Chapter 2
Angel
“So what do you think?” Siera turns to look at me, pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head.
I take my time answering. She’s used to my process, so she doesn’t rush me.
The property is a good size; it needs lots of work, and a lot of it will need to be overhauled.
If we can get the agent to lower the price, then it would be a good investment.
The house isn’t a bad size, and has the right number of bedrooms for the four of us.
Only two bathrooms though. That could be a bit of an issue, but we’d have to manage.
Small kitchen and laundry, and there’s a separate garage.
It would all need to be modernised, but it was doable.
“Girls? Thoughts?”
Tru and Janis do that freaky twin thing when they turn their heads and look at you with the same blank expressions.
Like night and day in colouring; one taking after their father with bright copper hair, green eyes and the other after Siera with brown hair and eyes.
The only thing they share is the shape of their faces and freckles.
My lord, so many freckles. At twenty-one they’d been working with us since they were fourteen, and if we did this, I planned on bringing them on board as partners.
“It’s got good bones. It will need a lot of work, but we could do most of it,” Tru says. “Jan, what do you think?”
“I agree, I think it will work.”
“Okay then,” I decide with a nod. They start to clap, excitedly jumping up and down like kids, their mother included. I hold up my hand, and they stop. “I have a few conditions.”
All three groan. Siera throws up her arms, muttering, “Of course you do.”
“I swear Siera, sometimes I think you’re the same age as the girls the way you behave.”
“That’s because I’m not an old fuddy duddy like you,” she sticks her tongue out then sighs, “What’re the terms other than getting the price lowered?”
“The girls come on as partners.”
All three gasp. I throw my head back and laugh at their expressions. “What? You both deserve it. If we take this project on, we’ll be working our asses off. You girls more than the rest of us, so I think it’s only fair that you get to be partners.”
Janis is the first one to squeal and tackle me, but before long we’re a pile of laughing bodies on the ground.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Janis exclaims, kissing me wherever she can reach.
“Um, are you ladies okay?” the agent asks. He left us earlier to take a call, and I’m sure he’s wondering what the hell he’s walked into. Four women equals a lot of estrogen, so he’s probably right to be wary.
“We’re good,” I reassure him, pushing at my nieces and sister so that I can sit up, holding out my hand for him to pull me to my feet.
He probably thinks I’m the weak link. I’m short, no more than five-foot four, curvy and blonde. He’d be wrong.
“Let’s talk money.”
Two hours later we leave, all my terms agreed to, and with the promise to push the sale through quickly.
We decide to stop at the local diner a couple of towns over and get some coffee and cake if they have any, to celebrate on the way home. Leaving Siera in the car, the girls and I go in and order it from an older lady who is sweet as pie but stuck in the seventies. Her name tag reads as Lala.
She’s quick though, and twenty minutes later we’re on the road for the trip back home.
***
The agent made good on his word, and three months after we agreed on terms, we were moving onto the property. We’d be living in our camper vans for now while we sorted out the house.
It ended up being a family moving day as Jake, Fern, Stone, and Bridget came with us to have a look.
The girls made a list of everything they’d need for the repairs, and I ordered the delivery to arrive tomorrow. For tonight it was just family, sitting around a fire, roasting marshmallows for s’mores.
It was a good night, but for some reason I was antsy. It wasn’t a bad feeling though; it was more like a fizz of excitement running under my skin.
Something was coming; I could feel it in my bones.