Page 25 of Reclaimed Dreams
“Oh, you know, just living the dream, every day. Let’s talk about your dream.”
“I’ll be honest, Jim. I’ve barely made it into the living room, and this feels more like a nightmare.”
“I hear you, but I’ll be frank. Finding a five-bedroom house in this area in your price range is a stretch. When this came onto the market, I immediately thought of you.”
“I don’t know if I should be insulted or not.” Jo cringed.
“It’s a compliment. I know it’s in rough shape, but you have a very handy husband and an eye for what makes a house a home. You could give this house the second chance it deserves. Just keep an open mind as we walk through.”
Jo sighed but did as she was asked. The fact that there had been a break-in while the house was vacant could account for the broken glass as well as the damaged hardwoods and holes in the walls. The poor eyesight of the eighty-year-old previous owner explained the navy blue living room, army green kitchen with black countertops, and a crimson wall in the bedroom. It also explained the general lack of maintenance around the house. On a fixed income, actually fixing things could be prohibitively expensive.
“Sofia, please get up off the floor. Dom, are those mouse droppings on the carpet?”
A lot of mouse droppings. A skittering in the wall made Jo wonder exactly what was living in them and which had come first, the holes or the rodents.
While she pondered this, Gabe darted for the open back door and the freedom of the backyard. Between Gabe and a young boy’s paradise of overgrown bushes and low-branched trees lay a rickety, rotting deck with no handrail and a three-foot drop. Jo’s heart jumped into her throat.
“Wait!” She tried to lunge for him, but holding Enzo slowed her down and her belly protested the sudden movement.
Dom picked Sofia up onto his hip and raced after his son, scooping him up with an arm around the waist moments before he would have taken flight off the edge of the deck. With carefully placed steps, he crossed the deck and deposited the kids inside the house, sliding the door shut behind them.
A death trap. Her husband wanted to buy a death trap.
“Let’s go upstairs and see the bedrooms.”
Jo was unconvinced anything she saw upstairs would impress her, but she was wrong. Her children scattered and claimed their rooms, and she could see how much they all needed their own space. The layout of four smaller but decent-sized rooms along the hallway, with a large suite for her and Dom at the head of the stairs, would definitely work for her growing family.
“This one is going to be mine.” Sofia did a little pirouette in the middle of the Pepto-Bismol pink bedroom, and Jo smiled. Every kid would have a space to make their own. After years of trying to get babies to sleep in shared bedrooms, this would give them all a lot more nighttime peace.
The promise of eventual sleep opened her mind further to the potential of the space. Back downstairs, instead of focusing on the ugly color of the kitchen, she could appreciate the way it opened into the back family room. Instead of seeing the gouges in the floor as an impediment, she welcomed the chance to sand down the grimy floors and stain them to her liking. The beautiful woodwork around the trim and doorframes added a Craftsman charm that she could reclaim from beneath layers of white paint.
Standing on the staircase, she could see it gleaming in the background of prom photos. The living room, with its original fireplace and large windows, was just screaming for a family at Christmas to gather around a tree and open presents. Jo walked over to the beautiful carved wood mantel and ran her fingers over it. Hidden under the layer of dust were little nail holes. Six of them, evenly spaced, along the front edge. Perfect for hanging stockings. This house had been loved once, and it could be loved again.
With a little bit of vision and a whole lot of hard work, likely provided by her husband and his brother, this run-down house could become a real home for her family. The challenges started to fade as her mind began to mentally fix things, creating a warm, inviting space to raise her children and welcome friends and family.
They walked back out the front door to stand in the driveway. Looking back at the house, Jo could see the beauty in its bones. She could make this work.
Jim picked up his pitch, stepping into the silence.
“So, this is a five bedroom on a large lot under market price because of the level of work that needs to be done. It’s a great school district, and you’ve got established neighbors. I think it’s a steal if you can do the work for cost yourself.”
“Jim, the size and price are right, but I don’t know if we’re up for this challenge. With the baby and the kids…” Dom had Gabe tossed over his shoulder and set him down to run around. Meanwhile, Sofia was standing on his foot with her arm wrapped around his leg.
“If you need to think about it, take a few days, but I think it will move pretty quickly if developers catch wind. And then all of this old charm will be lost.”
“Gabriel Valenti, what are you doing?” Jo shouted at her son who was standing suspiciously behind a bush planted along the edge of the house.
“What? I had to pee!” Gabe shouted back.
Jo shook her head and sighed. She would never understand boys. “Well, he marked it. I guess we have to buy it now.”
Dom’s jaw dropped, and Jo couldn’t help but laugh. Her impulsive husband, stunned by her decision? About time he got a taste of his own medicine.
“Do you mean it?” he asked.
“I’m thinking about it. Can you handle a renovation this extensive?” Jo teased.
Dom shuffled over to her, Fi still clinging to him, and kissed her deeply. “Anything for you, love. If you can see it, I can build it,” he said when he came up for air.
“Then I think we should do it,” Jo said. “Jim, we’ll need to make a list of fixes and see the disclosures and school data, but if the price is right, I think we can make this house our home.”
The life Jo envisioned in this home would be full of laughter and love, and she was confident there was no one better than Dom to help her build that.
She turned back to him, face held in mock censure. “But Dom, I’m not moving in until you get the rats out of the walls.”
