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“It’s in one of the older parts of town,” Nate said, “but the house was once a real showpiece. I need to look at who lived there before, but I’m sure it was some of the most prominent people in Scranton.”
“Do you have to do anything to get it ready for move in?”
“So much!” Nate said. “We close on this house in a month, so I need to remodel the bathroom and get the bedroom habitable and look at what needs to be done in the kitchen so we can cook in there. Well, other than clean. There’s a lot of cleaning to be done in the entire house.”
Tricia looked at Shelby, who was happily munching on her nachos. “I think I may have created a monster.”
“I’m sure you did,” Shelby said. “He’s going to want to spend all his time hanging out with Nate, and they’re going to tell each other corny jokes, and we’re going to be groaning in unison.”
“I guess I’ll survive it,” Tricia said. “He hates his job so much. If he could find a hobby that would pay at least some of the bills, he’d be a happy camper.”
Shelby nodded. “I understand. You know, you don’t have to be living in the house you’re repairing. You could buy a second house and he could fix it up and sell it by working on the weekends.”
“I guess that’s true…” Tricia seemed unconvinced.
After supper, they went to the living room and Nate shared all the before pictures of the house. “Do you want to see the whole thing?” Nate asked after Jeff had looked at them all.
“I really do. This place was a mess!”
“It was. But it had good bones, and was on a street with houses that were nicer. So I bought it and got it ready. Now this time when I move to a new house, I’m dragging Shelby along with me, and she’ll get to see it all happen…”
Shelby smiled. “I’m actually looking forward to it!”
As the two men went through the house, Shelby quickly did the dishes with Tricia’s help. “You shouldn’t help!” Shelby complained. “I’m not paying you for tonight, and you’re always cleaning my house.”
“I should help. My husband and I ate more than our share of food, didn’t we?”
Shelby smiled. “All right. But remember, I protested!”
“I’ll never forget.”
“Do you want to go with the guys to the new house?” Shelby asked as she stuck a plate in the dishwasher.
Tricia nodded. “I’m not as interested as Jeff is, but it’ll still be cool to watch it all happen.”
“It will. Even if it’s not my thing it is Nate’s thing, and I love him so I’ll support him.”
“Makes sense to me.”
With the dishes done, they went back into the living room to wait for the men. “Is there anything you need to make your job easier?” Shelby asked. “Are there specific cleaning products you prefer?”
Tricia shook her head. “Nah. I can make do with just about anything.”
“Sounds good!” Shelby looked up as the men joined them in the living room.
Jeff looked at Tricia. “I can’t believe how excited I am to try this now. I could start with a really cheap fixer-upper, and then gradually move onto bigger houses like Nate has.”
“Make sure you have me go with you for the first house or two,” Nate said. “Some of them are in horrible disrepair, but they can’t be fixed up enough to be decent. They need to be condemned.”
“All right. If you don’t mind. I know you’re busy,” Jeff said.
“Aren’t we all?” Nate asked. “You ready to go see the new old house?”
Jeff nodded. “How should we do this? All together or separate cars?”
Nate shrugged. “I have dual seats in my truck. We could take it.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
