Hope(less) (Judgement of the Six #1)

I drew my brief gaze from her as she stood to watch Sam do a Y turn to back into the driveway. Using the side mirror of the truck, I studied the house.

A cracked and uneven sidewalk led to the front steps. Faded yellow aluminum siding and brown trim gave the small house a slightly run down look. Rachel had mentioned room dimensions to me to prepare me. After living at Sam’s place, it did seem small from the outside. Only two windows adorned on the front of the house, a large picture window, which probably meant a living room and, on the side of the house close to the driveway, a much smaller window. With the shade half drawn, I assumed it belonged to a bedroom. How many houses had just two windows on their front? At least, the windows and roof looked new.

As Sam backed into the driveway, I smiled and waved to Rachel. I had the window rolled down enjoying the warm day.

“Hi! Gabby, right?” Rachel said walking toward the truck as Sam put it in park. She smiled excitedly.

“Yes,” I answered her question as I stepped out of the truck. She caught me off guard by pulling me into an embrace. I fought the urge to pull back.

With my arms pinned to my sides, I added, “I hope you’re Rachel.” This time I did pull back, and she let me escape from her exuberant hug.

“I’m so glad to see you look so normal,” she said looking even happier than she had a moment ago. “I was worried I’d end up with someone weird when I put that add in the paper.” Ah, that explained the happiness. Too bad, she had no idea how “weird” I was.

Sam came from around from his side of the truck. “Rachel, this is my grandpa, Sam,” I introduced.

“Hi, Sam!” He quickly extended his hand for a friendly handshake and I hid my smile. He’d noticed her boisterous hug.

Rachel clasped his hand and offered, “Would you like to come in and see the place before we carry everything in?” She darted a puzzled glance at the back of the truck.

I smiled and assured her, “We’ll be able to carry it in and take a tour at the same time. I don’t have much.”

We grabbed my bags and walked around to the front of the house to go through the front door. The front door opened to a small entry, with the vacant bedroom immediately to the right, a small hall closet straight ahead, and the living room to the left.

We all stepped into my room to set down my things. I’d been correct about the window being a bedroom window.

As Rachel had promised, it came furnished with a full-sized bed. Positioned in the middle of the room, I had enough space around it to walk. Accustomed to a twin, it seemed overly large. Thankfully, I had the correct bedding for it. A gift from Sam. The closet was a small rectangle, but more than enough space for what I owned. The only other piece of furniture in the room, a small battered wood dresser, leaned against the interior wall. Nothing decorated the walls, which Rachel said she’d done on purpose, so I can add my own flare to the room.

Rachel gave us the grand tour of the five-room house. The living room, long, but not very deep, occupied the rest of the front of the house. Rachel had it tastefully decorated. Two sets of curtains hung in the picture window. The soft cream-colored set faced the road, while the inside set matched the color of the worn brown leather couch centered in front of the window. Square wooden end tables holding cream-colored lamps with matching shades crowded each end of the couch.

A chair, set at a sharp angle against the interior wall in order to view the TV, used the remaining space in the living room. The TV wall she’d painted a medium brown while the standard off-white covered the rest of the walls, including my bedroom and the entry. A large dark-brown rug, a shade close to the color of the couch and the curtains, covered all but a small swath of the living room’s beige carpet. Overall, the room looked comfortable.

Through the living room’s arched doorway, on the same wall as the TV, a small hallway connected the living room, her bedroom, a tiny linen closet, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the door to the basement.

Rachel turned left and briefly showed her room, the larger of the two bedrooms, before turning around. She opened the door between the living room arch and the bathroom to flick on the basement light, explaining we had plenty of room for storage and our own washer and drier.

Doing a quick wave at the bathroom, opposite her room, she commented, “It’s small, but it could be worse.”