Later that day, Karin drove up to 1020 Lakeshore Drive. It
had always been one of her favorite houses in all of Dunewood, and Mrs. Bennett
was one of her favorite landlords to work with. The Bennetts had spent over
sixty years together in this home and it usually made Karin happy just to drive
by the place. She had met Mrs. Bennett years earlier at a meeting of the
Dunewood Landlord’s Association, along with her husband. They only had a few
rentals, but the income had been enough to get them through their final years
together and pay for all of their children to go to college. Karin loved
listening to Mrs. Bennett tell stories of their life raising seven children in
the cozy three bedroom, one bath cottage on the Lake Michigan. It was their
dream home, and in some ways it was hers too.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” Karin said to Michelle, her
best friend since grade school.
“No problem,” Michelle shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve always
wanted to see inside one of the lakefront houses, anyway.”
“Well, I don’t think we’re going to find anything too
impressive here,” Karin said. “I’ve heard it’s in pretty rough shape. Rumor has it that Mrs. Bennett’s grandson has
been using it as a party house all summer.” Karin unlocked the front door.
She closed her eyes as the smell of stale beer permeated her
nostrils. She turned back toward Michelle who was coming up the walk behind
her, and put her hand over her mouth. “Give me just a minute… the smell…” She
shook her head and leaned over the front porch railing.
“Kar… it smells just like a frat house,” Michelle said,
trying to lighten the mood. Karin couldn’t help but smile a little.
“I just feel so bad for Mrs. Bennett.” She said. “Last year
she lost her husband and then her kids sent her to a nursing home and now this…”
Karin took a deep breath, filled her lungs with fresh lake air and then
ventured inside. The carpets were ruined, the walls were full of holes,
everything she touched was sticky.
“I’m going to have to go shopping for new shoes when we’re
done here,” Michelle said as she struggled to get her foot unstuck from a
puddle of something unidentifiable on the kitchen floor. Karin sighed.
“I’ve seen worse,” Karin said. “But, I don’t know how I’m
going to tell Mrs. Bennett. She’ll be devastated.”
“Maybe you won’t have to,” Michelle offered. “Aren’t you
working for her son?”
“Yeah, Troy, he’s the one who called me. I’ll have to send
him the info.” Karin pulled her camera out of her purse and started to take
photographs of the damage. “I guess I’ll just send him an e-mail and it will be
up to him how to handle it.”
Michelle stepped out the sliding glass doors off the dining
room onto the deck while Karin continued to document the condition of the
house.
“Okay, I think I’ve got everything I need,” Karin said
poking her head out the back door.
“This place is fabulous,” Michelle said with her back to her
friend. She stood with her hands on the railing and her body leaning out
towards the lake. Her blonde hair blew back from her face. Karin imagined herself
there, as she had many times before.
“I wish I had a place like this,” Michelle said, finally
turning around. Karin stepped out onto the deck and looked through the few pine
trees that dotted the back yard out toward the lake. She could see the huge
orange ball in the western sky as it made its way toward the horizon where it
would light up the sky over the lake in hues of reds and golds and purples,
like it did every evening.
“Let’s just stay out here and watch the sun set over the lake,”
Michelle suggested. “I could run to Wesco and grab some wine coolers…” Karin
shook her head no. “Oh, come on.” Michelle urged. “It’s already been a party
house for everyone else. What would one more night of partying hurt?”
“It’s not my house Shel. I can’t.”
“Ok. Fine. But, you are too depressed. Come shoe shopping
with me and then we’ll go out to Finnegan’s and act like we know how to do an
Irish jig.”
Karin shook her head again. “I’ve got work to do.” She
rattled the keys at Michelle. “Time to lock up,” she said.
“I know, I know,” Michelle said, “I don’t have to go home,
but I can’t stay here.”
“That’s right,” Karin said. She double checked to make sure
that she had all the photos she wanted, a thorough list of repairs that she
would suggest to Troy Bennett when she talked with him and then she locked the
front door.
“We have to go do something fun,” Michelle prodded. “I know
that your job is totally serious and important and all that, but it is sucking
the fun right out of your blood as we speak. Something has to be done, and it
can’t wait.”
Karin laughed. “It has been a rough day,” she admitted. “I
have to go back to the office and check my messages and I have to email these
photos to Troy Bennett.” Karin said.
“And, then we can go out?” Michelle suggested.
“Well, there is a kitchen I have to get painted over on
Birch Run,” Karin said.
“I’ll meet you there tomorrow and help you paint it,”
Michelle offered. “Free of charge.” Karin smiled. Her friend had never done any
physical labor in her life and Karin was pretty sure that Michelle had never
even held a paint brush, outside of one required art class in high school.
“No, you won’t,” Karin said. “But, I appreciate the gesture.
Let me get some office work done and then I’ll meet you later at Finnegan’s.”
Michelle agreed and wiped off her shoes on the grass before getting into her
car.
“I’m off to get new shoes. See you later,” she yelled out
the window as she drove away.
Karin stood next to her own car
and looked at the cottage for another minute before she finally pulled herself
away.
“Troy, I’m sorry, there’s really no good news to tell you,
except that the house is still standing.” Karin said when she had Troy Bennett
on the phone. She opened the mail as she read off some of the major repairs
that she had on her list. “I’m going to email you a detailed list of cosmetic
repairs that I saw in the walk through, along with some photos that I took. You’ll
need to get the utilities turned back on to test the appliances and fixtures.”
“What if I just wanted to sell it?” Troy said, and Karin
thought she heard his voice crack. “As is.” She was caught off guard.
“Well, in today’s market, you’re really better off renting
it.” Karin said, trying to be sympathetic. “I know it’s hard to imagine your
family home damaged in this way, but I don’t think there is anything out there
that can’t be fixed.” She paused and when he didn’t respond, she added, “Besides,
I don’t think that your mom would agree to sell the house.”
Karin heard Troy take a deep breath. “She’s dead.” Karin
dropped the mail she’d been sorting onto her desk and leaned forward in her
chair.
“She passed this morning,” he said. “I know you were friends.
I’ll send you the information for the funeral. It’s going to be a private
affair, just family and a few close friends. Some of the people my parents
rented to think that they somehow know my family, but they don’t and we don’t
want them there.” Karin nodded even though she knew he couldn’t see her. She
understood what he meant.
“We’ve already decided to sell everything and split the
profits,” he said. “Can we count on you?”
Karin took a deep breath and sighed. She couldn’t figure out
how he could set aside his emotions and handle business so soon after his
mother’s death, but she would have to do the same.
“That’s not my area of expertise,” she said. “I haven’t
worked in sales in over five years. I really have been focused on property
management, but I can recommend someone. I’ll send you her contact information
in the email tonight.”
“Alright,” Troy said. His voice no longer cracked. He just
sounded tired, Karin thought. “Good night, and thanks for your help.”
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