Every House Has a Secret - 36

 

 

"Damn it, we forgot all about the bathroom," Rand grumbled.

 

"It's not like it's going anywhere," Brady replied, patting his shoulder. "We have time, now that we've solved the mystery of the gun and the photos. We'll stop by the home improvement store to choose a new toilet then Nick can install it. Once he has, we'll paint and be done with it."

 

In theory, that sounded fine. In point of fact, when they saw all the options for bathroom fixtures, Brady and Rand spent an hour choosing a new sink, a medicine cabinet, and towel racks. The only thing they ended up keeping was the claw foot tub, which they asked Nick to convert into a shower.

 

"Come on, you can do it yourselves," he said. "There's a ton of how-to videos on You Tube."

 

"Twenty dollars says you'll do a better job of it, and we won't end up with a flooded bathroom," Brady replied.

 

"Make it fifty and I'll do it. But if you tell anyone I did it that cheap, I'll send you a bill for the difference."

 

Brady laughed, and agreed. Two days later, Nick had everything installed, including new tile on the floor—for a lot more than fifty dollars all told, but Brady had run out of services to trade him for his work.

 

Then Brady and Rand painted the bathroom and it was ready to use.

 

"A thing of beauty," Rand proclaimed.

 

"The whole house is."

 

"I think Emila would be proud of us," Rand said softly.

 

"I agree. We've put our heart and souls into making the house a home, our home, and it shows."

 

"It does. Now all we have to do is move in."

 

"That might be a good idea," Brady agreed.

 

The doorbell chimed seconds after he said that. Giving each other puzzled looks, they hurried down to answer.