Isabelle sighed wearily as she looked at thekitchentile they had stepped onto. It was covered with dirt and footprints, making it hard to tell that the tile was actually a light blue instead of gray. The kitchen waspretty muchclean, except for more dirty footprints on the blue tiling, but that was only because they didn’t use it often.
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
“Doug’s going to bunk with David, so you’ll have the basement to yourself. There’s a half bath down there.”
“I know,”she mumbled, well aware ofthe set up ofthe house.
He flashed another grin as they headed into the living room.She kept down her moan of disgust; it was painfully obvious that a bunch of bachelors lived here. There were two forest green couches that centered around the big screenTVon the far wall. Two green reclining chairs were set at anangle at the end of the couches;their worn footrestswerestill in the air. The coffee table in the center of the oval was made of dark wood, but the tarnish was faded and scratched, and there were at least a dozen water rings marring it. The screen in the corner had once been a bright white but dust and time had yellowed it, and the picture of a deer in a wild, color filled meadow, had faded. The bright reds, greens, browns, yellows, blues, and oranges were dulled and dingy.
The room was painted a light cream, but the walls were marred by dirt and fingers marks, and in desperate need of repainting. Dust coated theTV, and the light green curtains, making them appear darker. The windows were as smudged as the walls. The bookshelf, in between the two windows on the left hand wall, was cluttered with old paperbacks that had been tossed haphazardly onto it.All of them were covered with a fine layer of dust.
Wrinkling her nose, Isabelle studied the room with mild distaste, wondering how long it would take to clean everything. It would take at least a day to repaint it. “We’re only going to be here for a few weeks,” Ethan said.
“I know.”
Heglanced at herover his shoulder as he strolled across the room. More footprints marred the old, dark green carpet. It was tattered and worn with age, torn straight to the floor in some places. “So don’t plan on redoing everything, and don’t go too crazy with the cleaning.”
She shot him a look as he grinned at her. Heturned to head down the curving wooden staircase to the basement. Sometimes it was nice to have someonewhoknew her as well as Ethan did, at other times, he was a pain in her ass. “I wasn’t,” she muttered.
“Liar.”
“You’re going to have so much fun over here Issy!” Abby criedenthusiastically.
Isabelle rolled her eyes as she stepped into the basement that had been divided by a simple ply wood wall. They were standing inthelaundry and weight room, both of which she knew were rarely used. Ethan led the way to the door in the simply assembled wall and threw it open. Isabelle stepped in, and groaned silently.
The room was large, and plain. The bed wasqueen size, with a small wood headboard, and no footboard, it was stripped completely bare to reveal the old, indented mattress. ATVsat on an aged, rickety looking metal stand, both of which were gray with dust. A small window was set in the far right wall, a shabby black curtain hung over it to block out the sun. The door to the half bath wasajar;Isabelle didn’t even want to know what it looked like. The entire room was cool and damp, and reeked of mildew.
“I am definitely cleaning this,” Isabelle said, dropping her suitcase on the dirty, dark cream carpet.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Ethanmuttered.
“Ugh, it smells in here,” Vicky complained, wrinkling her tiny nose.
Isabelle crossed to the small set of stairs on the left hand side and shoved the storm doors open. Cleansummer air rushed into the room, and she inhaled its fresh scent gratefully. “Could you open that window for me!” she called over her shoulder.
Abby quickly threw the curtain back and pulled the tiny window down. She stuck her nose into it and inhaled deeply. “Just don’t get any ideas about the rest of the house,” Ethan told her. “You’re going to have a brand new one to decorate, and scrub,soon.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Isabelle said distractedly. Her mindwasalready trying to figure out where she was going to start.
Ethan groaned as he moved across the room. “Just don’t have the whole place reeking of flowers, or some other girly scent. We’re manly men here,” he muttered in disgust. Isabelle quirked her eyebrow chuckling softly as he scowled fiercely at her. She was trying hard not to grin as he shook his head and turned away. “Ah crap, we’re screwed.I’ll see you later.”
He fled swiftly up the stormdoors,stillmuttering as he disappeared from sight.“Do you want us to help?” Vicky askedsoftly.
Isabelle groaned inwardly as she nodded. Shemay notwantit, but she was going toneedall the helpthatshe could get.
***
Hours later, she had the walls scrubbed nearly white again, the rug vacuumed and washed, everything dusted, the bed neatly made, and the room smelling wonderfully of fresh air, and apple. She was a filthy mess, her hair hung in straggly wet strands around her face, and her clothes were dirty and sweaty as they clung to her. Vicky and Abby looked just as bad, fortunately they weren’t complaining anymore, or rattling on about Stefan. Now, they just sat silently on the bed, too tired to move.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
They nodded as Isabellegathered her clothes and headed out of the basement, and up the stairs. Making her way through the living room she went upstairs to the full bath, which was also in desperate need of a good cleaning. She forced herself not to groan as she took in the absolute mess. The sink was littered with smallhairs;shaving cream was stuck in it and around the edges of it. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were scattered haphazardly around, and the soft yellow of the sink was nearly white from the toothpaste and shaving cream. The floor was filthy, she didn’t even want to look at the toilet, and the shower was mildewed.
She forced herself not to think about any of it as she took a quick shower, dressed, and left the room before she started to clean it now. It would be her first project tomorrow. She wondered if she could recruit Vicky and Abby again, but shefiguredthey were too smart to fall for that again. They hadonlyhelped her today in the hope of seeing Stefan, but it was obvious that he was staying at the building site with everyone else. She wondered where Jess was, and if she would be willing to help. She was definitely going to need it.
She entered her new room again and threw her dirty clothes into the hamper. She would also gather everyone’s dirty laundry tomorrow and do that. While she was here, she was going to make sure that everyone had plenty of clean clothes, and a clean house. She turned her attention back to Vicky and Abby, who looked as if they hadn’t moved an inch.
“Would you guys want to help me tomorrow?”
