“Of course. By the way, I love this look on you,” she says, looking me up and trailing her finger in the air from head to toe. “You’re literally a walking ray of sunshine.”
I look down on instinct and take in my rosy pink wide-legged jeans. An outfit that my mom woulddefinitelynot approve of. In fact, she wanted me to wear a maxi dress. A dress! While we’re not actually doing work today, I was not showing up to an abandoned house wearing a fucking dress because she said it would help beat the summer heat. So I kept it casual. My pink jeans paired it with a tucked in, ivory T-shirt that has a picture of lemons gathered on the front, and a bright yellow sweater over my shoulders to look professional.
“Thank you,” I offer with a smile.
I take a calming breath, feeling nervous for what mess I’m about to walk into as I follow Jade to the front porch. Jade has been very nice since I arrived half an hour ago. She’s technically part of the camera crew but also assists Andrea on the production team.
She opens the door for me and I step in. Once I cross through the front door, the air hits me first. It’s dusty but sweet, like old wood and forgotten perfume. The hallway leading to the back of the house is narrow, with wallpaper curling at the seams and shadows in random places where family photos used to hang. There are no frames with photos in them left behind, just faint outlines on the walls like ghosts of something that was removed. I feel like I stepped into a time capsule that’s caught between nostalgia and neglect.
The floorboards creak under my sneakers with every step I take. Looking down, I see how scuffed and dull they are, but my mind is already sanding, staining, and polishing them to shine again. The house isn’t empty exactly. An old umbrella leans in the corner and a cracked lamp sits on the side table. None of it feels personal. It feels like the leftovers no one bothered to carry away.
When I enter the living space, my eyes widen because I don’t know where to look first. The living room stands out the most on the right. There’s no furniture arranged like someone meant to come back for it. No photos. No books. No signs of a life paused. It’s just filled with things that didn’t matter enough to take. Looking up, I notice the ceiling has a huge water stain like a bruise spreading from a potential leak. As I continue scanning the space, I see the old fireplace sitting in the corner, cold and soot-streaked.
Even with the disaster of this room, I can still see it coming to life.
I can see warm cream walls, the mantle decorated with fresh greenery, and a cozy sectional draped with a throw blanket. Turning to the left, I step through a narrow archway into the kitchen, and I practically gasp in horror. It’s filled with yellow linoleum and chipped cabinets.
As the cloud that must’ve been covering the sun outside moves away, I see the light pour through the window above thesink, and I suck in a sharp breath. Dust mites fill the air like glitter, but still…I can see it.
It will be the kind of house that looks good on camera, but feels even better in person.
It feels like proof that imperfection isn’t the end, but just the beginning.
I pause where I stand, circling to take one last look at the first floor, deciding I’m overwhelmed enough and don’t need to see the second floor right now. My brain is already ten steps ahead thinking about the walls to knock down, blowing the budget and the timeline of the show.
It’s clearly the largest project I’ve ever done, but instead of wanting to back away out of fear, I feel myself leaning in—embracing the hard, because this is everything I could have wanted.
I feel myself smile even when my stomach is filled with nerves, because this is an opportunity to make everything I want happen. A chance to prove to my mom that I am enough to take on something like this.
When I make my way back toward the front door, Jade is standing in the foyer with a raised eyebrow, waiting for me to say something.
“Well. It needs a whole lot of work,” I tell her. “This is definitely going to be a long month.”
She nods. “We thought the same thing.”
There’s a beat of silence before we both burst into laughter as we step onto the front porch. I feel like I can finally take a deep breath now that I’m out of the dust-filled house.
But it doesn’t last long.
Because standing across the yard, smiling with Andrea, is the one person I never thought I’d see again.
Tucker.
One night of letting him charm me to the point I was naked and tangled in the sheets all fucking night with him back in SanFrancisco, only for him to vanish before sunrise. I understand if he had to go, but at least wake me up and say goodbye. No, I felt like nothing more than some kind of pit stop on his road trip through life.
And now he’s here.
As if he can sense my eyes on him, he turns his head to where I stand. His eyes widen momentarily, before one corner of his lip twists into a smug grin. I’m too mad that he’s standing here, onmyproperty, formyshow, to register and let that smile affect me the way it did the night he swept me off my feet.
I wonder if he thought about what he would sayifhe ever saw me again? I know I have. The chances were slim because neither of us are from San Francisco, and neither knew where the other was from.
Well, if he can be so cool about it, then so can I.
Stomping down the porch and across the yard, I make my way to where he and Andrea stand with the rest of the production team. When I stop in front of everyone, Andrea is the first to break the silence. “All right, let’s get this quick meeting started. It’s nothing major, more so just some introductions.” She holds a hand out toward Tucker. “Tucker here will be your lead contractor on site.”
“What?” I practically choke out, eyes darting between the two of them.
Of course, the universe would play this joke on me. Of all the contractors in the world, it just has to be him? It just has to be the man withthatsmile andthosearms?
