“Let’s get you inside.”
William handed her a bottle of fresh coconut water as they sat in the living room.
He brought over the draft he had been working on and laid it over the table as they both pondered over it.
William had already marked most of the things she had highlighted, so they began to check everything again and mark what was missed.
“I think I’m on a lucky streak when it comes to this house.”
“Huh?” “What do you mean?”
“First I got this at an insanely cheap price. Secondly, I got an extremely talented designer for free.”
“Thank you for the complaint. But I don’t seem to have helped you design anything yet.”
“I think I have seen enough to make an accurate judgment.”
“Well continuing your lucky streak, how about I introduce you to someone quite talented in doing carpentry work. The quality of the wood used for all these furniture is not something you will be able to buy these days, even if you could afford it.”
“That would be incredible.”
“Do you want to fix it all at the same time?”
“Nope, can’t afford to at the moment. Will fix it in phases.”
“Yeah. It’ll probably cost you at least half of what you spent buying this to make all these fixes.”
“I know. Besides, I probably won’t be staying here in the next few years, so I still have lots of time.”
“What’s the plan then?”
“I was thinking of making the fixes which have a long-term impact – like security, plumbing, soil testing, water canal, doors and windows, and maybe all the kitchen and bathrooms.”
“Yeah, that’s a good plan. You can fix one floor entirely, so if you have to move here on short notice, it won’t be a hassle. Though I think you should fix all the plumbing – but only fix the bathrooms and kitchen of one of the floors. Rest you can do it when you move. It’ll just get dirty and probably rust over the years.”
“That’s reasonable. Just the ground floor then.”
“Good idea.”
“If you have someone with good carpentry skills, then let’s fix all the furniture as well. I will leave all the design to you.”
“No problem. I’ll call him to Tessa’s tomorrow and you guys can talk it out. But he will probably have to see the furniture himself – quality check and all that. Then we can discuss the designs for each piece based on what can be altered and what can’t be.”
“Sounds good.”
“I think you should hire a gardener who can look after all the trees in the back garden. I recognized some of the fruits and some medicinal plants. The old man clearly spent a lot of effort on it. It would be a waste if they dried up.”
“I had actually met a young couple who were really knowledgeable a while back, but that was over a decade ago. I was hoping to look for them and see if they were interested in looking after this.
I will spend some time on it.”
“How are you going to find them after so long?”
“They showed me where they lived, so I’ll start from there.”
“That sounds like a lot of work.”
“Aunt Aria once told me it’s better to spend a lot of time and effort to find someone reliable than be hasty in the beginning and repent later.”