Mostly because the place needed a lot of work.
“She’s gonna flip when she sees this, man,” Mike said.
I grinned. “I know, right?”
“I mean, I wasn’t sure about the whole white cabinets thing. Especially with this weird, sparkling pearly white backsplash you’ve got going on. But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look good. And these matte black handles? Dude, it looks awesome.”
“I wanted to carry the matte black around the entire house. I don’t have time to get everything in order, but I’ve changed out all of the handles in the bathrooms and stuff . Like a little theme that’s carried from room to room. I think she’ll appreciate that.”
“How many bedrooms does this place have again?”
I wiped at the sweat on my brow. “Three. Each of them has a bathroom, too. Which is nice.”
“That’s really nice. And a hell of a steal in L.A.”
“You’re not joking. We had to offer twenty grand above asking price for this place just to be in the running for it.”
He came to stand beside me. “We’ve got time to give the master bathroom a second coat, if you want.”
I patted his back. “Thanks for helping me with this stuff. I wouldn't have been able to get half as much done without you here.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Anything I can do to help, I will.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Anytime.”
As we lugged the paint cans cautiously down the hallway toward the bathroom, I sighed. I couldn't wait to see her reaction once we officially moved into this place. I’d been trolling her Pinterest page in my spare time to see all the things she was favoriting. All the things that were catching her eye. And to be honest, they shocked me. Rae had always been a ‘dark color’ kind of person. She enjoyed dim lighting. Rich, deep colors. Palettes that had black and dark blues rather than pale yellows and pinks.
So to see her bookmarking things that had whites and pearls and soft grays?
It was a new side of her, to say the least.
“All right. These cabinets need one more coat of paint, and then we’re done,” I said.
Mike set up his station. “You knock out the left and I’ll knock out the right?”
“Meet in the middle?”
He nodded. “Ready when you are.”
There were plenty of things Rae didn’t like about this house. But I’d managed to get her to see the potential it had. With a new coat of paint, a different backsplash, and a nice professional cleaning of the floors, this place had a brand new sparkle to it. Mike had helped me with a lot, too. Every time I had to meet him here, I told Rae it was because I had to work. Because I had meetings. Because I had research to do. And while it was true--mostly--part of me felt guilty for lying to her.
I knew the little white lie would have a huge payoff once she saw this place.
But she was beginning to make mention of the fact that her weekends were feeling more lonely.
“Did you return the power washer?” Michael asked.
I nodded. “Yep. Finally. That place has odd hours of operation. Took me three tries and an endless amount of hiding it from Rae before I finally got it turned in.”
“Did they charge you a late fee?”
“Not after showing them what all I had to go through in order to get the damn thing back to them.”
He snickered. “Good. The carpets look nice, too.”
“I’ve got someone coming in tonight to really shine up the hardwood and the tile before we move in. I want this place to look completely different when Rae finally sees it.”