She smiled at the memory. The house was by no means new, but it was hers.
The old farmhouse needed a lot of upgrades, but something was extremely comforting about the original residence that had lasted as long as it had. As she looked up, Caleb walked toward her.
“This farmhouse,” he said with a shake of his head, “it still looks the same.”
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Takes money and time to fix it up, and I just haven’t got to a whole lot of it.”
“No, but I did see new boards on the front veranda,” he said in a mild tone.
“And that’s a new faucet.” She laughed. “Yeah, some of the plumbing had to be redone,” she said. “After the fence, it was plumbing and electrical. The rest of it’s cosmetic,” she said with a wave of her hand, “and I can live with most of it.” She looked at the wallpaper, laughed, and said, “Although this wallpaper has to go.”
He groaned. “It’s still the same, isn’t it?” He reached out a hand to touch it; it was half raised velveteen in an orange and brown brocade pattern. “God, who would have put something like this in the kitchen?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Coffee’s on. Let’s take a cup to the back veranda.” And she pushed open the big slider door and stepped out.
He smiled as he joined her and said, “Honestly the best thing about this old farmhouse,” he said, “is the wraparound veranda. You never find porches anywhere like this anymore.”
“And I love it,” she said. “There was a lot to fall in love with here. But it’s taking more time than I thought to get it to the point where I thought it would be by now.”
“It’s just you doing the rehab,” he said, “and a single paycheck to fund these projects. Not to mention the hours at the day job where you get said paycheck. At least you managed to hang on to this gem when you were married.”
“I rented it during that time,” she said. “Paul didn’t like the farmhouse at all. That should have been a huge red flag for me.”
“But that’s not why you married,” he said. “You married for the companionship and to make sure you weren’t an old maid, right?”
Startled, she stared at him. “Well, I’d hate to even think of it in those terms,” she said, “but a certain amount of truth is in those words, yes. I certainly married because I didn’t want to be alone anymore,” she said, “so that’s part of it.”
“And it’s hard,” he said. “We want so much for ourselves. And then we turn around, and it’s all changed, and it’s different, and all those plans that you made? They go out the window.” He stopped and stared, as he looked back at the clapboard siding and the big old windows. “Instead of replacing the windows, you could probably get a secondary layer of glass added.”
She nodded. “And I actually have a quote for it too somewhere,” she said. “I’ll start at one side of one floor and then move along,” she said, “but the fence took way more than I thought, then the plumbing became an issue.”
“How’s the plumbing now?”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I’ve completely redone the upstairs en suite bathroom and the downstairs guest bathroom,” she said, “because it’s just a little powder room. The upstairs guest bathroom still needs work, but it’s got a new bathtub and a new toilet. I haven’t got the vanity installed yet.”
“Are you still doing all the work yourself?”
“No, not all of it,” she said. “I contracted some of it out. I’m not that great with plumbing, and I really suck at electrical.”
He grinned. He looped an arm around her shoulders, tucked her up close, and said, “You’re the only person I know with as many skills as you have, and yet you still think you suck.”
“I’m a fair hand with wood,” she said. “I can fix anything, and I could probably install the glass myself, but I still have to order the glass to fit, and generally they don’t just let you have the glass to install it yourself.”
“It depends whether you have to pull out these existing glass windows and reinstall them only because you don’t have enough room to work with,” he said, dropping his arm from her shoulders and walking to the window. He tested the bottom panel and nodded. “You know what? I think you could probably install them yourself.”
“I was thinking about it,” she said. “I just haven’t got that far yet. It would cut the price in half.”
He looked at her and said, “I don’t know if you can afford the cost of the glass now, but, while I’m here, I’m happy to help do something. I’m not sure what your priority is. Just let me know.”
“How are your tiling skills?” she said with a cheeky grin. “I’ve got that new vanity to put in the guest bathroom and tiles to set.”
“Well, we’ve set more than a few tiles ourselves,” he said. “So why not? Have you got them?”
She nodded with a big grin and said, “Come on. I’ll show you.” And she raced up the stairs ahead of him.
“This is the Laysha who I remember,” he murmured to himself, as he followed her, taking a big sip of coffee so he didn’t spill it as he went. He hadn’t told her how much he loved this farmhouse, but it was to die for. It was massive. It was old. The heating needed some work. But thankfully they were in Texas, so it’s not like it was as bad as if they lived farther north. The fact that she had five acres here made it a deal as far as he was concerned. She bought it before he even knew about it.
When she told him what she had done, he wholeheartedly approved and was half
