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“Which one?” I stand, place Lilly on my hip, and walk to the windows. Pulling open the curtains, I peer out the window.
“That one.” He points to the large two-story across the street.
“Damn, how big is it?”
“Five bedrooms. Not sure about the rest. Come on. Let’s go knock on the door.” He reaches down and grabs a binky for Lilly. I’m guessing it’s just in case, because this little girl is cooing happily as she runs her fingers through my beard. He pulls open the door and motions for me to go ahead. “You want me to take her?”
“Nope. I’m soaking up all the Lilly bug time I can get.” I kiss her chubby little cheek and bounce her on my hip.
We step up onto the front porch, and Roman knocks.
The door is pulled open a few seconds later to reveal a smiling older gentleman with gray hair. “Roman, nice to see you.”
“You too, Gerald. This is my friend, Legend. He and his wife are looking for a bigger place. I told him about yours.”
“Well, come on in. I’ll show you around.”
“Thanks.” I follow them inside, and Roman reaches over, taking Lilly from my arms. “Sorry to barge in on you like this.”
“Oh, no trouble at all.” He walks us through the downstairs, which consists of the living room, dining room, family room, master bedroom, office, kitchen, and laundry room.
“The basement is finished with a walkout patio. Come on, I’ll show you.” We follow him down the stairs, and the open space is perfect for entertaining. There’s a storage room, a small kitchen, and two additional bedrooms down here. “The wife and I had four kids, and we always had a few extras hanging around.”
“Why are you selling, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“This place is just too much for us. Our kids are married with families of their own, living all over the United States. We want to downsize, buy an RV, and travel around, stopping to see each of them as we go.”
“Living the dream.” Roman smiles at him.
“The missus and I sure seem to think so. Come on, I’ll take you upstairs.”
With each step we take, I can see Monroe and myself living here. The upstairs has an open balcony sitting area, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a laundry room. This doesn’t include the space in the basement.
“We had this house built, and with two daughters, we knew the boys didn’t have a chance, so we had two bathrooms put in. The laundry room was my wife’s idea. Walking upstairs to switch the kids’ laundry was a lot easier than packing loaded baskets up and down the stairs. When the kids got older, she taught them to do their own. It’s one of my wife’s favorite things about this house.”
“You have a beautiful home, Gerald. Would you mind if I ran across the street and brought my wife over to have a look? I think she’s going to fall in love with it.”
“Sure.” He reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a small spiral-bound notebook. “The wife and I crunched some numbers last night. This is what we’re thinking.” He flips open the notebook and hands it to me.
“That’s a good number.” I nod at him. “If she loves it like I’m sure she will, since her best friend—and two of mine—live right across the street, we’ll take it. I’ll go to the bank on Monday.”
Gerald chuckles. “Well, all right then.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Roman nods and turns to start chatting with Gerald. I rush downstairs and out the front door.
“Mo!” I call as soon as I enter the house. I walk to the basement steps and open the door, calling down to her again. “Monroe, get your gorgeous ass up here.” I hear the ladies laughing and footsteps.
“What’s going on?”
“You ladies need to come with me. The house across the street is for sale. Rome and I just took a tour.”
“Who’s buying a house?” Monroe asks as she starts to climb the steps.
“We are, baby. We can’t start our family in a tiny one-bedroom. This place is incredible, and you’d live right across the street from Em.”
Her eyes are bright as she processes what I’m saying.
