Love Finds You on Christmas Morning (21 page)

And now he knew why the house stood out in his mind, besides the fact that it was, in his opinion, absolutely inviting. There was a F
OR
S
ALE
sign out front. The moment he spotted the sign, he got a rush of goose bumps—not something he was prone to.

He slowed down, and the moment he stopped, Freddie heeled at his side. The two of them studied the house together.

Drew loved the large, three-windowed dormer in the center of the roof, as well as the repeated dormer on the side. Black shutters accented the white house beautifully, and Drew suddenly imagined sitting in a comfortable rocking chair on that wraparound front porch, enjoying a balmy evening with his loved ones. Of course, he didn’t
have
any loved ones—not here in Cary—but that could happen, in time.

He didn’t want to bother the current residents, but he hoped to get at least a slightly better look, so he walked up the driveway. The closer he got, the more obvious it was that no one lived in the house at present. So he peered in through the windows. He couldn’t get a strong feel for the conditions inside, but he could see a broad, open staircase and spacious rooms.

“Yep, Freddie. This one has my interest piqued.”

For his part, Freddie had already spread out comfortably on the porch, as if he were meant to be there all along. Drew’s chuckle made him raise and tilt his head, ready for further instructions.

They walked back to the F
OR
S
ALE
sign, but Drew had nothing to write on or with. They backtracked to see the name of the cross street. He would get a Realtor to look into the place and get him the specifics. He hadn’t consciously yearned for a home here in Cary, except for the fact that his rental apartment was especially cramped for Freddie. But now the idea of a home was enticing enough to distract him from a certain young lady for the duration of his run.

And the distraction continued into the week, which was fortunate, considering the fact that the sisters either skipped church the next day or went to a different service.

By Tuesday Drew’s coworker Phillip had set him up with his Realtor, a brassy woman named Jolene. She met with Drew in her perfume-clouded office the day after he gave her the address.

“Okay, here’s the story.” She leaned back in her desk chair. “The house is eighty-five years old.”

A short, breathy whistle escaped from Drew’s lips before he spoke. “It sure doesn’t look that old. I realize that not all eighty-five-year-old houses fall into disarray. Still…is it structurally sound?”

She nodded. “Built the way they used to, frankly, before they started with all the prefab and slapdash construction that goes on today. A tornado wouldn’t take the place down.”

“That’s promising.”

“But it needs work inside. There hasn’t been a tenant for well over a year, because the entire thing really ought to be gutted and rebuilt. Or maybe not gutted, but definitely remodeled a lot. The market wants new, no fuss–no muss these days.”

“Even that cool staircase? That has to come down? That’s all I could really make out from the window—hey, can we go check it out?”

“Sure. Maybe the staircase is salvageable.” She shrugged. “I’d want to have it looked at closely before letting you make an offer.”

“What are they asking?”

“Three hundred thousand, but I think we can get it for far less, considering that there haven’t been any offers at this price and there’s so much work to be done inside.” She tilted her head. “And that might be something you’ll want to consider.”

“Remodeling costs, you mean?”

“Yeah. Sometimes it
is
easier to just pay up front and get everything new.”

He chuckled. “Didn’t you just criticize the quality of the newer buildings?” She knew he was in Cary to engineer the construction of an office-building complex himself. His own building project was of the finest quality.

Jolene tapped the keyboard of her computer. “I wasn’t talking about
all
the construction in the area. Just some. By the time you factor in the cost of remodeling this old beauty, you could have bought yourself something new
and
well-built.”

Why did that not interest him?

“There’s something about that particular house, though. As you said, it’s an old beauty. When can we see it?”

She pushed away from her desk and grabbed her cell phone. “Let’s go.”

It was perfect. He knew it the moment he walked in. The staircase was even more stunning than he remembered, and it was plenty sturdy.

“Maybe it’s already been replaced sometime in the past eighty-five years,” Jolene said.

They slowly walked through the rooms on the main floor. In a flash, Drew could envision the house’s potential. He pictured warm family gatherings, plenty of kids running around—with Freddie, of course—and dinners being served in the spacious dining room. At least, he assumed this was the dining room, since it had the wiring for a chandelier in the center of the ceiling and the kitchen was the next room over.

“Dining room.” Jolene’s announcement confirmed it. “Nice and big. Must have been built for a big family.”

“Or an optimistic couple.” Drew smiled at Jolene.

She laughed. “Could be.”

“I see what you mean about the need for remodeling.” He ran his hand over a mottled wall that would need to be replaced or taken down altogether. “I wonder if this is a support wall—I don’t think it is. This room could be opened up even more.” He walked deeper into the house. He nodded when he stepped into the kitchen. “Yeah, this would definitely have to be redone. I’m not much of a chef, but I’d want to update the layout and upgrade the appliances.”

“We’re talking about a considerable outlay of cash above and beyond the purchase price.” Jolene spoke as she walked beyond the kitchen. The house was deep, as Drew had noticed on his jog. “But that fact will give us some good leverage when we negotiate with the seller.”

Drew walked into the living room, the windows of which let in plenty of light. The entire house was positioned well, as far as that was concerned. He missed the California lightness of his old home. His rental apartment here was often depressingly dark. So the sunlight in this house added another mark in the “purchase” column.

They both stopped walking when a skittering noise came from the very back of the house.

Jolene frowned. “Now, I don’t like the sound of that one bit.”

Drew slipped off his shoes and moved quietly onward. He had taken only a few steps when Jolene yelled out behind him. “Watch out!”

A squirrel darted across his path, ran back again, and dashed out of the house through a broken pane in the room’s glass door.

Even though he had been startled, he laughed. “It was just a squirrel.”

“Just a squirrel? Do you keep squirrels in
your
home?” He approached the broken pane. “We’ll have to get this patched up right away.”

Shaken as she was, Jolene calmed quickly. “We? You’re already talking like you’re the future homeowner.”

“Maybe I am.” He turned around and surveyed the room. What a terrific spot this would be for a home office, especially if he could open it up a bit more. “I’d love to get hold of the blueprints for the place, Jolene. I wonder if they’re available.”

“After eighty-five years?” She looked at him as if he had asked the impossible. “Not likely.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. There are a number of places we could look. The city keeps some of those records in their archives, but I don’t know about that far back. And if it was built by the original owner, I think you’re totally out of luck.”

Drew didn’t think luck had anything to do with this house or his having found it. The more he thought about the circumstances of his coming down this particular street last weekend, the more he felt a thrilling, possibly divine connection. He didn’t quite understand what the connection was, but he knew he was going to lose sleep tonight thinking about this place, as if he were a kid and it was Christmas Eve.

The following Saturday afternoon, Nikki and the housekeeper worked together in Harvey’s kitchen. Jackie tidied up the luncheon dishes while Nikki packed several containers of leftovers into the refrigerator.

“I think Harvey’s guests really liked my chocolate soufflé. I expected to have some of that left, but it looks like they finished it off.”

Jackie closed the dishwasher and dried off her hands. “They had some help with that. Little Paul and his parents got here just as the lunch meeting was ending. Harvey sent Paul off to the front porch with a bowlful of the stuff so Nathan and Sharon could chat with everyone.”

“You think Nathan will run Harvey’s…empire someday?”

Jackie shrugged. “Not my place to ponder, I suppose. But I think Nathan is more interested in Harvey’s business—and Harvey—than his father is. Morgan Fennicle is a dear man, but he seems more interested in traveling and writing than running the—”

The swinging kitchen doors burst open.

“Hi, Nikki! Hi, Jackie!” Harvey’s ten-year-old great-grandson ran in, breathing heavily and laughing with nearly maniacal delight, closely followed by Riley, who quickly overtook him despite his short legs. Riley had purpose in his eyes and a ropelike dog toy in his mouth. In seconds, they reached the other end of the kitchen and disappeared as rapidly as they had appeared. “Bye, Nikki! Bye, Jackie!”

“Uh, bye, Paul.” Nikki looked at the doorway, where they had been a moment ago, and turned to Jackie with a grin. “I think the caffeine kicked in. What do you think?”

“Hard to tell who’s chasing whom with those two.” Jackie replaced the dish towel with a dry one and gathered the used one with the linens from Harvey’s luncheon. “Are you off for the day now, or are you doing dinner tonight?”

“I’m done. Laura tells me Harvey’s scheduled to spend the evening with Nathan and his family.” She checked the clock on the wall. “My sister Hannah will be here soon. We’re doing a little shopping. Or, rather,
she’s
shopping. I’m just tagging along. I’m in strict savings-mode right now.”

“Good for you. You have something you’re saving toward?”

Nikki leaned against the counter and sighed with longing. “A house.”

Jackie had been walking toward the door but stopped in her tracks. She raised her eyebrows.

“A house? How exciting! And aren’t you ambitious? You have a place in mind?”

“Yeah. It’s one of the reasons I took this job with Harvey. The house is right down the road from here—”

“So Harvey knows? And he’s all right with your moving out?”

“Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t be moving anytime soon. Even though I’ve almost reached the point where I can make my offer on the place, it needs a lot of work. It’s been neglected over the last few years. But Harvey knows about my plans. We talked about it before I accepted the job. He said as long as I can still be here for him when he needs me, he’s fine with my moving out. He’s not really one for surprise requests at midnight and that kind of thing.”

Jackie nodded. “True.”

“So my room and board here has just been a perk for me, rather than a necessity for him.”

Jackie headed for the door again. “Well, I think that’s fantastic. I imagine Harvey’s that much prouder of you for your determination. I know I am.” She pushed the door open and smiled.

“Enjoy your shopping, dear. Or, enjoy your tagging along.”

Fifteen minutes later Nikki sat on the front steps of Harvey’s mansion, waiting for Hannah to pick her up. The front door opened behind her.

“Whatcha doing, Nikki?” Paul walked out and sat on the step beside her. He carried his handheld video game but wasn’t yet playing it.

“Hey, Paul. I’m waiting for my sister. She’s picking me up so we can go clothes shopping. There are a bunch of weekend sales going on.”

“Borrr–ing.”

The both laughed.

“Yeah, I guess most boys would rather do just about anything other than shopping, right? What are you and your parents doing this afternoon?”

“We were just going to bring Grandpapa home with us, but he says it’s too pretty out to stay inside all day. We’re going to pick up a couple of my friends and go hiking.”

“Grandpapa is going to hike?” Harvey was sprightly for his eighty-eight years, but she had a hard time picturing him taking on a full-blown hike.

Paul shook his head. “Not very far. The last time we went hiking, he just went a little ways and then he and Riley sat on a park bench and waited for us while we did the rest of the hike.”

Nikki nodded. “I’m glad he’s getting out with you.”

“It’s more fun when he’s there. He’s awesome.”

“Yes, he is. My great-grandfather was awesome too. I really miss him. And my great-grandmother.”

“They died?”

“Yeah, quite awhile ago. They lived not too far from here—right down the street, actually. Grampa William and his brothers built the house before he even proposed to Granny Lillian. I hung out at their home whenever I could, just like you do with your grandpapa. We spent all the big holidays there too. Christmas was my favorite. My sister and my parents and I would all show up and add our presents to those Grampa and Granny already had around the tree, and our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins would do the same. Lots of family and noise and fun. The tree had ornaments I’d practically memorized over the years.” She sighed. “I don’t know what happened to all those ornaments. I can’t wait to get back in that home.”

“Get back in it? What do you mean?”

She grinned at him. “Well, neither my grandparents nor my parents were interested in the house after my great-grandparents died, so it hasn’t been in our family for years. But whoever owns it right now has had it for sale for some time, and I’m going to try to buy it.”

“What do you mean,
try
to buy it? Why don’t you just buy it, if it’s for sale now?”

Nikki chuckled. Spoken like a true, innocent rich kid. She was surprised she could understand him while he talked around that silver spoon in his mouth.

Hannah drove up, and Nikki stood. “It’s not that easy. Houses are expensive. But I’ve been saving my money and I’m just about ready to make my move.” She waggled her eyebrows as she spoke the last three words, pretending to be cool.