Page 92 of Just Another Meet Cute
Obviously, all those years of Mom drilling HGTV into my head were finally working.
I’d studied the listing online a couple of times, but it was different inperson. The most important thing was that it felt real, like I could actually imagine us living here. I could see myself reading on the porch while Mom complained about weeding all the flower beds. And then me pretending to help so she would stop nagging me. I could even see Dad pulling into the garage with his car, hands full of groceries so Linh and I could test out the new menu for her lunch boxes. And by Linh and I, I really mean her cooking with me tasting her food.
Leaning back onto the palm of my hands, I squinted at the dormer window by the left side of the roof that Mom said would be my room. It was a little hard to see, since the sun was shining right at me from behind the house. Not to mention, my eyes were still a little puffy from crying the night before. But I could make out the pretty wood shutters framing the window.
Yeah, Ireallycould see us being happy here. Jubilant. Ecstatic. Content. And for the first time in days, I felt almost happy.
The porch was wide and had rosebushes that started winding up the columns like in a fairy tale. I could take my prom pictures there. Preferable with a date who looked like Darren Criss and was taller than Ian. And I’d post our pictures all over social media so Ian would HAVE to see it.
Take that, Ian. Who needs you?
Mom’s car pulled up.
Excited to go inside, I jumped to my feet and came over to her. My hands pushed against the sides of my jeans to get the dust off. “Hey, so are you ready to check it out? Where’s Dad?”
She paused in getting out of the car. “So, honey …”
Oh no. This didn’t sound good. None of Mom’sSo, honey …sentences ever ended up well. “What happened?”
Shutting the car door, she leaned against the side and crossed her arms. “It turns out that the owners accepted an offer this morning. The listing agent told me that they still wanted to have an open house and house showings, but as of noon, it’s officially pending.”
My heart dropped and I couldn’t help frowning. “Well, that’s kind of rude. Why didn’t the agent tell you before about the offer? Didn’t they know for at least a day or two already?”
Mom rolled her eyes. “Don’t even get me started on that. She should have had the courtesy to let me know as soon as possible since I contacted her about this house over a week ago. But not everyone is an upstanding Realtor like your mom.”
“I guess.” A disturbing thought occurred to me. “Wait, so I’ve been sitting here staring at someone else’s house for nearly twenty minutes? Oh my God, are they home?”
My head whipped back to look at the house in case the homeowners were watching us. I half expected to see the curtains or blinds twitch.
“No, no one’s here.” She laughed into her hand. “But who told you to be so early?”
“I was excited.”
At my words, her face softened and she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I was, too. It’s such a nice house.”
Now that I knew the house wasn’t going to be ours, I turned away. “It’sokay. The gray paint’s a little too gloomy for me. And what’s with the color of the front door?”
“You mean … blue?”
“Brightblue.” Wrinkling my nose like that was a dirty word, I waved my hand in the air like it didn’t matter. “It doesn’t go with the color scheme at all.”
Mom laughed. “Now that you mention it, you’re right. Plus, I’m not sure I like the idea of having the master bedroom in the front like that. All the neighbors could see right into the room.”
“They would seeeverything.” I looped an arm around Mom’s waist and gave her a half hug. “It is too bad, though. I was looking forward to getting our own house.”
Her hand came down to pat my wrist. “Well, we may not be able to get this house, but how would you feel about living next to Aunt Sarah and Linh?”
Confused, I glanced over at her. “Huh?”
“The Millers next door? They’re planning to retire and are moving into a smaller condo so they can travel. And they asked me to be their Realtor.” A bright smile crossed her face. “If we want their house, then I could get the paperwork drawn up next week. I offered to waive the Realtor fees if they let us have first dibs. That’s a deal they can’t refuse.”
I spent so long imagining a life for us atthishouse, that to suddenly imagine living inanotherhouse two seconds later was a total mental whiplash. “You’re serious? Isn’t their house kind of old?”
Grimacing a bit, Mom nodded. “Yeah, it is a bit outdated. The bathrooms are covered in a weird mint-green tile, and there’s no dishwasher in the kitchen.Plus, there’s carpet and popcorn ceilingseverywhere. But think of how nice it would be to be next door to our family. We could have a door connecting our backyards.”
“Oh, I once saw a fence that had a portion lift up so it turned into a makeshift picnic table. That would be really awesome. How long do you think the renovations will take?”
“I think we could probably get everything done in six or seven months. Although we’ll have to stay with Aunt Sarah and Linh for a while. Even I know that we can’t afford to stay in the hotel that long.” She gave me a wistful little grin.
