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Chapter one
One: Jesse
Ipulled the zipper of my bag open to ensure I had everything I’d need: sturdy jeans, some light-colored tee shirts for working, and a good pair of boots. Well, my boots were sitting on the floor in the back of my truck. There were plenty of socks, and everything was set. I’d prepared well, as always, and I knew I wouldn’t have to come back home for any forgotten items.
Living a double life of physical labor had left me quite sturdily built, with the arms and stomach to show for all that I had done. Keeping my hair short was only natural because I didn’t need it getting in my face when I was trying to pull someone out of a fire, where both my hands were full and I couldn’t even get to my hair under my helmet. Or when I was hauling hay for the cattle on my parents’ ranch. It was just easier short and out of the way. When I’d started the job, I was amazed at the amount of physical labor required of firefighters. In fact, I could hardly stand after a weekend spent at the ranch and a few days at the fire station, on duty. Not even working outdoors on the ranch every day had prepared me for the physical demands of fighting fires.
Now, that hardly fazed me.
However, that double life also left my home empty most days. That bothered me. Between staying at the fire station on shift and staying at the ranch, I wished someone could stay in the house to let me know it was all right.
My house sat empty more often than not. While I wasn’t too worried about robbery because I didn’t leave anything of much value there, I knew that there could always be problems with the house. Being a firefighter was a great job. However, it left me feeling empty most days now, especially after some of the things I had experienced on the job. There were people I hadn’t saved. Screams I couldn’t get out of my head. Smells I never wanted to encounter again.
And, honestly, having someone in the home when I wasn’t there sounded like a good use of a beautiful space. It was a great house, and leaving it empty so often was a shame.
Perhaps it would be worth staying home long enough to post an ad online. I’d been thinking of renting out the space, and now felt like the right moment. It was a beautiful, two-story home. The second floor had very little up there, and I was pretty sure I’d never usedany of those rooms personally. It was a small floor – just two small rooms and a bathroom – but I had never found a use for them as I was never here long enough to care what they were used for.
I sighed. I didn’t know why the urge to post the listing felt so important, but I knew I wasn’t quite ready to head to the ranch just yet.
.
I scanned the house, walking from room to room. It was situated in a great spot in Lantana and had a gabled roof and a paved driveway. There were some places that only had gravel driveways, which weren’t all that great on tires. If I was going to do this listing right, I had to put up pictures of all the common rooms as well as the private rooms on the top floor. The onlything I didn’t want was someone running a business out of my home, as that would bring too many visitors, and I would not be able to get enough sleep on the few nights I actually was home.
Thankfully, I employed a cleaning service to keep the house clean since I had no time to do so. This meant everything was in perfect condition for pictures. I turned on all the lights and started taking pictures on my phone. They weren’t perfect, but they would have to do. I didn’t have all the fancy photography equipment that a real estate agent would have, but I didn’t think I needed it.
I made sure to show it all off. The kitchen got three different photos because it was so large, and I made sure to take one that showed off the gorgeous view into the backyard. This house attracted me precisely because it was close to the fire station I worked at and only a couple of hours away from the ranch.
Everyone else would probably be attracted to the beautiful views outside the windows and the great location. Though it was still a suburb, it wasn’t the awfully far-out-there boonies suburbs that were being constructed around Houston these days. It was decently close, making getting to the shopping areas much easier. It was also easy to get out to the other areas that were pretty decent, but I supposed the best pull would be that I would be away for a good bit of the time.
My main job was working at the fire station, and when I was on shift at the station, I often slept there. Considering it was set up to hold multiple people on shift, it wasn’t the hardest thing in the world.
I finished taking photos downstairs and went upstairs. The cleaning service had even vacuumed the stairs this week. I should have tipped them more, seeing that. Stairs were some of the hardest things to clean, especially carpeted stairs.
Upstairs, I took pictures of both bedrooms. There was no furniture up here, so getting good, clean photos of the rooms waseasy. The bathroom had been the only thing I set up because I had, at one point, thought that I was going to sleep up there. The rooms were nice, and I really liked the layout up here. But it was easier to use the master bedroom downstairs in case I was called in late at night while I was home.
That made it look better for the photos, though.
Once they were all taken, I sat down at my laptop in my room. I emailed all the photos to myself and started to craft a listing for the rental. The upper floor would be completely for the tenant as they saw fit to use, and the only room off-limits would be the master bedroom – which had its own bathroom and large, walk-in closet. So, I was all set as far as not having to share a bathroom.
There was also a half-bath on the main floor for guests so that they didn’t have to go into the master bathroom. It had a toilet, a small sink, and some counter space. In my opinion, it was a great set-up.
“There we go. It looks pretty professional if I say so myself,” I mused when I was done.
It was listed on a site known for hosting rental ads, though I saw that most of the other ads were put up by rental management agencies or landlords who had multiple properties. The only other difference between my ad and theirs was that I was advertising for about half the price of their rentals. Since I was only leasing the rooms, not the full house, I didn’t think they needed to pay much for rent.
Besides, I had taken the utilities spike into consideration so that I could give my tenant a single bill. The idea was to make this as good a deal as possible so that plenty of people would be looking to get the rental. I wanted to have enough options to pick someone who truly needed the cheaper rent and the privacy since I would not be home often.
I supposed it helped that I owned my house outright instead of trying to make a mortgage payment. The only costs they were helping pay were the extra utilities from being home more often, and the rest would go back into the house if they needed maintenance. I had already done some, but I would call a professional to do any for the tenant.
Especially if it was something I didn’t feel comfortable trying to figure out in twenty-four hours. Small repairs, like fixing a loose bolt or something, I could do while I was home.
After making sure it had been posted and all the contact information was right, I closed my laptop. My stomach growled. I supposed it was about dinner time, which meant that I needed to get on the road as soon as possible. The ranch gates closed at nine each night, and I didn’t want to have to call the main house to open them for me if I arrived late.
Before I left, I received an email stating that my ad had been rejected because I had forgotten to include a few things. The site wanted me to add things like what the deposit was, if the renters needed rental insurance, and why they should rent from a first-time landlord. The email also suggested that if I needed help, plenty of agencies would be more than happy to manage the property for me.
I groaned. This was going to take forever to fix, and I didn’t have the patience tonight. However, I knew it had to be done before leaving for the ranch. I decided to order pizza, but before I even continued working on the ad, I double-checked the time.
Since I had gotten off earlier than normal, it was only three in the afternoon. I felt a little stupid now for trying to rush the ad. Perhaps it would be a good idea to slow down and take the next couple of hours to properly research.
