Page 6 of Waylon

“There are some people looking for you. I haven’t heard of the law firm but I’m assuming that it’s the one that you used to work at.” Waylon told her the name and asked her if that was it. After telling him it was, she handed him the newspaper but for the section on court dates. “There is a man named Dale Davis who has put an ad in the paper about finding you.”

“I’ve not gotten that far yet. Have you spoken to him? Or know what he wants?” He said that he’d not, knowing that she was hiding from the younger Davis so he’d not kill her. “I liked his father. Mr. Davis is the one who hired me when I got out of college. Do you think that he’s working with his son?”

“I have no idea. However, the note for you is in the section for cheap ads.” He opened the paper for her, and she found it immediately. He’d even put her name in it, just to be sure, she thought that she’d get it. “It says to contact him through his personal number. I’m assuming that you have it since he mentioned that you’re to call him.”

“I did have it. When my place was burned up, my cell phone was in it. I was afraid to carry it around because I didn’t know if Roman could track me or not.” he told her that was good thinking. “Now that I think on it, I believe that he might not know how to do that. He seems pretty unfamiliar with not just cell phones but computers as well. The one that was on his desk had an icon on it to get into his games. That, I believe, is the only thing he used it for.”

“He has a law degree, though. I would have thought he was smarter than that.” She told him that he’d be wrong. “How can a man get through life without at least having a good working computer.”

“I had one of the interns tell me that they had to set up his cell phone for him so that he’d only have to press a single number to call someone. While he wasn’t even sure that he could make a call, he knew that one of the numbers was for a man by the name of Diesel. He was one of the drug dealers that would contact him occasionally while at work.” Waylon wondered aloud again at how he’d gotten a law degree. “More than likely, his dad throwing money at the school. Or worse yet, Roman blackmailed his way to the top. And by that, I mean he was at the top of his class. I guess he figured that if he was going to get an education, he might as well have the best there was.”

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to make a couple of calls on your behalf. So is Amy, but I’ll use her as a last resort. My dad is good friends with a great many people, too, so that might get you in closer than anything I can do.” She asked him if it would get him into trouble. “Not really. Dad knows that he can turn me down, and if he does, I’ll move on to something else. Also, will you go out with me to look at houses? I’ve had one in my mind, but it was sold recently, and I’ve figured out that I really didn’t want it, or I would have tried harder. What kind of places do you like?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never in all my life lived in a house. I’ve been in them before, I mean, I’d go to other people’s homes when I was a child but I’ve only ever lived in apartments since I can remember. Why do you need my input?” He told her. “I see. I guess I never thought of us getting that far in where we’ll be living together. I thought that living here with you was just temporary.”

“It is in a way. But I’ve been looking at houses for a while now. I can’t stand to share things with my neighbor. Like noises that are coming through the walls. Driveways. That’s another thing that I hate when someone takes up all the room in the drive when we’re supposed to be sharing.” She couldsee him getting upset when someone took more than their share of something. But she wasn’t entirely sure whether it was a joke or not. She didn’t know him at all, honestly. He’d done it to his brothers when there was only a single slice of cake left to eat and they were going to share. “I have three today to look at. Come with me, and I’ll buy you dinner. I’m sick of fast food.”

The two of them ended up getting coffee at the nearby market. She’d never been to it and was surprised at all the items that they had to offer. Not just coffee and tea, but there were scones as well as fresh fruit and veggie takeaways as well. She settled on a veggie cup with dressing to keep her from getting hangry if they were late getting dinner.

The first house on his list was a no. Even pulling into the lumpy drive made her nearly empty belly feel off. The house itself was all right, she supposed, but there was more than likely a great deal of things to have done to it before it was livable. If ever. It was sort of a classic run-down place. No cars on the lawn, but there was a broken-down couch and a recliner on the front porch.

The second house wasn’t much better. She wondered if the realtor had any idea who Waylon was. A wealthy man she knew she would have had to have made sure that he wanted to see houses that were at least the size of his parents and brothers.

“This is just laziness.” She asked him what he’d meant. “Why we’re looking at these houses. I told her that I wanted a fixer-up if it came to that, but I didn’t mean that I’d have to tear down the building to start anew. That house, the second one, was in worse shape than the barn they found in the back of the property that Dallas bought. And it’s hundreds of years old.”

They were both laughing when they got to the third house. This time, they didn’t bother getting out of the car. It had been burnt out sometime over the past few weeks, and the tape was still blowing in the wind from when the fire department closed it off.

They were headed out of town, thinking that they were going to have to find themselves another realtor, when she spotted a for sale by owner sign. Convincing him to have a look, it didn’t take them very long to fall in love with the front yard and the wrap-around porch. Pulling up on the driveway there were two other cars there too.

“Are you here about the house?” Waylon told the older man that they were. “Just put it on the market about an hour ago and have already seen more people coming here than we have in all the years we lived here. Go on in, have yourself a look around, and tell me what you think.”

Waylon took her hand into his as they went into the front of the house. The porch alone would have sold her on it, but upon opening the doors to the large manor of a house, she wanted to kick all the people out and tell them that she was buying it. There was a couple that was talking to what she assumed was the wife of the man in the yard.

As they walked around the large house, she overheard others talking about it. They were saying that the price was a little too high, but it was a wonderful find. Others, like her and Waylon, weren’t saying anything to each other. At least not where people could hear them. They had their own conversations about it through their link.

The tiled front foray was perfect for the entrance to the house. The front two rooms, one of them what she would think would have been called a sitting room had old furniture in it that seemed to be something from the period of when the house was built. Even the library, brimming with books, caught their attention, as well as the floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows on both sides of the fireplace. It alone screamed at having a Christmas tree lit up beside it. As they toured the dining room, a spectacle of period pieces too, she could see them hosting dinners here with his family and not ever running out of room. She even loved the dish sets, about twenty-five settings that were in the four corner cabinets.

The woman came to speak to them, but she looked like her smile was tight. As if someone had said something to her and she was trying her best to be polite. Smiling back at her, the woman asked them if they had any questions.

“How much is the asking price of the house?” She told her and then went on to explain that the furniture that was out now came with the house. “I’m sorry, are you moving into someplace smaller? That’s the only reason that I can see for you to leave such a grand house.”

“Bless your heart, darling. It had been a hard decision to make but one that we should have made a decade ago. It’s just too much for us, even though we have staff that comes in to help. There are five bedrooms on the upper levels as well as a large grand ballroom on the top. My goodness, it has seen some wild things going on up there.” She took them on a tour around the bedrooms, waving them on so that she could take them to the upper levels. “My husband designed this house. It has so many features in it that I hate to leave, but it’s necessary now that we’re in our nineties, the two of us.”

Margie showed them the whole house vacuum system. The dumbwaiters worked and came up to the upper levels easily. The hardwood floors on the third floor were enough to have her again kick everyone out and tell them that the place was taken.

“The kitchen is all modern. About a year ago, we decided that if we were going to sell it, we should at least make it look good. All the floors have had their carpets pulled up and replaced with temporary rugs. There is a washer and dryer on each floor, including the ballroom. You just never know when you’re going to have to clean up some tablecloths after a party. Oh my, the things that we did in this house. Oh, you must see the porch around the house. In the back, there is a pool, of course. Inground because that was what we wanted. People were saying that no one would want to buy a house if it had a large pool in the back. Well, be damned with them all. We wanted to be able to play with the grandkids back there, so we put it in.

She showed them laundry shoots that were in each of the bedrooms that had been put in when the house was built. The wine cellar, as well as the craft room that she had down in the basement. Even the backyard was something to be impressed with. What with the orchard of apples and peaches there as well as grapes.

“We wanted this to be our forever home, and we nearly made it. But I want to have everything on one floor so that I don’t have to worry about the stairs any longer.” Waylon told her that he could understand that. “You’re such a wonderful couple. I do hope you’ll get it. Some people just don’t appreciate the finer things in life.” It was when her husband, Charlie, came into the house that she realized how much in love the couple was.

“We don’t have to sell it right away. Some people, well, as I overheard my wife saying just don’t understand that some people like the things are around here. One couple wanted me to slash, their words to slash the price of the house, or they were going to come in and burn all the furniture here so that it wasn’t cluttering the place up with old stuff. Old stuff, indeed. Well, I hope they don’t get it, is all I can say about that.”

Londyn was sure that Waylon felt about the house the same way that she did. He was asking questions about acres as well as any other things that would pop into his head, seemingly without thought of the order of things. They were sitting on the back porch. It was very lovely with the pool right in front of them when Waylon made an offer on the house. To say that the Dutch’s were surprised would have been an understatement. But they accepted even with the other offers that had been put in by some of the other people.

“I have to tell you, I didn’t expect it to sell. I truly didn’t. I thought that we’d be found in our jammies one night when no one answered the front door or something.” Waylon said it was just what they were looking for in a new home for them. Then Charlie put out his hand before continuing. “I know you. I don’t know if you remember me or not but I remember when you were just a little tyke under your granddas feet all the time. All you boys, you were such good boys and better men I hear now that you’re all grown up. We used to go to some pretty grand parties at your parent’s home, too, back in the day. Or I guess it would be your grandparent’s day. My goodness, when I think of them, it makes me realize that I’m just getting older by the day.”

The four of them had such a good time that Waylon invited the elderly couple out to dinner with them. She was starving by the time he convinced them to go, and they were going to meet the banker at the restaurant in order to sign off on the loan they were taking out.

---