Page 5 of Ravished By Her

Hello Lacey,

Please find my rates in the attachment. I’m fully confident that I can turn this house around. Are you planning on handling the sale yourself without the help of an agent?

Unless she had real estate experience, I would advise her against that, but right now my main goal was getting this job.

She responded just a few minutes later that she was going to have a local agent handle the sale, which was smart. This was also good for me, because if I could work with the agent and do a good job on Lacey’s house, then the agent might send more work my way.

We set up a time tomorrow for me to come over and see the house for myself. I’d get to estimate how many hours it would take to clean, then what furniture I could save, and see what cosmetic touches I could handle myself.

Finally. Things were looking up.

* * *

I didn’t tell Sterling about my meeting with Lacey at the potential job site. I didn’t want to talk about it until I had the contract and the down payment in my hand. Working in real estate had taught me that much. Don’t count on anything until all the contracts were signed and the checks had cleared.

The house was fairly close to Kai’s, so it was only a short drive, which was nice.

The exterior wasn’t bad. The home was two floors with a detached garage and a nice front porch. Sure, it could use a few paint touch ups, and the grass was out of control, but those items were pretty easy to handle.

I parked next to a pollen-covered truck that I assumed belonged to Lacey.

The front door opened, and someone walked out to come greet me.

My breath caught in my chest for a moment as I watched her jog down the steps. Bracing myself, I got out of the car as she approached me. She must have been in the middle of cleaning with her cargo shorts, black T-shirt, and backwards baseball cap.

“Gwen?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, fighting the urge to tug on my dress and make sure it wasn’t wrinkled. It was tweed plaid with shades of pink and I’d paired it with a black belt and black pumps. I’d traded my flashier pink glasses frames for a pink pearl pair that I thought made me look a little more professional.

“Lacey,” she said, holding out her hand. I gave her a good handshake as I noted the calluses on her fingers. She had at least four or five inches on me, even with my heels, but I wasn’t going to let her know that I was sweating on the inside.

“A pleasure to meet you,” I said, putting my bag on my shoulder. I’d brought a notebook and my phone so I could make a game plan to tackle this job.

“Well, here we are,” she said, gesturing at the house. “I’ll give you the grand tour.”

Her tone made me think that she was being sarcastic about the grand part.

I followed her, figuring I could take exterior shots after I’d really gotten a look at the inside.

“Oh,” I said as I stepped into the house. The pictures I’d seen hadn’t quite prepared me for the reality.

“My grandfather was a collector,” she said, staring down the hallway and then up the stairs.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said, remembering that I should have said that in the first place.

Lacey didn’t meet my eyes, but she took off her hat before settling it back over her dark blonde hair again.

“Thank you,” she said.

“What do you plan to do with…all this?” I asked, gesturing around at the chaos. The home wasn’t dirty or trashed, just cluttered. With too many things. Way, way too many things. He’d obviously loved and cherished these items. There were no cobwebs in the corners that I could see, or dust covering the pictures and clocks and figurines.

I wondered what had happened to the man who’d lived in this house, but it was absolutely none of my business.

“Fuck if I know,” Lacey said, rubbing a hand down her face. “I still can’t believe I’m the one who has to deal with this.”

Not sure what to say, I just took a few more steps into the house. Lacey seemed to be lost in her own thoughts as I moved room to room, taking notes and pictures and mentally stripping away all the clutter to see what was underneath.

“The colors are…unique,” I said when we got to the kitchen.

---