Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Not that I know of.” I pull open the car door and step out, and he follows my lead. “I guess we are going to find out.” I hold out my hand for him. “Should we check it out?”
“Sure.” He shrugs, and I can see he’s being tough for me. It’s been a hell of a six months, if I’m putting it mildly. My beautiful boy has had to grow up a lot faster than we both wanted him to do.
We walk up the steps to the front door. Somehow it looks even worse than it did last week when I visited, or maybe it is the same, but I was so desperate to get him to give me a lease I blocked it out. I pull the key out of my pocket and slide it into the brass keyhole, turning to the right and then turning the handle and pushing the door open. The sounds of the door creaking fill the house. “Now that might sound bad,” I say, trying to sound upbeat, “but it’s not that bad.” I push the door open the rest of the way before stepping into the foyer. I look over at the stairs that must have been so beautiful in their prime, with white paint and mahogany steps. The crystal chandelier is now dusty and stained with God knows what. When I turn it on, half the lights don’t even work. I don’t really care. That is the least of my problems. “Do you want to see your room?” I ask as he looks up at the vaulted ceiling to where the stairs lead that overlook the foyer. “They said I could paint it any color I wanted.” I mean, he was hemming and hawing when I asked him, but then finally said, “Yeah, can’t make it worse.” So I’m taking that as I can do what I want.
I walk with him to the side of the room and take a step up. Each step creaks as we make it to the top. It smells musty, and I know I’ll have to air the whole house out. “I promise it won’t be for long,” I assure him when we get to the top of the steps, and I walk to the right, where the primary bedroom is. “It’s just until…” I see a big king-sized bed was put in, along with new covers, so it isn’t as bad as the queen bed in here last week. Guess he felt a little sorry for me, but only mildly because the bed is the only thing he’s added to the room. The sitting area chaise is still the same one from the early nineteen hundreds, giving the word antique a run for its money. The walls have wallpaper that, over the years, has started peeling but then has been half ripped off. “We can put some wallpaper up too.” I step in. “It might not look like much now but”—I let go of his hand, walking into the room—“we’ll just open this window,” I suggest, clicking open the locks and then holding my breath as I try to crank it open, hoping like fuck that it actually works. When it slowly opens, I say a little thank-you to whoever is listening.
“I’m going to unload the boxes.” I look over at Wyatt, who is now standing beside me and looking out the window at the vast backyard. The weeds are half gone. In the middle of the yard is a lawn mower that has seen better days and is stopped midway. The shed in the back looks even worse than the house, and I didn’t think that was possible. That shed looks like people are taken there to be kidnapped. The roof is missing a couple of boards, and the door is not even on both hinges. One is leaning more to the side. The door handles have a chain link with a lock dangling down, stopping you from going inside, which makes me laugh. I wouldn’t even walk next to that thing, let alone try to break into it in the middle of fucking nowhere.
“Do you want to explore the house?” I ask, and he nods. “Whatever you do,” I warn as we walk out of the bedroom and down the steps to the front door, “you do not go into that shed, nor do you venture off where you can’t hear me and I can’t see you.”
“So on the steps, then.” He smirks, and I wrap my arm around his neck and pull him to me, kissing his soft brown hair.
“No, you can also go to the car and help carry in some of your stuff.” We walk out the front door together. “Maybe take that soccer ball we got you and kick it around.”