Page 33 of Seaside Bonds

CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE

Andie was fairly familiar with the neighborhood Liz Weston’s house was in because one of her best friends in grade school had lived there. Stella Macintyre had moved away when they were in junior high, and Andie had lost touch years ago, but she recognized the house, even though the trees and shrubs had grown a lot since she’d last been there.

The street was quiet with mature landscaping. The homes were older ranches and split-levels that had been built around the 1970s on large lots. Some of them had been remodeled, and most had been kept up nicely. Except for the Weston home.

The one beside Liz’s was cute as a button with a rose trellis out front and window boxes and… wait. Was that Maxi’s car in the driveway?

As she squinted toward the car, Maxi came out of the house.

“Hey, fancy meeting you here,” Andie said out the window as she parked in Liz’s driveway.

“Andie?” Maxi hitched the straps of her tote bag back up her shoulder and came over to the car. “What are you doing here?”

“Remember our guest, Liz, who is in town to clean out her family home?”

“Yeah.”

Andie pointed toward the house. “Well, that’s her house. She asked me to come over and evaluate some of the old items she’s found.”

“Oh, right. Bunny did say she lived there.”

“Who’s Bunny? What are you doing here anyway?”

Maxi turned to look at the house she’d just come from, her expression a bit embarrassed. “Bunny is an artist, and I’m taking painting lessons, if you can believe that.”

“For the pet portrait of Goblin?” Andie felt sympathetic and wanted to encourage her. “That’s great. I’m sure it will help.”

Maxi smiled. “Already is.”

Liz had come out the front door with two large cardboard boxes brimming with items. She set it down beside two other equally full boxes and came to join Andie and Maxi. “Hey, Andie, glad you could stop by.”

“I’m happy to.” Andie turned to Maxi. “This is my friend Maxi.”

“Nice to meet you. I was just over at Bunny’s.” Maxi’s gaze fell on the box Liz had just put down. “That’s a great lamp.”

Liz turned to the box. “It is? I was going to throw it out. It was in the living room for ages.” She looked back at Andie. “Maybe you should look through the boxes. I really have no idea what is valuable and what isn’t.”

Andie picked the lamp out of the box. It was tall with a bulbous base and long neck. The shade was a bit dirty and tattered, but the pink glass base was handblown. “This is actually a highly sought-after example of mid-century lighting. Worth a couple hundred.”

“Oh!” Liz grimaced and looked back in the boxes. “Good thing you came before the trash guy.”

Maxi had moved closer to the boxes and was poking around inside them. “You shouldn’t throw some of this out. At least not yet. It would be perfect for staging the house.”

“Staging?” Liz asked.

“Yeah, you’re selling it, right?”

Liz nodded.

“Houses look better when they are set up as if people are living there except without the clutter,” Maxi said.

“Maxi is a wiz at decorating. She decorated my apartment, and it looks like it could be in a magazine.” Andie couldn’t help but compliment her friend. The apartment really had come out amazing thanks to Maxi.

“Gosh, I don’t know much about selling houses. I was just supposed to be cleaning it out before we put it on the market, but if it will sell better with the things still in it…”

“It will. I’d be happy to help you if you want,” Maxi offered.

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Liz said. “I could talk to my brother and sister and see if they want to hire you.”

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