Suspiciously Well

Casey was still embarrassed about his last encounter with Vera and felt the need to do something to redeem himself. Kane said he was being ridiculous but that wouldn't change his mind.

She had been so nice to him when she didn't have to be. Even just letting him use the phone quickly then kicking him out right after would have been nice enough but she tried to warm him up first then let him stay inside and disrupt business in her store while he waited.

He wouldn't be at peace with himself unless he did something to return her kindness. In the end he felt incredibly stupid about it but brought her donuts. He got a variety because he didn't know what she liked and held them out without meeting her eyes when he saw her in front of the house.

"H-here. I brought you d-donuts. To thank you for tast lime. Last time!" Casey finished nervously.

"Thank you!" Vera said warmly and he dared to peek up at her. She was smiling happily. "This is actually really helpful because I was running a bit late this morning and didn't have time for breakfast. Do you mind if I have one now?"

He shook his head, not daring to speak, and watched as she ate a glazed one with a satisfied expression. Relief flooded through him. She had appreciated it. She didn't think it had been a stupid or unnecessary thing to do. Take that, Kane! She had liked it!

Vera ate two before beginning to walk around the outside of the house, eyeing everything with interest. Casey stood back and waited for her verdict.

"Well, everything seems to be historically accurate from the outside. It is rather dilapidated but has the potential to be stunning if fixed up right," she said with enthusiasm. "Do you mind if I look around inside?"

Casey hated going inside this house. He hated even being on this property. He had left this place alone for years for a reason. But if he was going to sell it, he had to suck it up. To not be a wimp, like Kane always told him. Sometimes—though Casey didn't like to admit it—he was right.

"G-go ahead."

Casey unlocked the door and Vera walked around occasionally making interested noises or mumbling to herself. She inspected just about everything, including the insides of cupboards and under sinks.

He couldn't even feel self-conscious because he had no attachment to this place. At this point it was almost like strangers had lived here instead of him and his family.

Eventually Vera looked up and clapped her hands today, the corners of her eyes crinkling in delight. "You definitely have the makings of a historic home here, Casey! But you're going to need more help than I can give, I'm afraid.

"I'm no plumber or electrician. You're going to need other people for that but I can help refurbish the cabinets and things like that since I'm rather experienced with wood. This is going to be quite an undertaking. You might not want to do it all at once from a financial standpoint and even once it's done you'll have quite a lot of paperwork to do to get it registered as a historic home before trying to sell it. What do you want to do?"

What did Casey want to do? He wanted to take a wrecking ball to this place but that wouldn't give him any money. Kane would give him a hard time if he went that route, which was why he had tried looking into fixing the house up personally first.

Money wasn't really an issue since he had done nothing since joining the work force but save and still had a bit of his inheritance from his dad. His old rust bucket was paid off too so he would be able to do this. He would do anything to get this stupid house to sell.

"I trust jour yudgment. I mean—!"

"I know what you meant." Vera reassured him. "I know some people who deal with historical building preservation. I can call them for you and pass on your number if you'd like."

Great. More phone calls Casey would have to deal with later. But he could acknowledge it needed to be done. "Th-that would be great, thanks."

"Wonderful! I noticed there was a barn out back. Can I go look at that too?"

"I d-don't have the key, s-sorry."

"Oh. Don't worry about it. It looks about the same as the outside of the house so I'm sure it will pass muster later. You'll need to look into a locksmith though if you want the barn restored too. That will raise the value of the whole property but you could always leave that issue for the next owner if you don't have the time or money for it," Vera said with a shrug.

"G-good to know," Casey replied.

This was all a bit overwhelming but he wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Then the house would be off his hands and he wouldn't have to interact with as many random people he didn't know.

He had never been terribly fond of meeting new people because it rarely went well for him. It had gone very well in Vera's case thus far though. Suspiciously well, in fact.

She was both incredibly nice and incredibly helpful. The former had to be her personality because she had no reason to be so nice to him within two seconds of meeting him the other day but the latter might be because she wanted to get more business.

It could also be because she genuinely wanted to preserve as much of history as possible though. She had seemed rather passionate about it the last time they talked when he first brought up the house.

Vera was just doing her job. Maybe Kane was right and it had been silly to be afraid of calling her. He wasn't inconveniencing her if he was going to pay her to do something for him, right? But it was hard not to feel like an inconvenience because of what happened the first time they met. And how often he had been an inconvenience in general.