Chapter 3 #2
He stopped in his tracks and turned back to her.
“You mistake me if you think this is about the money,” he said, looking more offended than ever. “I can’t have my name attached to a project when I know the house won’t be elegant and functional when it’s done. I do have some professional pride. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course,” she told him, knowing it was best to admit defeat. “Can your contractor still come down?”
“My contractor is a part of my team,” Dominic said. “You’ll have to find someone local.”
“Well, thank you for all the time you’ve already taken. It was an honor to meet you.”
He didn’t say anything, just nodded to her and hurried off through the front door like the house was on fire.
She watched after him, long after his car had disappeared. Then the reality of her situation finally hit her.
I don’t have a designer or a general contractor. And at this rate, I might not find anyone.
Panic began to rise in her chest. What if no one wanted to fix up a house with old features?
It certainly wouldn’t pay as well as a complete renovation.
And she knew no one out here for this kind of thing.
She’d been a teenager when she left Trinity Falls, with no need to even think about house remodeling.
I have to get this place ready as soon as possible, so I can start booking it. My savings won’t last long…
Exhaustion from the last month of panic, sadness, anger, and transition hit her at once, and she sank to the porch steps with her head in her hands, willing herself not to fall apart.
But it was hard to imagine how she was going to turn this situation around. She felt like an idiot for not anticipating that it might be a problem to get the work done.
And she’d also been relying on the designer’s reputation to help her book the place. Saying the farmhouse was a pet project of Dominic Leonardo’s would have been a huge selling point.
I never thought he could see it and not even like it…
How could anyone see this place and not fall in love?
But maybe she was overly sentimental because this was the first place she had fallen in love herself. Of course, that had ended with her having her heart thoroughly broken. So maybe it was better this way.
“Jessica Sugar Bomb,” a familiar little voice called out across the yard.
She looked up to see Ransom walking toward her from the direction of his place, the kids running across the snowy field in front of him.
He gave her a wave, and she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks and stood to wave back.
“Hi,” Mae panted as she reached the porch steps. “We came over to see your belt, but you weren’t in the cottage, and Daddy said we should check the big house.”
“Good morning, Mae,” Hailey told her, feeling happier already.
“Hey, you were crying,” Mae said accusingly. “Your eyes look sad.”
“Hi, Hailey,” Travis said, joining his sister with his father in tow. “Mae, you aren’t supposed to talk about stuff like that.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Hailey said. “I just got some bad news from my designer.”
“Designer?” Ransom echoed.
“He wanted me to renovate the whole house,” she told him, sighing. “I just wanted to paint and add some decor and fixtures. He says he won’t do it.”
“Maybe money’s no object for you,” Ransom said carefully. “But I’m sure you can get everything done at a much more reasonable cost if you use local contractors. And they won’t mind sticking to your list.”
“Money is definitely an object,” Hailey told him.
“Then we can do the painting ourselves,” Ransom said immediately.
“What?” she asked. “No, no I want it done right.”
“Do you seriously think I don’t remember painting sets with you for the play?” he demanded. “You’re a perfectionist with a paintbrush and I doubt there’s a painter in Trinity Falls who will be more motivated to make your new home shine.”
She looked up at him, wondering if he might be right.
Ransom’s dark eyes were fixed on her face, and there was such care in them.
He really has changed, she thought to herself without meaning to.
“You can do it,” he told her gently. “And I’ll be here every step of the way.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I owe you,” he told her, looking away. “I was an idiot back in school.”
“That’s not a nice word, Daddy,” Mae chimed in as she headed off to explore the side yard with her brother.
“I’m sorry,” Ransom replied. He was talking to Mae, but he was looking at Hailey.
“Kids break up,” Hailey said lightly, training her gaze on the house. “It happens all the time.”
His words hit hard. But she wasn’t about to let him see how much he had devastated her, or how much she still thought about him. She still had her pride, or at least some of it.
He didn’t reply, and when she stole a glance at him he was gazing at the snow at his feet.
What they had felt was deeper than the puppy love you were supposed to have in high school. At least that was what she’d always thought. She assumed she had been wrong about all that when he dumped her, but now she wasn’t so sure.
“Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad,” Travis yelled as he ran around the side of the house with Mae at his heels. “There was a cat on the back porch.”
“Oh yeah?” Ransom asked him. “I wonder where he came from.”
“He came from a mama cat,” Mae said wisely.
Travis howled with laughter.
“What?” Mae demanded. “It’s not funny.”
“You’re right, Mae,” Hailey told her right away. “But I think your dad meant to ask where the cat was before he was on the back porch.”
“A mama cat,” Travis echoed, breathless with laughter.
Mae joined him, unable to resist her brother’s good spirits.
And suddenly Hailey was laughing too. It was almost impossible not to, just looking at the pure joy of the two children.
Ransom’s eyes met hers again at last, his warm smile lighting up her heart.