Chapter 3

The next morning.

By the time I got to the house, the renovation crew was already inside, drills whining.

Steve's future mother-in-law stood in the living room with her hands on her hips, calling the shots.

"This ceiling is hideous. Rip the whole thing out. Don't leave a single piece."

"And that accent wall, who still puts up floral like that? It's ancient. Scrape it, scrape it all off."

His future father-in-law walked into the kitchen and knocked on a cabinet door.

"These cabinets go too. The color's all wrong. Tear them out and start over."

Steve wandered from room to room, throwing in his own orders.

"The flooring's buckling too. Big tile through the whole place, living room and bedrooms."

"Knock out that wall in the bathroom. We'll redo the shower area."

My mother trailed the workers, muttering.

"Careful, careful, don't crack the floor slab."

I watched the workers swing their hammers, the plaster raining down. That wall I'd spent three days painting was bare cement in two minutes.

Steve's girlfriend filmed the whole thing on her phone, gasping the entire time.

"Oh my God, tearing a place apart is so satisfying, look how much brighter it is already!"

"That window, once the ceiling's gone it looks huge!"

His future mother-in-law looked around and nodded, pleased.

"When it comes to renovating, you listen to your elders. Smash what needs smashing, toss what needs tossing, don't get sentimental about it."

His future father-in-law chimed in.

"The bones of this place are good. Whoever lived here before just didn't know what they were doing. Wasted a great location."

"Good thing Steve took it over. Anybody who didn't know better would've ruined it."

Steve couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from lifting under all the praise.

The relatives crowded around him, all talking at once.

"Steve's got real guts. Says smash it and doesn't even blink."

"Once this place is done, the value doubles at least. That's the drive a young man needs."

Steve strolled over to me and dropped his voice so only the two of us could hear.

"Sis, don't you treasure this house?"

"Today, right in front of you, I'm having every bit of it smashed."

"Bet that hurts, huh. Ha."