Chapter 4 Hailey
HAILEY
Hailey stood on the front porch of the farmhouse later that afternoon with her heart in her mouth.
Ransom had messaged her earlier to say he was going to stop by with some local guys to take a look at the place, so she had hurried up here from the cottage, wishing she’d made it to the store so she could at least offer them a cup of coffee or something.
A black pickup truck came down the drive first, crunching over the snowy gravel.
When Ransom got out and waved to her she felt better right away.
“Hey,” he called to her as he headed up the walk. “Am I the first one here?”
“Yes,” she said. “Thank goodness.”
“You’re nervous?” he asked.
“You know how I get,” she said, smiling.
“I’ve never understood that,” he said, shaking his head. “You perform in front of so many people.”
“That’s acting,” she told him. “It’s different when I’m being myself. And the meeting with Dominic this morning was so awful…”
“Well, I think you’ll like these guys,” Ransom said. “They’re going to do what you want, not the other way around.”
She nodded, not wanting to tell him about all the other things that were worrying her—like her budget, her timeline, and the weird way some people reacted to you when you’d been on TV, even if you weren’t a movie star or anything.
Another truck pulled up. Hailey took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Oh, this is Tanner,” Ransom said. “He’s an electrician, so you can show him where you want the new fixtures. He knows the house already since he did the rewiring for Radcliffe.”
“He did?” Hailey asked.
“Hey there,” the man said, hopping out of his truck and jogging up to the porch. “I know you.”
“Tanner Williams?” Hailey asked, amazed.
“Guilty as charged,” he chuckled. “It’s great to see you again, and I’m glad you’re investing in your hometown.”
That was kind of a weird way to say he was glad she was moving home, but she figured maybe it was contractor talk.
“Thank you so much for coming,” she said. “Ransom mentioned that you worked on this house already?”
“I did,” Tanner said. “Radcliffe wanted the old knob and tube wiring out of all his properties, so my crew did a whole bunch of homes for him, this one included.”
“That’s great news,” she said, feeling relieved.
“Sure is,” he said. “I’ll stand behind my work, so you know we really got all the old stuff out.”
“Is it bad to not get all of it?” she asked.
“Only if you don’t want your house to catch on fire,” he said, shrugging.
“Oh,” she said, stunned. She hadn’t really considered that the wiring in the old home might be an issue, but she was glad it had all been sorted out already.
“So, what did you have in mind?” he asked.
She looked to Ransom, who nodded and opened the front door for her to lead Tanner through.
“I was thinking of adding some nice fixtures,” she began as they stepped into the living room. “Antique ones, ideally.”
“Those may have to be rewired to work now that the wiring here is updated,” Tanner said.
“Oh,” she replied.
“But I can do that,” he said. “No problem at all. Before I go I’ll write down the names of a couple of shops you could check out. Some of them have other things too, not just fixtures.”
“Thank you. That would be great,” she told him, feeling much better about the process already. “I’m trying to go with older items that match the house, or at least some cozy, vintage pieces.”
“Cottagecore, huh?” he asked. “I’ve always liked that style, and it’s great on a budget.”
“Yes,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound too surprised. There was no reason he shouldn’t be aware of the popular design trend. “Exactly.”
“Maybe you can look around, send me a few photos and we can go from there,” he offered. “And if you can’t find what you’re looking for out here, you can send me online photos and I can check some of the bigger places next time I’m in Philly. Probably won’t be till after the holidays, though.”
“Thank you,” she told him. “This is so great.”
“I appreciate the business,” he said with a smile.
Hailey was relieved that this whole conversation couldn’t be more opposite from the one she’d had earlier. She had forgotten how the Trinity Falls community took care of each other. It made her feel good all over again about coming home.
“Also,” she said, “I was also hoping to add some things outside—lighting and maybe some heat.”
“I can help with the lighting and we can hook you up with a plumber to run a gas line for heat lamps or even a grill,” Tanner said right away. “No problem at all. Can we take a look?”
“You two go on,” Ransom said. “I’ll keep an eye out for Aidan—he was going to help out with some carpentry and painting.”
“You’re going all local,” Tanner said approvingly. “That’s great, Hailey.”
“It was Ransom’s idea,” she admitted. “He really saved the day.”
“He’s a good man,” Tanner said. There was something about the way he said it. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was almost like he thought she and Ransom were together again.
She glanced over at her helpful ex-boyfriend to see if he was getting the same vibe, but he was already heading out to the porch again to wait for the carpenter.
He dumped me right before senior prom, she reminded herself.
But somehow the memory didn’t hurt as much today as it usually did.
An hour later, both Aidan and Tanner were leaving, and Hailey had a vision of what the house was going to be.
“Thank you for this,” she said to Ransom as they watched the two trucks pull out.
“It’s my pleasure,” he told her softly. “And we’re going to have fun painting, just you wait and see.”
“I could probably afford to have Aidan do a lot of the painting,” she ventured.
It was true, she had budgeted for it, even if it was tight. And she hadn’t planned on asking Ransom or anyone else for help.
“You don’t want to do it ourselves?” Ransom asked, a note of what might be disappointment in his voice.
“I mean, yes, of course I want to,” she told him right away. “It would leave me with more of a buffer before I need to start having a lot of bookings.”
And maybe because it would be an excuse to spend more time with Ransom, but she wasn’t about to say that.
“Sure,” he said lightly.
But when she looked up at him, the hint of a smile was tugging up the corner of his mouth.
“Just like old times,” she said without meaning to.
“What is?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. No way was she going to tell him how much she had missed his self-satisfied smirk. “How’s Willow?”
“Oh,” he said. “Wow.”
“I didn’t think that was a trick question,” she teased him.
Ransom and Willow had always been really close. He was extremely protective over his baby sister, in no small part because their dad hadn’t been around.
“It’s just that I’m not proud of my answer,” he said softly.
“Want to come in?” she asked. “I think there’s tea in the cupboard.”
“Radcliffe said Mom could leave whatever she wanted behind,” Ransom said with a sad smile. “There’s probably a lifetime of canned goods in there too.”
“I’ll appreciate every last thing she left,” Hailey told him. “It must be weird for you that I’m in this house.”
He held the door open for her, and she wondered if he was doing it to buy himself time.
“It’s a lot less weird than if a stranger bought it,” he said as they headed through the living room and back to the kitchen.
They’d walked in these exact footsteps so many times growing up. For a moment it felt like the past and the present were all happening at once, layered on top of each other in the house the way they seemed to be in Hailey’s heart.
When they got to the kitchen, she filled the kettle while Ransom grabbed mugs and tea bags out of a cupboard.
“So, about Willow,” he said as he set everything out.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” she told him, automatically curling up at her usual place at the table.
“It’s fine,” he said, joining her at the seat across from hers, like always. “Maybe I’ll actually feel better if I talk about it.”
Hailey nodded and hoped it was true.
“You know she had that huge crush on Jensen Webb, right?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Hailey laughed. “She was just a kid though, and he would never have touched her since she’s your little sister.”
“Of course not,” Ransom said, looking a little alarmed at the suggestion. “But she admired him, and looked up to him.”
“Sure,” Hailey agreed.
“Well, when she was old enough, she talked to me about joining the military,” Ransom went on. “And I was against it.”
“Why?” Hailey asked. “You joined yourself.”
“I know,” he sighed. “Would you believe me if I told you it had nothing to do with her being a girl and everything to do with me feeling responsible to keep her safe?”
“Of course,” Hailey said, nodding. “I get that. You always looked out for her.”
And it was true. Ransom was the model older brother, kind, caring, and protective of Willow.
Hailey remembered so many times when he had sacrificed his own happiness to ensure Willow’s.
Whether it was making sure she got her homework done even though he’d rather be out with his own friends, giving her his own spending money for a pretty dress or a movie ticket, or dropping everything to be there for her when he thought she might need him, Ransom had always treated his little sister like she was the most important person in his world.
“Well, I told her not to join up, and I thought that was that,” he said. “Then she talked to Jensen.”
“Oh boy,” Hailey sighed.
“Oh boy is right,” Ransom said. “She came home that night and told Mom she was enlisting. I was so mad that I couldn’t say a word to her or Jensen for a long time.”
“How long?” Willow asked.
“I’m really hoping to make things right now that all three of us are here in Trinity Falls,” he said without really answering. “Hopefully, we can let bygones be bygones. She actually texted me today. Said she might stop by this afternoon.”
“That’s amazing,” Hailey told him. “It sounds like she wants things to work out too.”
“I don’t know,” he said, frowning.
“Willow hero-worships you,” she reminded him. “And you and Jensen Webb were practically joined at the hip all through school. You three being on the outs doesn’t make any sense.”
“I hope you’re right,” Ransom said softly.
“It’s hard when someone you always put first seems to not care about your opinion,” she told him carefully. “Even if it turned out fine and you want to move past it, you know it’s okay if you still feel hurt, right?”
The kettle whistled and Ransom slipped out of his seat to pour the steaming water into their mugs.
She wished she could talk to Willow herself, to help her see how much her brother loved her and wanted to make things right.
“So, are you going to tell me what cottagecore is?” he asked, heading back to the table with a smile that told her their earlier conversation was over.
“Well, yes,” she said. “But the funny thing is, it’s just kind of what our mothers and grandmothers have always done. You make your space cozy by filling it with nice things that aren’t new, or that don’t look new.”
“She wasn’t doing it as a style,” Ransom said. “But yeah, that’s what Mom always did. We shopped at the church thrift store, and we took good care of what we had.”
“That’s exactly it,” Hailey said. “And nowadays people take it a step further and call it a part of a rural lifestyle, where you do things for yourself as much as you can, like having a vegetable garden, or baking and sewing for yourself.”
“Well, I guess Mom was nailing it,” Ransom chuckled.
“What’s nice about having a name for it, and a popular one, is that I can hopefully get guests interested in coming out here even if they’re not country people,” Hailey told him.
“So many people in the city are tired of the fast pace and the flashing screens. There’s something comforting about a home-cooked meal and a cozy place to share it. ”
“You’re preaching to the choir,” Ransom said, but his smile was a little sad.
She nodded.
“Speaking of home-cooked meals,” he said. “I’ve got to get back and run the dogs so I’ll be able to start dinner for the kids in time.”
Hailey almost shuddered at the thought of so many dogs right next door, but managed, she hoped, to keep the alarm off her face.
“Oh, of course,” she said, standing. “Thank you for spending so much time with me. I hope I didn’t mess up your workday too much.”
“Not at all,” he told her as they headed to the front door.
“The dogs were already fed and groomed before the kids and I stopped by earlier. And after I put the kids on the bus to school, I did a quick training session before I tracked down Tanner and Aidan. If I give them a good run now, they’ll be in great shape. ”
“It’s a big job,” she realized.
“I love it though,” he said.
The look on his face told her he was telling the truth, though she couldn’t imagine it herself.
“Thank you again,” she told him when they got to the door. “And good luck with your sister.”
“I’ll stop by later this week,” he said. “We can go look at paint.”
The words it’s a date almost jumped out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“Um, okay,” she said instead. “Thanks.”
His eyes met hers for a moment and she felt a shiver of hope go through her, like maybe things were going her way.
Don’t you dare fall for him again, a little voice at the back of her head warned her. He’ll only break your heart.