Lunch was fine. My dad’s house wasn’t. I hadn’t bothered to set up an appointment to see it, so we couldn’t enter, but I didn’t need to bother. Given how crappy the outside was, I could imagine we’d find a rat-infested hellhole on the inside.
Before, I’d just driven by, the same thing for Carl, so we hadn’t seen all the problems. The overgrown lawn didn’t bother me. I could take care of that in one weekend. Everything else I could see made it clear I shouldn’t waste money on the dump.
Just from what I could see, the roof had major issues and would need to be replaced. Probably leaks all over the house, which meant damage to wood and tile.
The foundation was cracked in several places, and huge termite lines ran along all sides. It was like termite Nashville over there.
Now, termite colonies didn’t eat up houses as fast as most people thought, but for all I knew, they’d been there for the last decade, munching away on my childhood home and further weakening the already damaged house.
Jagged cracks ran through one of the back walls, which was obviously load-bearing, and I wasn’t even sure if it was structurally sound anymore. The place probably should have been condemned. It was embarrassing they were even trying to sell the rathole.
By the time I was back in Carl’s struck, I was pretty upset. I’d had a lot of good memories of that place, and it broke my heart to see it gone to shit like that.
“You okay, bro?” Carl said.
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
“You sure?”
I tapped my head. “They can’t take my memories, and it’s been a long time since I’ve lived there.” I grunted.
Carl slapped me on the back. “Still sorry about it.” He started the truck. “Want to hit anywhere else before we go back to the ranch?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You bought this truck at Eddie’s, right?”
“Yeah, why?” He shot me a glance.
“About time I got my own truck instead of borrowing yours like I’m your teenaged son or something.”
Carl grinned. “You couldn’t handle me as a dad, bro.”
I snorted. “Just drive.”
He started up the car. We’d been driving for a couple of minutes before he spoke again.
“So are you gonna buy the place?”
“My dad’s place?”
“Yeah. I mean it seemed like you weren’t, but maybe you want a project. I don’t know.” He shrugged a single shoulder.
“I don’t know. It’d take a lot of work. If it’s that messed up from the outside, it’s probably a complete wreck on the inside. It’d probably be easier to tear the entire place down now and build a new one.”
Carl sighed. “I know how much you wanted that place. I’m sorry I got your hopes up.”
“It’s not your fault. You weren’t the one not keeping it up.” I shook my head. “I need a place, but my dad is long gone. Maybe this is another chance for me to move forward instead of getting stuck in the past.”
“Whatever you say, bro.” Carl cleared his throat after a moment of silence. “The McMillian’s house wasn’t so bad.”
“No, it wasn’t. Just needs a new coat of paint and some polish mostly. The roof probably has another five good years on it.”
“Plenty big, too. Plenty of room for Kadie. And talk about having room outside to run around.”
I glanced over at him. “What are you saying?”
“Just saying that you could kill two birds with one stone. Not gonna say I don’t get something out of it, but you get a lot out of it too.”
“Partners, huh? Me as a rancher?”