Through the Flames (The Lost Letters #1)

33. Noah

Chapter 33

Noah

I send a text to Uncle Levi, confirming we're still meeting to look at houses today. Over the past week, I've searched through listing after listing, trying to find the right place.

It's been harder than I expected.

I'm glad to have Levi’s expertise on this adventure. I want to find a fixer-upper without it being a total drain on my savings. With Nellie being homeschooled and her interests varying widely, being able to customize our home is crucial.

I get a response from Levi that he’ll meet me and the realtor at the first house in twenty minutes.

Nerves flutter in my gut as I grab my keys. This is a huge step for us. I’m not even sure I’m making the right choice to keep it a surprise. What if she hates the house I pick? Or doesn’t want to move in with me for a while? I ignore the doubts trying to change my mind and leave my house, determined to find the perfect place that Lilly won’t be able to say no to.

As I'm getting into my truck, my phone rings with Lilly's name at the top. “Hey, Bumblebee, whatcha doin’?”

"Hey, Noah." Her voice is raspy as if she's been smoking a pack a day for twenty years.

"You don't sound good. Are you okay?"

She groans. "No, I managed to pick up some form of summer cold, and I feel like shit. Nellie's about to burst out of her skin with energy. Do you think you could come hang out with her for a bit? Maybe get her out of the house?”

My mind whirls. Would Nellie be able to keep house hunting a secret? I guess it doesn’t matter. I’d never say no to hanging out with my girl. "Of course, I'll come pick her up. I'd love to spend the day with her."

"Thank you, Noah," Lilly says with relief.

"I'll see you in about fifteen minutes?”

“Sounds good,” she replies.

When I hang up the phone, I send a quick text to Levi letting him know I’ll be a few minutes late. Then I pull out of the driveway and head straight for the grocery store. Lilly likely won’t have it in her to cook anything, so I grab a few things that will be easy for her to snack on while she’s feeling shitty.

It only takes me a few minutes to check out, and I pull into her driveway soon after.

The house looks just as it did before the break-in, but for some reason, the feeling clouding the it is very negative. I walk up the front steps and knock on the door before entering.

I'm not sure if the house was already unlocked or if Nellie unlocked it for me knowing I was on my way. We should probably talk about that at some point.

"Hi, Dad." Nellie comes barreling into me with a big hug. I laugh at her enthusiasm as she bounces up and down. I can see why Lilly wanted me to get her out of the house.

"Hey, Baby Bee. How's your mom feeling?"

"She's in bed. She doesn't feel good. I've been trying to be quiet, but it's getting hard. I've got ants in my pants." She wiggles her butt around as if she really does have ants in her pants.

“Good thing you're coming with me, then." I drop the grocery bags off in the kitchen and go find Lilly. She's tucked under the covers, her nose rubbed raw and her eyes watery. She looks exhausted despite the fact that she's lying in bed.

"Don't get too close," she groans, holding her hands out weakly.

"I'll take my chances." I drop a kiss on her forehead to see if she has a fever and feel nothing but her smooth skin. I exhale a relieved breath from my nose, glad she’s not seriously unwell. "I brought you some soup in case you get hungry. It’s in the fridge and just needs to be warmed up. There are also crackers and a Sprite just in case."

"Thank you," she says, with a small smile curling at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes stay closed as she talks to me.

I push the hair back from her forehead, clearing the way so I can give her one more kiss. "We'll be back a little later, Bumblebee. Rest up and get better."

"I love you," she whispers, and I say it back. She snuggles back into her covers as I leave.

Nellie's got her backpack on her shoulders and is standing by the door.

"All right, Baby Bee, it's me and you today."

Nellie grins. "What are we doing? Can we go to the park?"

“Sure, but I’ve got one thing we gotta do first.” We walk out to my truck together, and I move her booster seat over from Lilly's car to mine.

I check that she’s buckled in and then reverse out of the driveway.

“What are we doing before the playground?”

“We have to meet your uncle Levi to look at houses."

"Why are you looking at houses?"

“Here’s the deal, Baby Bee. I want to buy a house for us to live in, but I want to keep it a secret from your mom. I want it to be a surprise.” In my rearview mirror, I can see Nellie's eyes widen.

"We're going to move here and live here forever?"

"I sure hope so. What do you say? You want to meet your uncle Levi and help me look at houses? I'll even let you pick your favorite." Well, shit, I shouldn't have said that. But it's too late. Nellie's already excited about the idea.

Let's just hope we’re on the same page.

I pull into the driveway of an old, traditional-style house with two stories and yellow siding that looks like it’s seen better days.

"Okay, Nellie, first impressions. What do you think?"

She's quiet for a minute, her eyes narrowed as she looks out the front windshield. "I think it could be good," she says.

I grin at her. “Let's go look at the inside." I help her down from the truck and warn her that the inside may be a little rough around the edges. I also explain who Levi is and why he’s helping us look at houses.

About the time I finish telling her, Levi pulls into the driveway, followed by the realtor. He’s already given Levi the rundown of the houses and, since they’re friends, has agreed to let us walk around them on our own.

When Levi gets out of his truck and rounds the hood, his eyes are soft as he takes in Nellie.

"Who might you be, little one?" Levi glances at me with a wink.

"Uncle Levi, this is Nellie, my daughter. Nellie, this is my uncle Levi."

She looks up at me. “But he's not really your uncle, right?"

"We aren't genetically related, you're right, but remember when we talked about having family who maybe isn't genetically related to us, but is family anyway?"

She nods.

"Well, my uncle Levi is like that to me.”

Levi looks at me with love shining in his eyes, and he grips my shoulder tight. "I feel the exact same way, kiddo."

Nellie giggles. "Dad's not a kid."

Levi grins at her. "He will always be a kid to me, no matter how big he gets. Now, what do you say we look at this house?"

Nellie leads the way to the worn front door. The inside hasn’t fared much better. Everything is dated. The house was built in the nineties and doesn’t look like it’s been renovated since.

She's rough.

Levi talks about all kinds of things that we could do, giving me a better perspective on what’s possible.

"Do you think we could have a library?" Nellie asks.

"Libraries happen to be my specialty," Levi responds. "It doesn't matter what house you buy, I can put a library in it."

While the bones of the house fit what I need, I’m not sure it’s the right one for us. There’s just too much work that needs to be done before it can fit the life I want to build.

I turn to Nellie. “What do you think, kiddo?"

Her little head tilts to the side as she looks around the house again. "This isn't the one."

"I agree. Let's go to the next one."

Levi gets the house locked up, and we head for the next house.

As soon as we walk in, I immediately know this isn’t the right house. And it seems so does Nellie. She looks at me and just shakes her head like, ‘No way, man. ’ Her little nose is even scrunched up in disgust.

We leave about five minutes after we show up and head straight for the last house.

The second we pull up into the driveway, I get a feeling in my stomach that tells me this might just be it. I don’t even need to hear Nellie’s gasp to confirm that she agrees.

Her eyes are wide, and her mouth has dropped open.

We’re both in awe.

The house is a little further outside of town and a little bigger than I had planned, but its beauty drew me in first. I can say now that the pictures don’t do it justice.

Of course, with its size comes a higher asking price, which means it's definitely on the upper end of my budget, but I've been saving for years. Since Cody and Rachel own their house outright, and all I've had to pay for is food and part of the utilities, I’ve set aside a pretty hefty chunk.

The deciding factor is going to be the renovations. How much will it cost to update this house? Based on the pictures, we could technically live in it as is, but I want to make it our own.

I get out of the car, helping Nellie down, as well, and look at my uncle Levi.

He whistles a long, slow sound. “This is some house, kid.” His eyes rove over the old farmhouse with its weathered white columns and wraparound porch. The dark roof looks like it’s seen better days, and I internally cringe at the potential cost.

We walk around the outside first, taking in the little bit of land that comes with the house.

I think it was a bed-and-breakfast at one point, but since the owners retired to an independent living facility, it's fallen into disrepair.

Levi lets us into the house, opening the door to a foyer with a staircase at the front. It’s pretty blocky, with a lot of walls closing in every room. There are archways and crown molding, beautiful carvings in the wooden stair railing, and more details showcasing the craftsmanship of this house than I could ever name.

Levi talks through ideas about what we could do in each space. Each one matches my own vision of what I want in our house.

There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and there’s no telling what we’ll find when we open up walls, but I don’t think I care about any of the negatives. I’ll figure it out no matter what I have to do.

"Daddy, I think this is it," Nellie says, awe in her voice.

"I agree, Baby Bee.” This is it. “Now, remember, I want to surprise Mom with this, so it needs to be a secret. I want to give it to her as a present.”

"A present? We can't wrap this. That would be impossible,” Nellie points out.

I laugh at her straightforward thinking. “You’re right. We couldn’t wrap this, so maybe we won’t call it a present, but it's still going to be a surprise, so we need to keep it a secret."

"What will I tell her we did today?"

"You can tell her what we did. We’ll have lunch and go to the playground."

She narrows her eyes as she thinks. "Okay, I think I can do that."

Levi and I talk with the realtor, who stayed outside, and I let him know I want to put an offer in on the house.

We talk numbers for a minute. The realtor suggests offering a lower price since the house needs such extensive work. Regardless of what happens, I’m ready for this next step. I’m ready to build a life with my family, and something tells me it will happen in this house.