase, which clearly wasn’t that hidden if she had found it. I had to duck my head to pass through the threshold and then made my way up the almost completely vertical stairs. The contractor was surprised I didn’t want to change them.
“Holy shit,” I said on a gasp as I took the last step coming into a small hallway.
The doors were all open and I could see about three bedrooms to my right and a full bathroom. To my left was what I had described to Autumn as the master suite.
Autumn.
This must have been a secret project she had been working on.
I stepped into the room to find a metal bedframe and a newly sanded antique dresser. It was clear that it was from the correct period.
I hated that we couldn’t salvage any of the furniture that was left in the space. Previous tenants or the weather had damaged most of it. But Autumn knew a good find when she saw it.
“This bathroom is killer.”
Following my sister into the black and white penny-tiled bathroom, it amazed me to see a clawfoot tub that was large enough for my body on one end and a stand-up shower on the farthest wall that would accommodate my height.
“Who designed this? Because. . .wow,” Sadie pointed out and I agreed with her sentiment.
“Autumn must have done this.”
“Damn. Is she going to tackle the rest of the house?”
“I hope so.”
“I can’t believe this is the same woman you outbid for the property and then somehow her father tricked her into helping you restore it. Her dad must be freaking awesome.”
“He really is. And his ranch is something else. I bet he’d love to pick your brain sometime.” When she looked at me in confusion, I elaborated that it was because he was a farmer and she studied environmental engineering.
“When can I meet them and the other couple? Mr. and Mrs. Chisolm, right?”
“Yeah, my old coach and his wife. We are meeting up with them tomorrow. We can actually go next door to the Easterly’s right now if you want.”
“Really?” she said eagerly, but it was clear she didn’t care for the actual answer as she dashed down the stairs, leaving me alone in the attic.
