Page 68 of An Engagement for Erica

“It’s been a while since I’ve crashed on a couch from drinking too much,” he said, laughing.

College maybe. It had to be then.

“It’s big in here,” she said. “Show me around.”

He took the pizza box out of her hand and walked her around the downstairs. “I like the primary on the first floor. I guess I never thought much of it until it comes in handy like with my grandfather and stairs as he’s gotten older. But there is a second primary upstairs, so options.”

“Did they have a lot of kids in this house? Do you know that?”

“At one point they did,” he said. “I’m sure when they were younger they were upstairs with them and maybe used thedownstairs as a guest room. There are four bedrooms upstairs, two full bathrooms. There is a half right here.” He pointed to a door off the kitchen closer to the family room in the back.

“This is a nice view of the water,” she said.

“Primary suite is off the kitchen on the left. So a division from the family room. I’m pretty sure the front of the house won’t be used as much. The office for sure, but not that formal living or dining rooms.”

“You’d be surprised how much space you end up using,” she said. “Right now it’s all so vast.”

“I don’t have plates,” he said. “I didn’t know you were bringing dinner.”

“A last minute thing. You should celebrate the first day in your house.”

He laughed. “I planned on it and put beer in the fridge. Got water too.”

“Works for me,” she said. “And there are napkins on top, we’ll just eat on them.”

“Let me show you the rest, unless you want to eat first?” he asked.

“It will hold a few minutes.”

He walked her to his primary, which sat empty. “I’m not sure if I want to paint or not. I’ve got movers coming on Saturday with everything, but do I hold them off and hire painters instead?”

“Professional painters will just move everything out of the way and you won’t have to rush to pick your colors,” she said.

“But then I won’t have to smell it either,” he said.

“That could be why you’ve got a guest house,” she said, poking him in the side.

He liked that playful side of her.

“Which just tells me I can’t do much because my mother will be here next week.”

“There is your answer, unless you want to paint yourself.”

“Nope,” he said. “The gray is fine. I know they staged it this way. A neutral pallet and I kind of like it.”

“Then leave it,” she said.

“I think I will.” He showed her the rest of the empty house, then the basement that was furnished with the leftover couch and chair and exercise equipment in another room.

“It’s a nice place,” she said.

“The guest house is empty too. Do you want to see it?”

“You can show it to me another day,” she said. “Why don’t we eat and we can go over my summary.”

“Sure,” he said. “Ruin my good day.”

She laughed. “I told you we could have rescheduled.”

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