Dreams that May Come

The man in the red jacket

     Just as Paige turned on her computer the next night skype announced an incoming call. She clicked on the button to answer as she put her mic and earphones on. "Hello? This is Paige."
     The man's face appeared on the screen. "Hello, I'm Drew. I contacted you last night about your response to my ad."
     "Yes, I... Hey wait, I have seen you before." Paige exclaimed as she got a good look at the man staring back at her.
     "You're the one who outbid me for the house. I remember you." He grinned
     "Why did you want the house?" Paige asked him.
     "It was in my family for many years until a cousin sold it for a gambling debt."
     "Oh. I see. I am sorry that you didn't get it back. It is a really nice home and I have plans to have it fixed up to better condition. We are happy here."
     "We?" Drew asked her.
     "My daughter and I." She answered. "We have lived with my parents these last 5 years and buying this house has finally given us our own home."
     "Well, congratulations to you both. How long have you been writing?"
     "I have always loved writing. But I have been freelancing for the past 5 years in my spare time."
     "With raising a child on your own do you think you will have the time to put into the work I need to be done?"
     "I have recently come into some money and am able to quit my job to write full time." She responded.
     "Ok then, what I am looking for is to have product reviews done on baby products, office supplies, and pet supplies. I also am setting up a newsletter for the baby industry and the pet industry. I have a blog on office supplies and books for affiliate marketing."
     "So this will be ongoing work you are wanting to be done?" She asked.
     "Yes if we work well together it will be ongoing work. Are you acceptable"
     "Yes, I can agree with that. The work sounds interesting."
     They talked for another hour about some ideas he had for the blog posts and newsletters. She even gave some suggestions of her own.  They also talked about some of the products he wanted to be reviewed.
     When ending their call they made arrangements to have another short call each week to keep one another informed on progress and for ideas.
     That night as she headed off to bed she would have been surprised to know that Drew was thinking about her as she was thinking about him.
               *****
     Drew put his scheduled calls with Paige on his calendar. He felt confident that they would work well together.  He had read some of the work that she had forwarded to him. He had even liked what she had to say and some of her ideas during their conversation.
     He then thought about her living in his grandparents old home. He had gone past the house from the back last week and saw the garden she put in. It was nice to see someone taking care of it again.
     He vowed never to forgive Trevor for gambling it away to strangers like he had. Strangers who messed the place up.
     The man who won it from Trevor, ended up getting killed last year. He apparently didn't have any family and the taxes haven't been paid in three years. This is how the house ended up on the auction block.
     Paige seemed to have some plans for fixing the place up and hoped she would return the home to its former glory.
     He went through the house on the day of the auction and was sad to see the shape it had been reduced to.
    His grandparents used to take such good care of that house. That is until they passed away fifteen years ago.
     Trevor took over the house then and the house started to fall into disrepair. It had even gotten worse after he lost it in a poker game five years ago.
     He had been so angry with Trevor when he found out what he had done. They had a huge fight over it and hadn't talked to one another since.
     He will see him around town occasionally, but they don't talk, Drew thought with a sigh. It saddens him that the two of them had been reduced to this. But he would be damned if he would tolerate Trevor's attitude that it had only been a house. Trevor didn't care about the house as much as Drew had.
     In fact, Drew thought, their grandparents would have a fit if they knew how the house has been treated over the past several years.
     His granddad had built the house for him and his bride after they were first married over seventy years ago.
     His father and uncle were raised in that house. He and Trevor had spent many nights there. They used to play in the backyard on hot summer days. They built snow forts and waged snowball wars in the winter.
     Those were carefree days, he thought. Days he longed to relive again. But it wasn't possible. Those days were long gone. His grandparents were long gone.
     Drew was starting to regret not going higher on his bid for the house. If he had then the house would have been back in the family again. But as his grandmother used to say, "theres no use crying over spilled milk. You can't change the past. What's done is done."
     Shutting down his computer he silently wished Paige all the luck with the house. She would need it he thought, and headed to bed.