by SUE FINEMAN
“We have two offers on the table, but they’re both low, so she’s going ahead with the open house tomorrow.”
“She can handle it without me.”
“I thought you’d want to be there, maybe drum up business for yourself.”
“She doesn’t want me there, Billy.”
“I don’t know what in the hell happened between you and Julie, but if you’re not careful, she’ll find herself a man who’ll appreciate her like you obviously can’t.”
“Mind your own damn business!” Andy slammed the receiver down.
Dad stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. “Yelling at your brother won’t help.”
“Won’t help what?”
“Your stubborn Irish pride.” Dad dropped his arms and walked into the room. “I nearly lost your mother because I thought I had to do everything myself.” He dropped into a chair. “I owed so much money I thought I’d never get it paid off.”
“Why did you owe so much money?”
“Because Billy’s mother ran up credit cards, then she got sick and the medical insurance stopped paying. By the time she died, I was drowning in debt. I was a detective then, and my boss said I’d ruin my career if I declared bankruptcy. I couldn’t see any way out, but your mother, without telling me, took money we’d found in this house and paid the hospital bill. I was livid, and your mother said—”
Andy held up his hand. “I can imagine what Mom said.”
He chuckled. “Pop chewed on me, too, and I finally realized they were right. The night I proposed, she told me we’d better get married while she could still fit in her grandmother’s wedding gown.”
“She was pregnant?”
He nodded. “You and Charlie were born a few months later, and I never looked back. If she’d waited for me to pay off those bills, I’d probably still be paying.”
Andy walked to the window and looked outside at the melting snow. “It’s different with me and Julie.”
“What are you afraid of, son?”
“Nothing. I’m not afraid of anything. I just have other responsibilities to take care of before I think about starting a family. I know that’s what she wants. Babies.” He turned to face his father. “I’m living with my parents, I don’t have an income, and I have a huge mortgage to pay. I thought I’d have enough in savings to start the house, but my car insurance didn’t cover the new car. That means—”
“That means you’ll need a loan to build the house.”
“Yeah.” He threw a pencil down on his drafting table. “I’ll need another loan. It shouldn’t bother me, since I was prepared to spend eight-hundred thousand on the farm, but it does, because I no longer have a regular paycheck.”
“Isn’t she working?”
“Yeah, she’s working, but I don’t want her to have to support me while I’m getting my business established.”
Dad stood. “There’s no reason you can’t build that house together, son. And the inn. Swallow your pride and apologize.”
“I didn’t do anything to apologize for.”
“Apparently there’s one little thing you haven’t learned about women.”
Andy cocked his head. “What’s that?”
“When something goes wrong, it’s always the man’s fault, especially when stubborn Irish pride is involved.”
“If that’s the problem, I can blame it on you. You gave me those stubborn Irish genes.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I sure did. I also gave you the passion that goes along with that stubborn pride. So what are you going to do about it?”
Andy shrugged. What could he do except apologize and hope she’d take him back? She wouldn’t wait for him forever, and if he didn’t do something soon, Charlie would be all over her.
Maybe she’d consider a long engagement.
<>
When Julie unlocked the condo for the brokers open the next morning, she was surprised to see Andy there. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Billy asked me to be here. Do you mind?”
“No, of course not.” She returned to her car to get the food, and Andy followed. He carried in the coffee urn while she brought the food inside. She’d learned long ago that if you fed the agents, they stayed in the house or condo long enough to remember it.
After the last time they spoke, Julie felt uncomfortable having Andy there. Every time she turned, she felt his eyes on her. He didn’t apologize, and she didn’t either. It probably wasn’t fair of her to change the rules of their relationship, but the relationship had evolved. Or she thought it had.
Apparently nothing had changed for him.
Realtors began to arrive, and Julie introduced Andy as “the architect who designed the condos.”
Andy handed out business cards while Julie talked to her colleagues about the condo. Paul Spokes, who’d been Otis’s agent, said, “I have a buyer who’s been looking for a luxury condo like this.”
“If he’s interested, get him here right away, because we’ve already received two offers.”
Paul walked away talking on his cell phone. With any luck, they’d have another offer soon.
Two hours later, Julie cleaned up the kitchen while Andy ran the vacuum cleaner. They were just finishing up when Paul walked in with an older man wearing an expensive cashmere coat. He had gray at the temples and piercing black eyes.
“Does the place come furnished?” he asked.
Paul turned to Julie, who said, “The price doesn’t include furniture, but the seller might entertain an offer for the furnishings. We’d have to ask him.”
Andy turned the vacuum off and put it away.
The man stared into her eyes. “Do you come with the condo?”
“Not at any price.” Julie felt like smacking him. She didn’t care what kind of offer this man made, she didn’t want him living in Andy’s condo.
Her cell phone rang. The agent for the doctor’s parents said, “My clients agree to pay the full asking price if they can close before Christmas.”
Christmas was only two weeks away, but the buyers were paying cash. “If we can get it through escrow that quickly, I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I’ll call my seller and get back to you.”
Paul walked over. “My buyer wants the condo furnished.”
She wanted to tell him the condo had been sold, but until the papers were signed by both parties, they didn’t have a sale. And Billy wasn’t available until after school let out for the day. “Put it in the offer and we’ll see what the seller wants to do.”
Andy took Paul and his buyer down to the gym while Julie called Kayla. “We have a full price offer and the sellers want to close before Christmas.”
“Which buyer?”
“The doctor’s parents, the couple from Cleveland. And there’s another buyer here right now. He wants the condo furnished.”
“What’s he like?”
“He’s an arrogant creep, asked if I came with the condo.”
“I’ll call Billy. Maybe we can get a verbal agreement on the ones from Cleveland and get the papers signed this afternoon.”
Julie breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Kayla. I know I’m not supposed to let personal feelings interfere in a business deal, but the thought of that creep sleeping in Andy’s bed—”
“I agree. We’d planned to put the furniture in storage for Andy, for when he gets his new house built.”
“Does he know?”
“Not yet. We’re just so proud of him, of what he’s done with his life. He could have drifted like Charlie, but Andy set a goal when he was still in high school. He wanted to design and build things. I don’t think anyone knew then just how talented he was, or how driven.”
Julie heard the others coming back. “I have to go, Kayla.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Billy to call you. Don’t get too close to the creep.”
Julie smiled. She liked Billy’s wife. “I won’t.”
<>
Billy met Julie at the office at thr
ee, where she presented the new offer and the second offer from the couple from Cleveland. The new offer was full price, with an additional twenty thousand for the furnishings.
“I have no idea what Kayla spent on the furniture.” He stared at the signature. “Is this the creep she told me about?”
“That’s him. You should have seen Andy’s face when that man put his hand on my—”
Billy grinned. “Sorry I missed it.”
“I’m surprised he was able to make an offer after I ground my heel into his foot.”
He pushed the creep’s offer aside. “Let’s talk about the other offer.”
“It’s a full-price offer from the doctor’s parents. Cash. They want to close before Christmas, if we can get it through escrow that quickly. It shouldn’t be a problem, except so many people in this business take time off around Christmas.”
He clicked his pen and signed the paper, accepting the offer. “I know you’ll do your best. Andy finished the design on the apartment conversion and we’ll start the work in March, assuming the permits go through by then. As soon as the first unit is finished, we’ll use it as a model while we get the others done.”
Billy started out the door and turned back to say, “Andy said to tell you he has something to show you out at the farm. He’ll meet you there at ten tomorrow morning.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Andy rose early, left a note by the coffee maker for his mother, and drove out to the farm. He had things to do before Julie arrived at ten. If she’d come. Listening to his father and Billy and Otis nag at him, he knew he had to do something or he’d never have any peace. Mom didn’t say anything, but he saw the look of disapproval on her face. And then there was Charlie, who’d told him Julie was a forever kind of woman.
Everyone in his family loved Julie, but no one loved her more than Andy. Seeing her at the condo yesterday, feeling her tense every time she looked at him, tore at him. He didn’t want her to be uncomfortable around him. He told her he loved her, and he did, but that wasn’t enough for her.
It wasn’t enough for him either.
Sadie Belle scampered and sniffed around while Andy swept out the barn and then moved a few pieces of furniture over from Otis’s trailer. He found a space heater tucked under the work bench and turned it on. The weather had warmed and the snow had melted, but it wasn’t warm enough for what he had in mind.
After the stores opened, he drove back into the city to pick up a few things and then returned to the farm. If he didn’t do this right, he could lose her for good. His family would never forgive him.
If he lost her, he’d never forgive himself.
<>
Julie dragged herself to the office Thursday morning. She hadn’t slept much last night for thinking about Andy, and she was tired. Why did he want her to come to the farm this morning? What did he have to show her?
After she took care of business at the office, she stopped at home to pick up Cassie and then drove out to the farm. She was early, but Andy was already there.
He walked out of the barn, and Julie let Cassie out of the car. Her tail wagged like crazy when she saw Sadie Belle, and the puppy yipped and wagged her tail. They’d missed each other, just as Julie had missed Andy.
He had a roll of papers under his arm. “Hi.”
“Hi. Billy said you had something to show me.”
“I do.” He took her hand and led her under the bare branches of the maple trees. “The new house will go in about thirty feet behind where the old house stood.” He handed her a sketch of the front and side elevation of the house. It was beautiful, with a gazebo porch on the right corner. The porch wrapped around most of the front of the house and back along the right side, past a brick fireplace to a gazebo-shaped room that extended out from the house.
He handed her another sketch and another. “The plan is a story-and-a-half, with the master on the main floor and the other bedrooms upstairs. There’ll be a full basement, although I don’t anticipate finishing it right away, and an attic playroom, again not finished right away. Do you read floor plans?”
“I can read the basics—space and proportions. Flow.”
He unrolled the floor plan and held it so she could see. “Four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, study, family room, living room, and a big dining room for family dinners.”
A gust of wind nearly tore the papers out of his hand. “Let’s go into the barn.”
She walked into the barn with him and he left the door open far enough for the dogs to get in. Otis’s table and two chairs sat on a rug in the middle of the space, and Andy put the floor plans on the table.
Julie examined the first floor plan and pictured herself walking through the finished house. It was a wonderfully creative plan, with one space flowing into another, perfect for a big family, and the study was big enough that Andy could work at home. “Where does the piano go?”
“In the living room. Is it big enough?”
“Yes.” Definitely big enough and then some. But something was missing. “Andy, where’s the mudroom?”
“There’s a laundry room upstairs.”
She looked up. “That’s fine for a city house, but this is a farm. You need a place on the main floor for people to hang up wet coats and pull off muddy boots. And you need a place to put the dogs when they come in with dirty paws. Unless you want to mop the kitchen floor every time Charlie comes in from the field, you’ll need a mud room.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“The master is on the main floor. Is there also a master upstairs?”
“Why?”
“Because I assume someday you’ll want to get married and have children. Older kids would be fine upstairs by themselves, but you don’t want a baby upstairs by himself. That means you either need a nursery on the main floor or another master upstairs.”
He opened the second floor plan and put it on top of the other one. “Would one of these bedrooms do for me and my wife?”
She scanned the room sizes, closets, and bathroom layouts. “Any one of these rooms would work, although you’ll probably want the baby in the room over the dining room, where it’ll be more quiet.”
Looking up at him, at the serious expression on his face, she wondered why he’d brought her here and shown her the house plans. Had his feelings changed? Was he asking her to live with him?
“Julie, I don’t want to live in that house alone.” He took her hands. “I love you, and I’ll love you for the rest of my life. We belong together, honey. Will you marry me?”
Stunned, all she could do was sputter, “Marry?”
He nodded. “I want to build a life with you first, then after I get my business going, after we can afford it, we’ll build our house.”
“But I thought you had too many responsibilities to make a commitment.”
“Honey, I don’t want to do this without you. The past few days I’ve been miserable. Don’t you love me? Don’t you want me?” The anguish in his voice tore at her heart, and she knew he loved her.
Her eyes filled with tears. “Yes, I love you, but if you’re not ready for marriage… I’ll wait for you, Andy. I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“Don’t you understand? I am ready. I need you more than I need a new house, more than I need an inn. More than I need anything. Please say you’ll marry me.”
She drifted into his arms and he held her like he never wanted to let her go. She soaked up his love. Andy Kane was everything she’d ever wanted in a man and more.
Julie’s cell phone rang. She didn’t want to answer it now, but she had an offer coming in this afternoon, so she stepped back and answered the phone.
Bob said, “I’m looking for Andy Kane. Is he with you?”
“He’s right here, Bob.” She handed the phone to Andy. “It’s for you. Bob Bosch.”
Andy raised his eyebrows and took the phone. He talked and paced for a few minutes and then closed the phone and handed it back to her. From the big grin on his face,
it was good news. “I have a job.”
“Doing what?”
“Remember that luxury housing project your father talked about, the one with the new golf course?”
She nodded.
“Bob recommended me to the builders involved. He took them to see Billy’s condo and they looked at the pictures on the wall. Apparently they all agreed to ask me to design homes for the project. They want continuity in the appearance of the houses, a similar style, yet each house is to be different. It’s enough work to keep me busy for at least two years. That means—”
“That means we can build the house in the spring instead of waiting,” said Julie. She could pay for the construction of the house with the money from Brent’s house, but she didn’t want to step on his tender male pride. “My business is picking up, too. I have an offer coming in this afternoon on another one of my listings.”
Otis’s gruff voice filled the barn. “You didn’t answer him.”
She gasped. “Did I just hear—”
“Yeah, the old man’s ghost has been dogging me lately. He chewed on me after I left your house the other night, called me a stupid fool. He was right, but I wasn’t ready to hear it then.”
Now she understood. Otis pushed him into proposing. “Tell me we’re not getting married because of Otis.”
“We’re getting married because we belong together, because we love each other and want to be together forever. If you say yes.”
“Crazy man. Of course I’ll marry you. Did you ever have any doubts?”
“My doubts weren’t about you, they were about me, about the responsibilities I’ve taken on. I finally realized I had my priorities messed up. You should come first, not last.”
He pointed up. “I have a surprise for you in the loft.”
She climbed the ladder and found a mattress with a thick down comforter and a stack of pillows. Beside the bed, a bottle of champagne and two glasses waited for their celebration. “You were this sure of my answer?”
“Wishful thinking. What do you think? Shall we try it out?”
She kicked off her shoes and squirmed out of her sweater. The loft felt warm and cozy. As she stepped out of her jeans, she said, “We could just live in the barn.”
