Full Bloom

A Place to Call Home

I held tightly to Oliver's hand as the car came to a stop.

"Ollie,what are you up to? Can I take the blindfold off now?" I asked.

"Not yet," he said. I could feel the eagerness in his voice.

"Dada! Dada!" Chrys said from the backseat.

I heard him shuffling around to the back of the car, then lift Chrys out of her carseat. He opened my door next and helped me out of the car.

"Geez, Ollie. It's freezing out here," I said.

"We'll be inside soon enough," he said. He undid the blindfold I had on. "Merry Christmas!"

I looked in front of me. This was his grandfather's townhouse that he bought last year. I felt so sorry for him, buying a brand new place and passing away so soon after.

"Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?" I asked.

"Yup! He left it to all of us in the will, but my family wants us to have it."

"Holy shit, Oliver Jacob! We're really gonna have our own place?" I asked.

"You ready to go inside?" he said, holding up the keys.

"Hell yes! Let's go!"

We went up to the front walkway and unlocked the door of the house. There was a tiled entry hall with a coat closet. It still smelled like a new house in here. I couldn't believe it. Oliver set Chrys down to let her roam as we walked into the kitchen. It was a little small, but it had enough space for the three of us.

"Oh wow, all the furniture is still here!" I said, taking a look around.

"Yeah. We don't even have to buy anything," he said.

I went into the dining area. It had a small table, but it could easily fit a bigger one for our (hopefully soon-to-be) expanding family. The backyard was fenced in and had a big deck. I could imagine so many family dinners there, Ollie cooking on the grill while I colored at the table with the kids.

From there, we went back down the hallway, passing the half-bathroom that was across the stairs. Chrys had a little trouble climbing the stairs, so I had to give her a hand. At the top of the stairs was a full bathroom with a tub and shower. There was plenty of cabinet space for all of Chrys's bath toys.

It was close to the master bedroom, which was huge. My jaw damn near hit the floor. The master bedroom was in a giant L shape. I walked to the shorter part of the L, which was just being used to storage space.

"This is like, the perfect spot for the next baby! We can make a whole mini nursery in here so they don't have to share with Chrys until they're a little older," I said.

"My parents said in the future, we can even put a wall up and make this part into a third bedroom," Oliver said.

"Or even a walk-in closet!" I said.

"Babe, we already have two closets in here," he said, pointing to the other side of the room.

"Oh, nice! That's perfect, because I didn't wanna share," I said.

He playfully nudged me, and we followed Chrys to the second bedroom, which was in the front of the house. It was pretty small, but it had two big windows and a walk-in closet.

"The ceilings in here are nice and high, so we can even do a bunk bed in the future," I said.

"Jen, you're thinking so far ahead! We aren't gonna stay here forever. This is just a starter home for us."

"Yeah, but even though it's small, it's brand new, and really nice. Not a lot of people can say that they live in something that's new construction."

He chuckled. "Maybe we can just see where life takes us. We'll move when we're ready."

"Or when we have baby number three. We really can't fit more than two kids in this place," I said.

"Number three! Hold your horses. We've barely started working on baby number two! Let's take it one kid at a time."

"I know. I'm just so impatient. Like, Chrys is already one and a half, and I want the kids to be close in age."

"If they're three or four years apart, they'll be fine."

I huffed, picked up Chrys, and went downstairs. We explored the house a little bit more, checking out the garage and the attic. We eventually sat down in the living room while I gave Chrys a snack.

"Wow, I can't believe we're getting a free house! How lucky are we?" I asked him, grinning ear to ear.

"Uh...free?"

My eyes narrowed. "This place...isn't free? You said you inherited it! Ollie, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Right. I inherited it but...my grandpa had just bought it. We still have to pay off the whole rest of the loan."

"What? How much more money is on the loan?"

"Almost a hundred thousand."

"What? A hundred thousand? We can't pay that!"

"Relax, Jen. The mortgage is only about eight-hundred a month after all the utilities and everything."

I was about to fall off the couch and die right there on the floor.

"Oliver. Jacob. Everston. On what planet do you think we can afford eight hundred dollars a month on bills?"

"You'll have to...get a real job. I can pick up as many hours as I can, but you need to make more money than what Mary is giving you."

I sunk back into the couch. Now that I was done with school, I took care of Chrys during the day and let my grandpa watch her in the few hours a night that I was with Annie. It worked out well. Once Chrys was in preschool, I'd be able to have a better job. By then, Oliver would be done, or mostly done with college and would have a good-paying teaching job. It was all supposed to work out perfectly.

"I dunno, Ollie," I said.

"Babe, we have an almost two-year-old and we don't even live together. We could find a crummy apartment, but that's no place to raise a family. This will work out so well for us. You just need to find a better job," he said.

"Okay. I guess I'll start looking," I said. "When do you think we should move in?"

"Probably over my winter break, since I'll have time."

"That's coming up."

"I know," he said. "That'll give us a month to get everything in here. Good thing we don't have to move too much furniture."

I took a deep breath and tried to unscramble my brain. Was this really happening? In just a month, I'd have to leave my grandpa and the only home I'd ever known to move in with Oliver. I watched as he tickled Chrys. She needed to have her dad around. This was going to be best for her, even if it was really hard for me.