Dad looked over at it. “You’d be surprised how they get in. One thing is for sure, you’re going to need a pest company in once we’ve cleaned it out. I don’t want to think about how many rats and mice are making this place home.”
A chill went through me, and I shuddered as horror bubbled over my skin. “Is it even possible to get rid of them?”
“Yes,” he replied, but he didn’t sound entirely certain. “It’ll likely be something you’ll have to keep up—extermination practices, that is, and you might have to get used to setting traps and disposing of dead rats.”
“How about I hire you instead?” I asked, stepping forwards and opening the kitchen door. “The kitchen doesn’t look—never mind.”
Dad peered over my shoulder. “That’ll be the smell, then.”
I’d never seen the rotting corpse of a badger before, and I was absolutely certain I never wanted to see one again in my life.
Bile burned my throat on its way up, and I gagged, turning away from the kitchen. I had to get outside before I threw up, but the patio doors were locked, so I turned and ran through the hallway, cutting past the downstairs toilet and linen closet to the front porch.
I made it just in time, grabbing the veranda fence. It probably wasn’t the best thing to give me stability, but it seemed to be holding up just fine under my weight as I leant over the side and hurled onto the grass.
“Well, that gives us something to do first on our list,” Dad said from the doorway. “Find out how to dispose of a dead badger. I think that might be a job for the local council.”
“It’s definitely not mine,” I muttered.
“Are you feeling better?”
“I’d feel better without seeing that badger again.”
“I closed the door. Do you want me to keep going, or are you feeling up to coming back in?”
“I’ll come back in,” I said, pushing off the fence.
I followed him inside and took the shortcut through the main hallway. We swung a right at the kitchen, and instead of going back into it, we poked our head into the laundry room. It was much the same as everywhere else, but completely empty. The pipes for the machines hung lamely on the old tiles, and it was probably in the best shape of everything so far.
To the right of us was a door that led to the private living quarters. It was the only interior door that was locked, and I sighed and turned for the stairs.
“I guess we have to go through that box of keys, huh?” I asked, leading Dad upstairs.
“No, I think your key for the front door will work, but only on the exterior door ’round the side. Let’s finish looking up here, then we’ll pop in there afterwards.”
“I can’t believe it’s so bad,” I muttered. “How did we let this happen?”
“Life,” Dad replied. “There’s nothing we can do to change what we’ve done in the past, so let’s just see how we fix it in the future.”
Like there were any other options.
Upstairs was much the same as downstairs. The windows were a mix of cracks and boards, and the ones that were saveable were covered in thick layers of grime. Wildlife poop was scattered all across the floors, but the boards themselves seemed relatively stable. There wasn’t much creaking, surprisingly, and no bending or popping. We checked all five bedrooms and ensuites, one after the other, and they were all pretty much in the same condition.
“At least there’s water,” Dad said, trying the taps in the main bedroom’s bathroom. “It’s a bit funky looking, but it’s water.”
Grandpa had always rented the main bedroom out as a bridal suite of sorts, given that it was attached to the octagonal room above the sunroom. From the outside it looked like a tower, and it’d always been my favourite thing as a child.
There was a balcony on top of this room, and there was a smaller balcony and staircase off to the side that granted access to it upstairs. Grandpa had often let me go up there when the room was empty or being cleaned because it gave the most incredible views across Fox Point’s dunes and beach, and that was the very spot where Noah had first kissed me.
Also, as a blonde who’d once had hair long enough to sit on, I’d spent a lot of my time up there practicing ‘letting down my hair’ in the hopes a dashing prince would save me.
Twenty years later with real life under my belt, I’d come to accept that no man was going to ride in to save me, so I’d have to do it myself.
Honestly, I’d rather have the guard dragon anyway.
“You used to love that balcony,” Dad said, smiling at the door. “Do you think your key works?”
I walked over to the door and tested it. No dice. “Sadly not. It’s going to be like putting a jigsaw together trying to figure out what keys go with what room.”
“That’s your grandfather for you. He always knew where everything went and assumed everyone else did, too.” Dad laughed and guided me out and back to the stairs. “Mum might have an idea. Let’s see if we can get into the private annexe.”
“Do you think it’s going to be bad fixing it up?” I carefully made my way down the stairs into the sunroom.
I could imagine waking up and walking down here on a morning. I knew there was supposed to be a gorgeous garden on this side of the bed and breakfast, one that my grandmother had nurtured for years, and once the windows were clean, the way the sun would pour in would be stunning.
“I still think it’s wise to get a surveyor in,” Dad replied. “There are things they’ll see that we haven’t, and it will probably save us from some nasty surprises during any building work.”
“At least there’s water.” Even if it was more like tea.
“And the electricity will probably work. We’ll have to get an account opened in your name for everything.”
I sighed. “Will we have any issues?”
“We shouldn’t. Mr. Porter can help us handle it all. It’s his job as we go through probate,” Dad explained. “Mum’s the owner anyway.”
“Can I even get started here until that’s completed?”
“We’ve already cleared it all with him. Don’t worry. Think about it like you’re the tenant until we’ve transferred the title. This is why I told your grandpa to talk to you and put you on the deed before he died.” He closed the door behind me with a sigh. “For what it’s worth, sweetheart, I suspect it just needs a good clean inside.”
Well, I was going to take his word for it. I didn’t know a thing about the legalities of all this. Thankfully, it’d never been an issue I’d had to deal with, and I was going to trust that my parents knew what they were doing.
We walked around to the side of the house and the small veranda there. Its condition matched the one at the front of the building, and the doors looked exactly the same—white but dirty, and the windows had a gorgeous stained-glass effect on them that was caked with dirt.
The key worked, unsurprisingly, and I pushed it open with a bit of a wince.
“That’s better,” Dad said. “I thought your grandpa said he’d had it cleared before he’d moved in with us.”
I opened my eyes and looked at the space. It wasn’t huge by any means, but it was empty. The only things in here were the fixtures and fittings that one couldn’t take with them when they moved—so the small kitchen was still here, albeit dirty as hell. The living area was completely empty bar the huge stone fireplace that took up almost an entire wall, and a quick nosy at the back of the living area showed the bedroom and bathroom matched the rest of the place.