“Yeah, she deserves everything I can give to her.”
“She seems nice.”
“She is my heart. When I saw her again, I got that feeling like finding that very last piece that completes a puzzle that you’ve worked on for months.”
“Well congrats, Bro. I’m happy for you.”
“Same to you, El.”
* * *
“This isthe house I wanted to show you,” I said after Brick pulled in front of a modern two-story house.
Averie examined the house through the car window.
“It has great curb appeal,” Averie said.
I got out of the car then opened her door. We walked to the front door and was greeted by Corinthia, the real estate broker.
“Good morning, Mr. Valentine,” she extended her hand.
“Good morning. This is my fiancé, Ms. Patterson.”
The women shook hands.
“This is the house I told you about. It hasn’t hit the market yet. I asked the owners to let me show it to you first before they put it on the market. It was built two years ago. Modern design as you can see. Five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and two half baths. Right under eight thousand square feet. Four acres, a pool, guest house, and pool house. Let’s go in and take a look.”
We walked through the lower level of the house while Corinthia pointed out the height of the ceilings, the wide plank wood floors and the kitchen, that in my opinion would need to be gutted and re-done. It was too much wood. The master bedroom was also on the first level. It was a nice size and had a huge en suite bathroom. The toilet had its own small room with was a must for me. The back of the house featured a pool with a small waterfall feature. Each bedroom had a balcony and a view of the backyard. We went back inside to the upper level to look at the bedrooms.
“Each bedroom has a private bathroom. These smaller ones could be for future children, maybe?” Corinthia said while looking at Averie and me.
We’d never talked about children. I thought she wanted them, but I wasn’t sure. Feels like we’d talked about everything but that. Averie smiled politely at Corinthia, and she continued to the rest of the bedrooms. After the upstairs tour, Corinthia left Averie and me to discuss the house.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I think it’s wonderful. I like everything about it except the kitchen. That kitchen is was too log cabin-ish for me.”
“I was thinking the same thing! They killed a lot of trees to put that together.”
“They did,” she laughed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as she stepped away to look out into the backyard.
“Nothing is wrong. It’s just, my father and grandfather were both blue collar workers. They worked hard to just maintain, you know. I mean don’t get me wrong, my childhood was amazing. My mother and sisters kept my life full of girly fun-filled adventures, but we didn’t have a whole lot. But when I stand in a house like this with the potential of it being mine, I don’t feel humbled. I feel like it’s about damn time. But shouldn’t I feel like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening for me?’”
“No. You should feel how you feel. You don’t have to apologize for who you are. You work hard every day. You’ve made yourself the top female litigator in the Midwest and one of the top in the country. I love that confidence you have. I would be surprised if you said you can’t believe this was happening to you. I’m the same way. My success never takes me by surprise. I expect for everything that I attempt to work. If it doesn’t then I just know what to do next time to make it work.”
“That’s my philosophy too.”
“Do you want to look at some other houses or do you like this one?”
“I like the neighborhood and the proximity to the where the new stadium will be. Let’s do it,” Averie responded.
“I realized something while we were looking at the house. We’ve haven’t talked about kids. Do you want them?”
“I do. What about you?”
“Yes. I do. I hadn’t thought about it much until recently but yes.”