The Old House on Drury Lane

I had to agree. "It really is a beautiful old house. And I think it would look really spooky decked out for the trick or treaters."

I slipped my arm around Andi just as the real estate agent opened the door and gushed, "Oh, I'm so glad you could make it. And I've got a feeling you're going to fall in love, once you've had a chance to look around."

Chuckling, I gave Andi a little squeeze. "We're already in love. And we're just deciding if we want a spring or summer wedding. Eh, honey?"

I was afraid she was going to laugh, till she sobered up and said, "That's right, sugar lips."

As the agent led the way inside, Andi had to stifle a giggle as I mouthed back, "Sugar lips? Seriously?"

We were all standing in the foyer, and I noticed the agent was kind of giving us strange looks, probably thinking we were one of those couples that got off on calling each other nothing but pet names.

"Well, my little moonbeam, what do think of the house?" I asked her, just to tease her as we both looked around.

Andi looked up at the grand Scarlett O'Hara staircase, and her mouth dropped open. "This is so much nicer than I even imagined," she said in a hushed voice. "And it's just so beautifully maintained, it's hard to believe that's it probably a hundred years old."

"A hundred and twenty, actually," the agent informed us. "Everything has been lovingly restored, back to what it used to be. Except for the kitchen, and open concept living and dining area, just through here," she said, leading us through a tall doorway. "As you can see, this area is a little more contemporary."

Andi took one look around, and I actually got a little rush watching her reaction, she just looked so overwhelmed, I wondered if she was going to break into tears. She slipped her arm through mine and gave me a squeeze. "Oh, Luca, I absolutely love this place. All of it: that gorgeous kitchen, the big beautiful fireplace, with those pretty decorative tiles, and the dark wood floors. I can already imagine how incredible it would feel to be able to call this home."

"Well, I've some good news then," Lacy said, with a little smile. "The seller has offered to take ten thousand off the price, if you agree to take it as is, without a home inspection. Providing of course, that we can close the deal as soon as possible."

I looked at Andi and she looked at me. "What if we did this, and actually bought it?" I asked her.

I could almost see the wheels going around in her head as she bit into her lip and finally nodded and said, "Let's do this."

"Really?" I asked her, just to be sure.

"I love this house. And I don't think I'll ever see another one like it."

"Well, before you sign on the dotted line, I think we'd better see the rest of it first, don't you?" Lacy said with a coy little smile, looking pretty pleased about having just made a sale.

She walked us down the hallway, pushed open a set of double doors and with a wave of her arm, said, "And this is the Master bedroom, with a brand new ensuite."

Andi turned her head and looked at me. "What a beautiful big bedroom. This place just keeps getting better and better."

The white tiled bathroom was really nicely finished, too. I decided if we really were going to do this, and buy the house together, that Andi could have the Master Suite. She just looked so happy as she looked around, smiling from ear to ear that I knew the room had to be hers.

Back in the hallway, Lacy opened a door and we took a set of stairs down to the basement to check out the furnace, and what I could see of the plumbing and wiring. I was pleased to see that everything looked to be up to code.

Back on the main floor, we took a wander through the other rooms. The only thing I didn't like was all the wall-to-wall carpet in the bedrooms and hallways. But I was relieved to see that there was hardwood underneath when I opened a closet door, and pulled back a corner to take a peek. At least I knew it could be refinished, once I'd torn out the old beige carpeting.

When we got to the upper floor, we were both pleasantly surprised to see that in addition to two more bedrooms and a bathroom, there was a library and office, both with built-in book shelves and even an old roll-top desk.

Though nothing on the upper floor had been updated, at least the ceilings looked good, and thankfully, there wasn't any evidence of water damage.

Like Andi, I got into it too, already imagining what I could do with a house like this.

Normally, I just fix them up, sell them, and move onto the next project. But something about this old gem had me thinking it might be nice to stay, even just for a while. Especially if Andi and I were actually going to buy the place and try living here together. Just as co-habitants, of course.

Afraid that things were moving a little too fast for her, I said to Lacy, "Can you give us a minute?"

She nodded. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

Once she was gone, I took hold of Andi's hands and looked into her big baby blues. "Are you really sure you want to do this?"

She stared back at me for the longest time, and I thought she was about to say no, when she surprised me and said, "I know it's kind of crazy. But I would love to try living here. I mean we'd have our own space, and only be sharing the common rooms, so I think it could work."

"Really?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, really."

I was so relieved, I pulled her into my arms and hugged her, and she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me right back.

I'd never felt this emotional over buying a house before, but then again, I'd never bought anything with anyone else, especially someone as sweet as she was.

When we walked back into the kitchen, Lacy had all the paperwork spread out on the counter. We went over everything I could think of. I asked about the wiring and plumbing, and the age of the furnace, and was glad to hear, just I'd thought, that they'd all been updated.

Which meant, we'd mostly be taking care of cosmetic things like re-doing the floors and painting the walls, which I knew I could handle on my own.

Though I'd still get my cousin Vince, who was a home inspector, to come over and give the place a look-over outside before we agreed to buy it.

Lacy pointed out the window. "Oh, and I should mention, just beyond that green belt behind your yard, there's a beach. It's actually a beautiful stretch of lakefront, that everyone around here seems to enjoy. And it's nice for walking, even this time of year."

Andi looked at me, and mouthed, "Can you believe this?"

Since I didn't know about the added bonus of a beach, I just shook my head, because I was as surprised as she was.

After we'd said goodbye and thanked the agent for her time, I laughed at Andi, practically bouncing in her seat, she was so giddy once we got back in the truck. As I was backing out of the driveway, she took one last look at the old place. "Part of me can hardly believe we're actually going to do this, but it's just so perfect, I don't know how we could say no."

Delighted to see her so happy, I had to agree. "I know what you mean. I was pretty blown away when I stepped inside. The craftsmanship in that old house is like nothing I've ever seen." I patted her knee, and asked, "How about we grab some dinner, so we can talk everything over."

She nodded. "Sure. Sounds good. I was so nervous today about the seeing the place, I couldn't even eat."

"Well, we better go to my cousin Tony's, then."

We'd just stepped into his little trattoria, and Tony saw me, came over and gave me a hug and a slap on the back. And naturally, he asked, "Hey, how's the family, Luca?"

"Everybody's good. How about you?"

He had a big smile on his face, with his chest puffed out. "Just found out today that Rosa's expecting again. This'll be our sixth."

I leaned in, so only he could hear me. "Congratulations, I'm happy for you. But maybe you should get off your wife once in a while, and give the poor woman a break."

He just laughed. "What can I say? I'm crazy about my wife."

"Yeah, she's a sweet lady," I agreed.

"But you're in luck, tonight. Rosa's just pulled a tray of lasagna out of the oven."

I introduced Tony to Andi, and as he shook her hand, he gave me a sly little smile, probably because she wasn't the type of lady that he was used to seeing me with.

Not that we were actually a couple, but I wasn't about to tell him that we were thinking of buying a house together. Or he'd think I was the one who was crazy.

Once Tony set our plates down and said, "Enjoy," I laughed at the little moans coming out of Andi when she got her first taste of Rosa's lasagna.

"Oh, wow. This is got to be the best I've ever had. It just so tender and tasty and with the perfect blend of meat and cheese. Now I'm glad I'm hungry, because I think I'm going to finish this whole slab."

"Glad to see you're enjoying it. That's my nonna's recipe," I said as I passed her the bread. "She babysat all her grandkids while our parents worked, and she taught us all how to cook."

Her eyes went big as she pointed at her plate. "Are you saying that you know how to make this?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, of course. I can cook almost anything."

Her shoulders slumped, and she let out a sigh. "I wish I knew how to cook."

"You mean you don't cook at all?" She had to be kidding.

She winced a little, shaking her head. "Being the head nurse at a care home, my mother never really had the time to teach us. And since there were five of us girls, it was hard enough getting dinner on the table, without trying to teach us all how do anything in the kitchen. We all helped out with the housework, and mom made all the meals. And the kitchen was pretty much her domain."

"So, you don't how to make anything at all?"

She shrugged. "Well, I can toast bagels and waffles and stuff..."

I chuckled. "So, sounds like you know how to work a toaster, which is good, I guess."

"Hey, I can scramble eggs, and whip up a salad, too, I'm not totally useless. Though I usually just stick to sandwiches, 'cause they're easy to make. But once I've got a place of my own, I plan to make use of the kitchen, and might look into some cooking classes."

"Or, I could teach you," I suggested as I topped up her wine. My nonna always said that everyone should know how to cook, at least enough to survive. Besides, I figured it might be fun to work together side by side, even if we were just making pasta.

"Before we forget why we're here, we should probably discuss our finances," Andi suggested.

"Well, I can pay for my half in cash," I said with a shrug.

"Good, because I've got enough to pay my half in cash, too."

When I stared at her blinking, a little surprised that she'd have that much money in the bank, especially at her age, she explained. "I've been saving every cent I could since I first started working. Then last year, my grandfather passed away, and was kind enough to leave us all with a nice sized nest egg."

"Yeah, that's some egg," I said chuckling. But at least we wouldn't have to worry about a mortgage, since we both had the cash.

ANDI

It was a cool Saturday morning, and all my sisters showed up to help me pack. And no surprise, my mother got a little teary eyed when Luca showed up with a cube van to move me to the house.

I still could hardly believe it was happening, and that we'd actually bought a house together.

As I kissed them all goodbye, I started laughing because we were all in tears. "Hey, I'm not moving to the moon guys, and you can still see me whenever you want."

"Well, we might just take you up on that, and show up tomorrow to get a look at this place," Kate said.

"Um, maybe give us a few days to get settled in first, and then you can come for dinner. And I could uh... order us pizza or something."

Luca caught the tail end of what we were saying, and suggested, "Or, I could make us dinner."

My mother looked a little shocked. "So, you know how to cook? Our little Andi isn't exactly a wizard in the kitchen. With the crazy hours I work, I just never had the time to teach them much about cooking."

"Well, how about you and all the family come by the house on Monday. We can show you around the place, once we've got it all set up. Then we can have dinner together," Luca kindly suggested.

Kate smirked at me as she nodded at Luca. "Sure, we'd love to come and see you two in your new home."

Since we had gotten possession, Luca had been working on the house around the clock, and already had his things moved in. Luckily, I didn't have too much to move, just my bedroom furniture and my clothes and things. So, it didn't take long to get me settled in. Still, I was relieved to see that Luca had two guys from his crew waiting at the house to help us get the furniture inside, and take back the van.

When I saw where they were putting my bed, I looked at him, surprised. "I thought that you would have the big master bedroom, and I'd take one of the smaller rooms."

"No. I saw how much you liked this room, and I don't need that much space," he said, looking around, once my furniture was in place.

Then I noticed the floors, and felt so disappointed that he'd do something so major without even asking me what I thought.

A little annoyed, I turned and confronted him. "Hey, I didn't know you were pulling up the carpets."

"Yeah." He smiled, thinking I'd be pleased. "I thought I'd surprise you and refinish the floors, before you moved in."

"But I liked the carpets. And my feet'll be cold on the hardwood floors, especially in the winter."

"Sorry, I'm so used to just going ahead and getting everything done, I never even thought of asking you first. But you know carpets are nothing but dirt magnets. You should have seen what I vacuumed up, after I tore it all out. It looked like a beach in here, the floors were so sandy. And there were all kinds of stains, probably from pets, and things, that I don't even want to guess what they were. These floors will be a lot easier to keep clean, and at least we'll know that nothing nasty will be lurking underneath."

Ew. Now that he had me thinking about all the creepy crawly things that might have been living in the carpet, I was kind of glad now that he'd ripped them out.

He stroked my arm. "Sorry. I promise, next time I'll ask first, before I do anything else."

"It's okay. These floors actually look really good, and at least now they match the rest of the house."

He nodded as he glanced around the room. "The walls were in good shape, so I didn't touch those." He grinned at me. "Plus, I knew you liked the color."

"I do, I love the pale green. It's so soothing. I even bought a duvet cover to match."

"I guess you're all set, then. I should show you the living area, and see if you like the way we set it up."

We walked down the hallway into the open-plan living and dining area and my eyes popped when I saw the size of the table. "Holy smokes. That'll sure seat a lot of people."

"Since we both have big families, I figured with a table that size, we'd be able to entertain them all."

I gave him a smile, thinking that his mother was right, he was close to his family, the same as I was. And I kind of liked that about him.

I was so thrilled with the place; a little shiver went through me as I glanced around the room. We were just so lucky to have managed to find a house like this, I slipped my arm around him and gave him a little squeeze. "This looks perfect, Luca."

Wrapping his arm around my shoulder, he looked pretty pleased, too. Considering he'd probably been working non-stop from the moment he got the key, I guess he was relieved that I was happy with everything he'd done.

As we walked back down the hallway, he nodded at the bedroom across from mine. "I just got my room set up this morning."

I poked my head in, and turned back and looked at him, wide-eyed. "Wow, that's a huge bed. Guess you're planning on doing a lot of entertaining in here, too," I said with a smirk.

He just laughed. "No, I just like a big bed so I can move around. And I couldn't tell you how long it's been since I've been on a date."

"Well, that makes two of us."

He eyed me. "I wondered if you had a boyfriend, but I didn't want to ask."

"Nope. No boyfriend. I've got no one in my life right now."

He nodded, but didn't say anything.

Then he looked back at the kitchen. "Just before I picked you up, I got a call from my sister, and my nonna wants to see the house. So, they're coming by tomorrow. I was going to make a big pot of Sunday Gravy so there'll be enough for everyone for lunch."

"Really? You're only feeding your family gravy for lunch?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "It's not that kind of gravy." He motioned for me to lead the way. "Come on in the kitchen and I'll show you how to make it. It's basically my nonna's recipe, except I add a few more herbs, some red wine, mushrooms and a roasted pepper to give it a little more depth of flavor." Then he stopped dead, and looked me in the eye, which made me a little nervous, till he said, "But whatever you do, don't tell her I messed with her recipe, or I'll never hear the end of it."

Trying to look serious, I crossed my heart. "I promise." Though, I wasn't too sure what he was talking about, with his Sunday Gravy business, I was willing to find out.

I watched him put everything out on the counter; garlic, olive oil, a big platter with meatballs, sausage and a few different cuts of beef and pork. Then he got out four big cans of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken and beef bouillon cubes and measured out a cup of water.

After he pulled some fresh herbs out of the fridge, he explained as he cut them up, "I like to use a mixture of fresh and dried basil, oregano and parsley."

Impressed with his knife skills, I nodded as I watched him chopping, and helped him open the cans. I'd never seen so many ingredients go into one pot before. Although, it was a really big pot.

He washed a red pepper, put it on a piece of aluminum foil and put it in to broil in the toaster oven, as he explained what he was doing. "You have to watch, so it doesn't burn, though you still want it to char. So, you have to keep turning it. Once it gets a little blackened, it'll be cooked, and you wrap it up tight in the foil. Let it steam in there for a while, so the skin gets soft and you can peel it right off. Then you cut it in half, seed it, and slice into chunks. And you add it, once you've got the sauce going."

He set down the knife and asked, "Andi, do you know how to mince garlic?"

I didn't know any cooking terms, so I just shook my head. "No."

Then I jumped when he suddenly slammed his hand down and smashed five cloves of garlic on a big wooden cutting board with a huge knife. And he showed me how easy the skin came off after they'd been flattened.

As he started cutting them up into tiny little pieces, he said, "You see what I'm doing? This is mincing, when you cut something up really finely." He handed me the knife. "Now you try it."

The knife was so big, I was almost afraid to drop it, and my hands got a little shaky. Probably sensing I was nervous about wielding such a big sharp thing, Luca came up behind me, put his arms around me, covered my hand with his and helped me guide the knife.

"Make sure to keep your fingers out of the way of the blade, so you don't cut yourself," he warned me, as I finished mincing the last clove on my own.

"Hey!" I broke out in a smile. "I did it!" I was thrilled when I saw that I'd almost chopped it as finely as he had.

His arms came around me from behind, and he gave me a little hug and pressed a kiss to the back of my head. "You did great." Handing me a big wooden spoon, he gestured at the pot on the stove. "Now, we've got to heat the oil, and lightly brown the garlic, making sure to stir it around so it doesn't burn. Then we'll brown the meat a few pieces at a time. They'll only need about five minutes a side."