Page 19 of Waylon

Like his brothers, he loved to go to auctions and found one on Saturday that he might want to go to. There wasn’t any real estate for the auction, but he did look it up when it mentioned the realtor. Finding out the name of the place that was representing the family involved, he called them up and asked about the house. It was for sale, but she, a nice woman said that she thought that they were asking entirely too much for the house and it wouldn’t sell without a lot of work done on it too.

“The kitchen dates back to the eighties. There is carpet throughout the place that should have been replaced decades ago. Also, the roof needs to be replaced as well as the furnace and air. I’d not buy it for the asking price. I know that it’s a sale for me but they’re asking prices of the place when it was a booming town. We’re not that anymore around here.” He asked her the price. “Nearly half a million. Also, I forgot to mention that there is nothing in the way of land either. A quarter of an acre is all. It’s not going to sell unless they drop the price to about a tenth of that. And maybe not even then.”

“What can you tell me about the contents?” She told him that the last that she’d heard, they had a minimum price on everything, and even that was too high. “I see. So there is going to be a lot of standing around and no one getting any good deals. I’ll pass.”

“I don’t blame you, Booth. But wait a moment. If you’re looking for a house, I have one that’s not even on the market yet. The family just decided last weekend that they wanted to sell. Let me get the paperwork for you.” When she came back on the line not only did she have an address but told him that she’d meet him out there if he wanted to go. “I’m supposed to meet another couple out there in an hour, but they’ve been changing the time for the last several days. If you want to meet me there in about half an hour, I can go over the house with you even if they don’t show up.”

“Great. I have to get someone to watch over my mate here, so I’ll meet you there.” He reached out to his dad and told him what he was doing. When he said that he and his mom were in town, they were there before he got off the phone with Bonnie Andrews. “I have someone coming in. As soon as they arrive, I’ll drive out.”

Lydia woke up just as he was leaving. After telling her what was going on, she wished that she could go with him. While she knew that she couldn’t he did promise her that he’d take lots of pictures of the place so that he could show it to her. Once he was at the house, he thought for sure that he had the wrong place. The front lawn of the place looked like it was doubling as a trash heap, and there were garbage bags all over the front of the street as well. He was ready to leave when Bonnie showed up.

“I swear it didn’t look like this when I was given the paperwork on it.” She handed him what she had. “Look? There isn’t even a front porch on the place much less this mess. There has to be a mistake here, and if you give me a few minutes, I’ll get to the bottom of this. I have a feeling that no one has been out here since these pictures were taken a few months ago.”

He stayed near his car as she talked to her home office. While waiting, he pulled out his phoneand began looking at the other auctions that were going on. He wasn’t going to go to the one that had a price listed for items, but now that he’d thought about it, he wanted to hit one up, if for no other reason than to get out and around people who would be excited to be there.

People, as far as he could understand, were of two minds when it came to auctions. They were there to either flip the stuff they bought or were looking for a good deal on things for their own home or someone else’s and were tight with their cash. He was in the latter of the two. He wanted a good deal for a good item.

He found three that he had earmarked for this coming weekend and Bonnie had found out that the address had been printed wrong on all the paperwork. Even the contracts that had been from the other couple had been wrong. She pointed to the correct house, just one street over, and they headed that way.

As soon as he pulled into the drive, he was in love. Sending a picture of the front of the house to Lydia via his father’s phone, she called him right away. He was laughing even as he got out of his car and telling her about the mess up.

“Good. I mean, I love it when a person admits that they made a mistake. I’ll be happy to work with someone like her.” He told her that he would as well and put the chat on video so that she could see the house as he did. It was a good deal more exciting than he thought it would have been buying himself a house.

~*~

Lydia was glad that he was making her a part of the buying of the house. Not that she was ready to move in with him yet, but it was fun to think that they were this far along in their relationship. Not that they had one as yet but they were slowly working on it.

“I don’t much care for the front doors. They’ll have to go.” She asked him what was wrong with them. “They’re all right in that they’re double doors, but they’re just wood, and if I were going to be greeting people when they come to the house, I want to see them first.”

“Now that you mention it, that is a good idea. And I can almost see a glass-fronted door decorated at Christmas, too. With all kinds of lights and such.” He said he’d never decorated at Christmas before as he only lived in an apartment. “We’ll have to go all out if we get the house. Or any house, for that matter. I’ve not had a good Christmas in about a decade. Not to mention, your brother Cullen will be home this year so that’ll be fun to go all out with him around.”

“I love that idea.” The kitchen in the place was going to need some work. It looked as if someone had started on it and then gave up about halfway through the project. He told her that he cooked and asked her if she did. “Not so much as I’d depend on me cooking for us nightly. I can only cook things that I have a good recipe for, but nothing while trying to wing it. Your mom was telling me that she has a nice herb garden that she uses year-round, and Waylon is going to have one put in for him as well. I don’t know that I’d venture that far.”

They talked about the house and the yard. There was a fenced in backyard but no pool. Neither of them knew if they wanted one or not but thought that they could get to that later. They both liked that it had six big bedrooms and bathrooms as well as a back porch that was completely screened in with a dry bar and large grill. That was something that he would look forward to more than anything.

“The house has a new furnace.” Bonnie told them both of all the new things that the house had, as well as a couple of things that it would need immediately. The grounds would need to be brought back up to something manageable as well as the garage. There was an apartment over the garage that would serve as a nice office, but since he didn’t really need one and he didn’t know what it was that Lydia did for a living, they let it go for now. He’d find out that information later when they were talking more together.

They decided to make an offer on the house right away before the other paperwork was given to the other couple, and she said that she’d get back to him. He didn’t know if the offer would be accepted. It was far below what was being asked but with the work that needed to be done, it was good for him. He asked her about auctions.

“I’ve never been to one before. Garage sales? Yes, plenty of them. My sister used to clothe her children with those all the time. I don’t know what she does now as she’s moved to Europe with her husband and kids. I’ve not seen her in years. I think that we get along better that way.” He told her he did wonder if she had family. “I do. A sister, whom I’ve mentioned, as well as an older brother. He’s nearly old enough to be my dad. Shawn and Lynn. Both are married, though, like I said, I don’t see them much. My parents are in Europe as well and I’ve not spoken to them in longer than my sister and brother. We don’t really see eye to eye about a lot of things.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have my family around all the time. Do you expect them to know about your accident? Or that we’ve met?” She told him that she doubted that they’d care one way or another. They really didn’t get along. “That’s so sad. Like I said, I love mine.”

They talked about the house and other things on his way back to the hospital. When he arrived, Dad had gone out and gotten them food. Lydia could now bend her knee, and the doctor knew about it. He’d tested her reflexes and found out that she was finally on the mend. They were all happy about that, and she was happy the most. She’d be walking before too much longer and that was something that they could all get behind.

Even though she’d seen the house with the chat, he showed her the pictures that he had taken. Mostly, it was the kitchen, and she agreed with him that it needed to be the most worked on. About the time his parents had left, saying that they’d go with him to the auction on Saturday, they’d heard back from the family that owned the house, and they made a counteroffer.

“I’d say that you should turn him down. Even though what he’s asking isn’t too much off of what you offered, I’d still wait on your price. It’s a good offer, and with the work that you need to pay for, I think he’s going to be lucky to get as much as you’re offering. However, if he looks as if he’s going to walk away, I’ll counter with something more reasonable for you.” He told her that he liked that idea after talking it over with Lydia. “Also, he’s not going to pay for insurance on the house. The kind that if there is something major that needs to be done that wasn’t disclosed, it’ll pay for it. I’d demand that if I were you. It’s a lovely home, and I heard your wife decorating for Christmas, but it’s not going to be worth it if you have to put in an entire septic system three days after you close on the house.”

He loved Bonnie. And he was going to suggest to everyone that he knew to use her as she was honest and upfront with him about the things going on in the house. She also told him about the other couple canceling on her again, even after giving them the new address of the house.

“I think they just like the idea of buying a house instead of actually buying one. I run into people like that all the time. They like to play at it and not really have the funds nor the wherewithal to get a house no matter what kind of price they get for it.” She laughed. “My in-laws are like that. Wanting a new home simply because they’re sick of the one they’ve lived in for the last thirty or so years but don’t have the money to move or to be moved. I believe that happens to a lot of older people, too. They realize that they have a house that is much too large for the two of them, and the kids don’t want it.”

It was late, too late, he thought, for them to hear from the couple that owned the house, so he made his way home after telling Lydia good night. She was doing so much better and he was glad to see that the doctors were making her take it easy with her moving her body. He would claim her soon, just to make sure that all her other wounds were healed. Dad he was glad was able to tell them about the senator and his woes about what was going on with him and the accident.

“He’s been arrested and without bond. The amount of coke and things that he had in his truck made them think that he wasn’t going to be an easy person to hold in town. So they put him in jail, took his passport from him and his wife, and seized his bank accounts. The man is in for a great deal of money because of the deaths that he caused—two more people have died as a result of the accident, and that’s not setting well with anyone.” Lydia asked about her situation. “He caused the accident. It doesn’t matter if you healed or not. He was the cause of a great deal of anguish and suffering on your part. Not to mention all the damage that he did to that intersection. There were a great many people hurt solely because of him running a red light.”

After Dad and his mom left, Lydia looked pensive. Like she was afraid of the man getting away with basically murder. She asked him what he’d do if it came to her pressing charges or not.

“You did the movement that he ran you into the oncoming traffic, and he caused the accident. You can sue him, too, as well, for what my dad was saying about it but I’d think that there is no way he’s going to be getting off the hook anytime soon. If ever. The man is a horrific person, and the sooner he has to pay, the better off the roads, and people driving on them will be safer. Dad seems to think that he’d done something like this before. Maybe not killed anyway, but he’d bet that he’d been responsible for a lot of people injured. He was having his name put out there in other states, too. That might not bring anything, but it might, too. You never know about people.” Lydia said that she hated that he had a family that was going to be dragged through all of this. “I bet, if I were them that they’re glad that it’s out in the open. Like I said, he’s more than likely done this before.”

On his way home, he thought about the house and the accident. He hated that someone had to be killed in order for him to find his mate and a house where he could live with her in, but things were working out better for them. He only hoped that once this was all cleared up and everything put to rest, the two of them could start to live their lives better all the way around. He was just happy to have found her when he did. Booth had been having a terrible few days before meeting her, and he didn’t like those feelings.

Suffering from depression, like most people did, he thought, he didn’t much care to be alone with his own thoughts. They were getting him into deeper darkness and he wanted to be out of it as soon as he could. Even if she could only be there to hold his hand for a little while, he thought that it would do him a world of good. Sometimes, that was all it would take for him. To talk to someone or just hang around with them without talking. It brought him out faster than any other thing when it was one of his family that would help him out.

The day that he’d met her had been one of those days. A day when he couldn’t seem to get out of his funk in any way. It was like that at times when he just couldn’t shake the bad thoughts, but now—he hoped he’d be able to find her and simply hold her hand, and that would help him a great deal. That’s what he wanted someone to hold his hand when he needed it most.

There was a message on his house phone when he got home. The couple, like they’d been told, had turned down their offer. Nor were they going to offer insurance on the place. He and Lydia had talked about it, and while he could afford it to have the house repaired if something major came along, they were going to demand at least that much.

Not bothering to call her back, knowing that she had things under control, he went up to his bedroom and took a long shower. After getting in bed, he turned his phone to silent so that he’d not be awakened anytime before nine. He’d been not sleeping well, thanks to the paperwork he’d been doing, and he wanted to be able to be rested when he went to the hospital again tomorrow. Then, the next day, they were going to go to the auction, and he was looking forward to that as much as he was about Lydia coming home. They had a lot to catch up on and a good deal more to talk about, and he couldn’t have been happier than he was right at this moment.