Open House | Natalian
Ian wanted to sell the house, but it still meant something to him. He was going to let it go, but not to just anyone. He was curious to see the potential buyers -- although he doubted that few of them would be locals (the price range alone would deter most people). He assumed that most of the people who walked through would just be curious to actually see the inside. (Anyone who had that kind of money to throw down would probably schedule a private showing anyway.)
Still, the potential of a serious buyer coming through kept him around.
He heard her voice before he saw her, but he would have known it anywhere. His back was turned and he didn’t know if she had seen him, but he toyed with the thought of leaving. He wanted to see her before he left, but this didn’t seem like the time or the place.
Standing in the middle of the foyer with a realtor and a confused looking old couple wasn’t what he had had in mind. But part of him wanted to see her and talk with her now and if she had noticed him, he didn’t want her thinking that he was upset with her. He wasn’t. He hadn’t meant to throw that declaration on her and he would not have her return them if she did not feel the same way.
He turned round and smiled.
“Hey,” He walked towards her, “You looking to upgrade?” He asked, teasingly, “I kept telling the agent that we should remarket this as a commercial property, since it’s more maze than house. I think we could charge admission to this place, if we wanted ... but he didn’t like that idea.”
He didn’t want her to feel awkward or uncomfortable. He never wanted them to be like that. He didn’t know that he could stand around and be just friends with her, but for this moment, he found it was easy to slip back into the sort of friends they had been before.
He just wasn’t going to mention his two year absence or the event that caused it, if she wouldn’t.
“So, hey, how have you been? You look ... ” Beautiful was the word that came to mind, but instead he said, “... happy.”
There was a bittersweet sort of feeling in that. Perhaps it had been better for everyone that he and his brother had left. And stayed gone.










