Chapter 9: The House

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July took a deep breath and walked through the door, walking straight into a small foyer. In the center was a set of stairs that led to the second floor and had hallways on each side. To the right was the living room and to the left was the dining room. The décor was nice, but not overly fancy. The house was mostly decorated in an ocean theme with blues, greens and tans; paintings on the wall had various depictions of the beach.

"As you can see, the living room is to the right and the dining room is to the left. The hallway on the left of the stairs goes to the kitchen, while the one on the right goes to a bathroom, a laundry room, and a small storage room. The garage can be accessed by a door next to the storage room," Arnold explained.

"This is all very nice," July said feeling a little overwhelmed.

"Don't worry in time you'll get use to it," Charlotte assured. "Upstairs is your parents' room, their study, your room and two guest rooms. Each room has its own attached bathroom except the guest rooms, which have a bathroom situated between the two rooms."

July looked around and was just absorbing all the information and studying all the details as much as she could. The silence was finally broken when a clock from the living room chimed noon.

"Oh dear, I hadn't realized it was so late, and now rude of me not to think ahead. Are you hungry dear?" Charlotte asked, being the finicky mother hen July had thought her to be.

"Yeah, a little," July answered when in actuality she wasn't sure if she could eat, her stomach was still feeling a little funny.

"Arnold, why don't you give her a full tour while I fix lunch?"

"Sounds like a good plan," Arnold replied in kind.

Charlotte nodded and walked towards the left hallway, disappearing from view.

"Is there an attic or basement?" July asked, her brows scrunched in thought. Something was whispering in her mind that there was.

"Yes, there are both," Arnold confirmed. "The basement can be accessed from a door on the other side of the stairs." At July's puzzled frown, he let out a hearty laugh. "Why don't I show you everything?"

July smiled in agreement and Arnold promptly took her arm and showed her the house, pointing out small details and making little comments about things. He'd taken her around the first floor and the guestrooms before they ventured into the attic; it was a filled with boxes that July was sure held many answers to questions that Arnold couldn't answer. Arnold hesitated outside her parent's and her room a moment, before giving the hand on his arm a pat and telling her that he'd leave them for her to do later, which she was grateful for.

Making their way back downstairs, they entered the kitchen. It was rather large and spacious, everything in strategic places. It was defiantly a kitchen for someone who loved to cook. Charlotte was still bustling around the kitchen making lunch and gave her a smile.

"As you can tell from the large kitchen your mother loved to cook," Arnold explained without being asked. "I think there is a whole book of her original recipes in the cupboard next to the pantry. There is food already in the pantry, fridge and freezer. Like I said, all utilities are on, water runs, electricity is on, garbage needs to go out on Wednesday," he rattled off, July nodding her head as she took mental notes.

"If I haven't said it yet, I should have. Thank you. I don't know where to have started if you guys hadn't taken care of some of this," July spoke up, never being one to be ungrateful of what she had.

"No worries dear," Charlotte said, coming over to rest a hand on her shoulder. "We know this was going to be tough on you and we wanted to help you any way we could."

"Well, thanks."

Arnold gave Charlotte a squeeze around the middle and shooed her off back to the stove, Charlotte smacking him with the oven mitt she had. Arnold simply chuckled and turned back to July. "Come on, I want to show you the backyard."

July followed Arnold out the French double doors that led to the wrap around porch. In the center was a set of stair that led down to the lawn. The yard wasn't big; it had a small cement area where a barbeque pit sat and a few feet away was a picnic table. A couple of chairs were sitting on the back porch and a table sat along the side, where a few new candles sat in frosty candleholders. It was a place to sit and relax at the end of the day.

"It's all very nice," July commented, not really knowing what to say. Her brain had pretty much shut down. It was a lot to process and she needed some time.

"Yes it is. Your parents loved to sit out here with drinks and just watch you play in the yard," Arnold said, looking into the distance as if he was searching for something.

"I wonder how the neighbors are?"

"Most have lived here for a while. They're all nice people from what I remember. It's been a while since we have been here."

"Will I ever get to meet your family?" July asked eagerly. Inside she was dying to meet Amy, his daughter, her best friend, or at least she had been her best friend.

I wonder if she will still like me? she wondered, fear on the edge of her mind.

"Yes, Amy is still around. She has a year left of school. That brings me to my next question. What about you? Should we be looking to enroll you in school?" Arnold asked.

"I graduated early," July responded, offering the simple explanation at his look of curiosity. "I had did some internship stuff every summer. There were internships for just about everything, so I went to any that I could go to. My favorites were mechanical and art. It gave me credits since it was a school thing. When I had all my requirements and then some they gave me the option of graduating early. So I graduated early and then worked for dad, I mean Sam."

"So you're a mechanic and an art student?" Arnold asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"Yeah, those were my favorites. Sam taught me how to work on cars and the internships helped. One internship I took was on car painting. They taught you what to do, what to buy, how to do it, everything. Sam thought it was the greatest because I came home that summer and knew how to paint cars, something he wasn't too good at. He would normally refer them to someone else since he didn't do paint jobs but when I found out how to he spent some money to add on to the shop for me to do the painting. I ordered all the paint, spray guns, everything. It was my own thing. We didn't get too many paint jobs but enough to have the booth. And when I didn't have any jobs and the shop was slow, it was my place to paint, or design. I had some really good sketches of paint jobs I would love to do," July finished explaining, getting lost in memories of countless hours of designing.

"I would love to see some of your work sometime," Arnold comment and July gave a sad smile at that.

"I don't have any with me, but if I decide to do some sometime, I'll show you."

The sound of a door opening caught their attention.

"Lunch is ready if you guys want to eat, or you know, I could eat it all by myself…" Charlotte said poking her head out and grinning.

"Oh no, we are coming. Right July?" Arnold turned back towards me with a smile on his face.

It hit July then that these people were like her aunt and uncle before. Arnold had known her father since they were in high school, and Charlotte had that motherly aura around her that just said 'mom'. These people that she didn't even know were taking care of her, even before she got there. They had fixed the house, bought her everything she would need, and now here they were feeding her. It had been a few days since she had a home cook meal and the smell of chicken wafting from the kitchen was inviting.

July looked at the two people who were looking at her with nothing but care and she couldn't reciprocate that care; she could only show friendliness, she didn't know these people at all. She decided then and there that she was lonelier than she thought.

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tbc…

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