Page 9 of Meet Me at Sunset Cove

Daisy slipped the phone from her pocket again and snapped a pic of the porch.

“For the ‘before,’” she explained to no one in particular. “Actually, I should probably grab a quick ‘before’ shot of the entryway, before it gets footprints all over it.”

That was reasonable, right?

She tried the brass doorknob and let out a breath of disappointment to find it locked. Maybe it was for the best. She wouldn’t be tempted to?—

The door creaked open.

Well…

She pressed a fingertip to the door and pushed it the rest of the way.

She really should just wait for a formal tour. It wasn’t her house…yet.

Daisy shot a glance over her shoulder.

“Oh for Pete’s sake,” she mumbled at herself. “Just go in already.”

She stepped over the threshold.

Her eyes took a moment to adjust, the edges of the foyer steeped in darkness. Dust floated in the light cascading from the open door. The floor, aged and faded, creaked as she crept in farther.

Across from the door, a wide staircase led to the second story, the banister of handcrafted oak worn and nicked around the edges. Daisy noted a few missing spindles. To the left, the hall opened to a parlor with coffered ceilings of the same wood.

“This place is incredible,” she breathed. Her followers would love—an idea cut through her mind. What better way to show potential sponsors proof of concept than to get people begging for the YouTube show?

She tapped her screen and opened her social media app, turning the camera toward herself. Daisy’s finger hovered over the ‘Go live’button.For a girl who’d spent the majority of her life following a blueprint, she sure was making a lot of decisions on the fly lately.

She tapped the screen. Desperate times and all…

“Hi, friends! It’s Daisy!” She waved at the camera. “I’m working on a brand-new project that I’ll be super excited to share with you a little later, but I thought I’d give a little sneak peek to all the followers who keep up with me.”

Comments started scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

@CraftyHome: Can’t wait!

@TheDIYDogMom: Tell me more!!!

@Anonymousquirrel: I love your designs

“Aww, you guys are so sweet!” Daisy grinned. “I’m working on a new project, so I thought I’d do a little house tour of just one of the properties I’m considering for it. Let’s take a look.”

Angling the camera up so viewers could see both her face and the surrounding rooms, she wandered deeper into the house.

Her hand ran over the wood paneling as she entered the parlor, her viewer count already ticking toward three hundred. “Take a look at this parlor. I love the attention to detail. There’s just something beautiful about the story these old houses tell.” She chuckled and flashed a warm smile at the camera.

All things considered, the house wasn’t in that bad of shape. The original hardwood floors were a little worn by use. There was a some water damage around the antique windows. But no animal nests. No rotting floors. It almost made her wonder why it was vacant. That was, until she spotted the scorch marks at the other end of the room.

Oh.

Tentatively, she crossed to the glass-paned door, framed by soot. Above it, an empty hole gaped in the wall where a transom should have been. Daisy gripped the antique handle, the tarnished brass cold against her fingers, and opened the door to find a stunning, rounded sunroom; the bottom level of the turret.

She gasped.

“You guys have to see this!” She rotated the camera so it was looking into the space. The footage captured the faint blue of the walls, complimenting them against the sparkling view of Lake Huron. Even with the thick layer of—what was that? Soot?—on the windows, sunlight still managed to pour inside.

Grinning, Daisy stepped inside, taking it all in. “This room is so much bigger than I expected.” The space had obviously been expanded at some point.

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