Page 415 of The Doctors Will See You Now

Her laugh echoed through the stately entrance of the old house, a checkered black-and-white tile floor giving way to one of the most impressive wooden staircases I’d ever seen.

I whistled as I set her back on her feet, her body still thrashing. “Wow, Char. This place is really fucking impressive.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered, her laugh cutting off as she spun in a circle to take in the walls around her. “This is amazing.” She paused on some of the cracking paint at the top of the far wall. “A little touch-up work, sure, but so far, I’m impressed with my skills.”

I smirked. “Skills. More like luck.”

“Skills!” she argued.

I shook my head. “It was an auction for a house you’d never seen the inside of. Not to mention, your first bid was technically on the pizza. You got lucky.”

“Party pooper,” she accused, pointing at me with a scolding finger and giving a shake of her hips. I opened my mouth to tease her back when motion at the end of the hall snagged my attention.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. There were people here.

“What?” Charlotte whisper-yelled, turning around in paranoia after seeing the look on my face.

There were people in the house she just bought, and under any other circumstance, I would have been terrified.

But the people walking toward us, with confusion on their severely wrinkled faces and hands on their walkers, were anything but frightening. Jesus Christ, they looked like Betty White and Jerry Stiller.

“Can I help you?” the Betty White lookalike asked.

Charlotte’s hair whipped as she turned to look at me, pleading for help.

I didn’t know what the fuck to do, but I figured starting in a hostile place wasn’t the best bet. So I introduced myself instead. “Hi, Nick Raines.”

“Betty” looked back at “Jerry,” who stepped forward and held out a hand to me. “Harry Williams, and this is my wife, Doreen.”

I took his hand and shook it before reaching for Doreen’s. “Nice to meet you.”

Charlotte looked back and forth between us before discretely jerking her head at them while her eyes stayed locked with mine. I wasn’t a mind reader, but her thoughts might as well have been written on her forehead. Do something.

“So, uh,” I started. “You folks live here?”

Doreen’s eyes lit as she ran a shaking, age-spotted hand along the ornate banister. “For fifty-seven years.”

I glanced to Charlotte to see her eyes close painfully.

I’d heard of this happening. Buying a house at auction, as-is, only to get hit with the liability of existing liens and problems…even existing tenants you were then responsible for evicting. But I’d never imagined the tenants who needed to leave were something other than a hooded vagabond.

Jesus Christ, these people looked how I remembered my grandparents.

I shrugged at Charlotte. Fuck if I was going to be the first one to say something.

Her face turned a shade of nearly violet, and her voice dropped to a ventriloquist-like whisper. “Man the fuck up.”

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing as I smirked at Charlotte, and then I stepped forward to address Doreen and Harry Williams. “Sorry to bother you folks.” I scoured my mind for what I could say that wouldn’t seem weird as fuck. I mean, technically speaking, we’d just walked into the house unannounced. I was surprised these two hadn’t already called 9-1-1. “Your house is beautiful,” I added, and Doreen glowed at my words.

“I’m so glad you think so. Would you like to see the rest of it?”

“Now, Doreen,” Harry muttered. “I’m sure a couple of youngsters like these two have better things to do than tour this old house.”

Considering we’d just let ourselves in, through the fucking front door and with a key, I think it was safe to say we didn’t have anything better to do.

I glanced back to Charlotte to find her cheeks flushed and ruddy. I pulled my lips into my mouth. God, she was cute.

“Oh no, Harry,” I responded with a soft smile. “We’d love to see the house.”