Holden House was exactly in the shape one would expect a house with years of neglect and decay would be. The inside of the house had peeling wallpaper and holes which once, or maybe still, housed rodents. 

After entering the living room and taking stock of it, Leo pulled out a pencil and scribbled notes in his notebook. He wanted to estimate the kind of work needed and how much they would really need to do. He entered some figures, then absently scratched his ear as he revised it twice. He moved around the room carefully, taking care to not miss any spots. He moved the sofa covered in orange felt to peek at the wall behind. Thankfully, it wasn't any worse off than the rest of the living room.

Leo moved to the passage and tried to open a door on the right. It was locked.

"That door leads up to the attic. We should probably look at that last."

"Ok, sounds like a plan." Leo gave Andy, who was anxiously hovering around him, a quick smile.

He moved to the bathroom. The clawfoot tub showed some signs of rust and the fittings were old, but seemed sturdy enough. The grey linoleum carpet though, was spotted and peeling, so Leo made notes for the same.

There were just two other rooms. One was a tiny bedroom which housed a single bed. The room was full of boxes and other junk. Except changing the wallpaper, there didn't seem to be much to be done here. The other bedroom was where Andy lived. 

Leo stepped in her room and heard Andy gasp and run inside the room. She had left her frilly underthings on her bed and Leo grinned at her red face. She hid her clothes behind her and tried to appear nonchalant. Leo raised a brow.

"Should I come back later?"

"Oh no, that's... not at all!" Andy stepped out again and Leo got a quick glance at pink lace panties. He wouldn't have pegged Andy to be a lace girl. He would think she would prefer animal-print to go with her wild personality. He grinned and winked at Andy and moved to recon the bedroom. 

Andy had scrubbed and cleaned the bedroom floor and had made the room habitable. It contained a double bed, a wardrobe and a glass topped table that could seat two. The chairs were rickety and made out of cane, probably bought separately. Andy seemed to inhabit only this room in the house, which was smart as the living room was sparsely furnished and the second bedroom was too cramped.

Leo moved to the table and put his notebook down on it. Quickly, he sketched Andy's house and drew the dimensions of it. He looked up as he heard Andy snort.

"Something funny?" He raised a brow in Andy's direction. In spite of the dreariness of the place, her face was freshly scrubbed and her cheeks rosy. She wore a simple white shirt and black pants.

She pointed an unpainted nail at his diagram. "Your dimensions are all wrong. The living room room is six by eight, yet, you have drawn it smaller than my bedroom which is six by four."

"Well, it's called a "rough" sketch." Leo pulled the notebook to his chest with a comical hurt look on his face. As expected, Andy relaxed and even giggled at his antics.

He grinned and put the notebook down. He wrote numbers of his estimations, making a show of hiding it from Andy. She snorted and tried to pull apart his arms, but he blocked her attempts.

"Leo!" Andy put her arms on her tiny waist. She blew a lock of her brilliant red hair which had settled on her right eye. "That's not fair, I'm only trying to help."

"Oh yeah," Leo shot back. "So, tell me, what's the cost of twelve boards twelve by eight each when each board costs approximately seven point seventy-five?"

"That's seven point seventy-five by twelve which is ..." Leo smirked as he dug into his pocket for  a calculator. "Ninety-five dollars. Which means your total cost is ..." Andy paused and added, "One thousand one hundred and sixteen."

"Yeah, right." Leo pulled out his calculator and punched in the numbers. It was Andy's turn to smirk as she crossed her hands on what he had considered her less than impressive chest. He could see that it wasn't that bad on the whole, Andy just seemed to favor loose clothing.

"Well? Am I right or what?" Leo had a nagging feeling that she was, but hid his surprise. 

"Well, that was a lucky guess," Leo countered dismissively and Andy swelled up with indignation at his baiting.

"Go ahead, ask me another one then."

"Six twenty-seven divided by thirteen."

Andy paused momentarily. It was Leo's turn to cross his arms with a smug smile. "Forty-eight point twenty-three."

Leo punched it into the calculator and she was absolutely right. He was seriously impressed. He gave her a thumbs-up and clapped for her.

Andy laughed. "Division takes a bit longer actually. It's easy when you know the technique." Her modesty covered her exuberance.

"Well, that's.... so good, I'm speechless."

"Well, that's a welcome change." Andy shot back.

"And the success has so easily gone to her head." Andy bit her lower lip to hide a smile, and Leo marveled at how pink her lips were. "So what were you, the snooty, know-it-all Math topper?"

"Well, sort of. I dropped out in high school, before the finals."

"And why's that?"

Andy collected herself and looked away. "Just another sob story that no one wants to hear. My mom was in and out of rehab and I was just not in the mood."

"Ohh...I had no idea." Leo felt like a jackass but Andy waved away his concern.

"So, what's it gonna cost me?" She was back to being all business.

"I have the dimensions here and though I don't know the exact price of the materials anymore, let me give you a ball-park estimate. Wanna help me crunch the numbers?"

"Sure!" Andy was back to being excited and Leo was relieved that his gaffe hadn't spoiled her mood.

Andy was real good with numbers. What she probably didn't realize was that he quoted less than what was the actual price for the materials and also lowered their quantity so that she didn't have to pay a very high price. He wasn't sure about the labor costs and thankfully she didn't ask about them. Still, the total came to a little more than nine thousand dollars. Andy looked so crestfallen, he hadn't the heart to remind her that they hadn't looked at the attic yet. That could easily be another two grand.

She caught on soon enough. "Oh no, the attic! I'm not sure anyone would buy the house unless that's fixed?"

Leo shook his head with an apologetic smile."Oh no, and the roof! The shingles and the paint! Did you factor in the cost of the deck? This is going to cost a bomb, isn't it?"

Leo had factored in the deck, but he hated to see Andy upset. Well, he hated to see any pretty girl upset and Andy was the prettiest girl in town.

"Oh no, you forgot about the labor costs!" Andy crashed on a chair, her head between her hands. Leo knelt next to her.

"Hey come on now, it's no big deal. I'm sure we can work it out with the labor costs."

Andy's head was still buried in her hands. "And it's gonna take forever! I'm gonna be stuck in Podunk Texas till I'm forty!"

Leo smiled at her outburst. "Now, now, it won't be so bad! I promise you, we can make this place ready to sell in three months."

Andy wailed louder. "That's too long! I wanted to move to New York and start a new life. Like, yesterday!"

"New York? That's passe. Come to LA with me, that's where it's at."

Andy momentarily raised her face from her hands.The kohl that she preferred had smudged the top of her cheeks and she looked young and vulnerable. "You're from LA?"

It was more of a statement than a question. "Yes, of course, that's where the rich and the beautiful live."

"You're rich?" Andy raised a red, skeptical brow at him.

At least she hadn't debated the beautiful part. "If I was, would I be living in my brother's guest house?"

That elicited a chuckle. "Well, as someone who has zero family, I believe that family should stick together."

"Yeah, remind my brother when he kicks me out for not paying rent."

That led to a genuine smile. Raccoon eyes be damned, the girl was real pretty when she smiled. It made his chest constrict and made him feel lighter at the same time. She hadn't even seemed pretty to him at first and now, suddenly, he found Andy gorgeous. Messy red hair and green eyes set in a heart-shaped face and a beautiful smile with dimples. She was a country girl, a simple and unsophisticated beauty. He had been around fashionable and leggy models, Andy was gauche and yet, she was irresistible in her own way.

Leo pulled away and quickly stood up. He wasn't here for long and neither was she, and he was pretty sure that if he suggested a fling or even remotely showed real interest in her, she would slap him, hard. And he had a job to do here, after all. Light flirtation was ok, no point in taking it any further than that. He had to sort out his life, get his head back straight and go back to LA.

"Are you close to your brother?"

That innocuous question brought a smile to his lips. "Oh yeah, Mark's the best! He's always looked out for me. He's six years older and does like to boss me around quite a bit."

Andy smiled at this. "Emily seems nice. She was seriously concerned about me being alone out here."

"And so should you. Emily's a sweetheart, she was my baby-sitter when we were younger. She bosses Mark around, so it's important to be on her good side."

Andy smiled a wistful smile. "It must be so nice to be around people that you've known your whole life."

"Well, it has it's moments. What about you, Red? Where are you from?"

Andy huffed, but didn't take him to task for calling her "Red". Man, she was cute when she went all huffy on him. "Well, I was in Dallas till recently. Was helping out a friend, she runs a care center for Women." Andy murmured under her breath, "Fat lot of good that did to me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Umm, never mind..." Andy stood up and brushed her pants in a brisk manner.

"So, are we having a look at the attic?"

Leo let her change the topic. He knew enough about Andy to be sure that probing would just make her clam up further. She would open up only if she wanted to.

"Lead the way."