“It looks amazing!” I exclaimed as I stuffed the cell in my back pocket and all but skipped toward my house. Most of the rotted wood along the outside of the house had been replaced, and there were men currently working on painting the exterior a nice, subtle dove gray while another crew was up on the new roof, nailing down the gorgeous wood shingles. The porch, once at risk of caving in on itself, had been restored, wrapping from the front door all the way around one side of the house. All the windows had been replaced, so there were no more broken glass or ugly boards in sight.
Clay hit me with an easy grin as he stood tall. “You say that now, but you haven’t seen the inside.”
“I don’t care,” I replied giddily as I climbed the three steps to stop in front of him. “Anything is better than how it was.”
“All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said with a chuckle before holding out an arm for me to precede him.
The moment I stepped inside, I let out a loud, gleeful squeal that was drowned out by the sounds of nail guns and drills. “Oh my God,” I breathed as I moved farther into the entryway and did a slow spin. “This . . . is . . . awesome!”
I finished turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees before facing him again, grinning so big my whole face hurt. The entire place was gutted. There wasn’t a single piece of drywall or insulation as far as my eyes could see. The old, crumbling staircase that you couldn’t climb without risking life or limb had been torn down, in its place, a basic, albeit sturdier structure that would do the job until Clay and his men could build something grand.
“Gotta say, darlin’, you’re probably the first woman I’ve worked for who’s gotten so excited at the sight of exposed studs.”
“Exposed studs means progress!” I cheered. “And I’ll admit, I don’t have the first clue about this kind of stuff, but it seems like you’ve already gotten a lot done.”
He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at me. “Well, for a novice, you’d be right. The foundation’s been fixed, my guys are puttin’ the finishing touches on the new roof, and with the walls down, we’ve been able to start on the electrical. The majority of the major fixes are well under way, so as of now, we’re ahead of schedule. And while we were guttin’ the place, we came across somethin’ I want to show you. Come have a look.”
I followed him through the foyer, past the parlor to the right and the formal dining room to the left, all the way to the back of the house. A quick peek showed that the soon-to-be-new kitchen on the left was completely empty, waiting for the custom cabinets and countertops I’d ordered. To the right was the living space where Clay was currently leading me. The instant we cleared the threshold I jerked to a stop, my jaw dropping in wonder. “Holy crap, is that . . .?”
“Figured you’d like it,” he said on a humor-filled mumble.
“It’s shiplap!” I felt my inner Fixer Upper nut bubbling to the surface. “Who in the fresh hell would cover that up?”
“So I take it you want us to keep it?”
Warmth bloomed in my chest as I looked up at him. “Definitely.”
With that done, Clay started leading me back through the house, showing me what all had been done, and what was left.
I had to admit, I didn’t care all too much as he talked about the new water heater and AC that was being installed. I knew, along with the plumbing and other stuff, it was crucial, but I was too busy imagining what the place would look like once the walls had been rebuilt and all the pretty new fixtures I’d chosen were installed.
By the time the tour was done, I felt like I was walking on air. I waved at him over my shoulder as I climbed into my car and started it up.
As I headed down the gravel drive, I grabbed my phone and swiped at the screen. A call had come through while Clay and I had been discussing the master bathroom configuration, and, assuming it was Jase calling about the most recent photos I’d just texted him, I’d let the call go to voicemail so I wasn’t distracted.
Dividing my attention between my phone and the road, I hit the button to listen to the new voicemail and put it on speaker.
“Farah, it’s Lance.” My back stiffened and my fingers clenched around the steering wheel, hearing my ex-fiancé’s voice come through my cell. “This is ridiculous. It’s been weeks!” He paused, letting out a breath of frustration, and I could almost picture him sitting behind the obnoxiously large desk in his office, pinching the bridge of his nose like he did every time I did or said something he found annoying. And he found pretty much everything I did and said to be annoying.
“This has gone on for long enough. I’ve given you your space while you ran off to find yourself, or whatever the hell it is you’re doing in that podunk town, but it’s time for you to come home.”
“What?” I cried, looking at my phone in shock like it could actually answer back.
“I’ve spoken with your parents,” he continued, “and we’ve agreed that if you drop this silly charade and come home, we can continue with the wedding plans.”
“You selfish, egotistical, son of a bitch!” I shouted at the disembodied voice, every word out of his mouth making my blood boil.
“But I’ll warn you, I’m not going to wait forever. You’ve made me look like a fool, running off like this, Farah. However, I’m willing to forgive and forget—”
“You have got to be kidding!” I continued to yell as I stabbed at the screen, silencing Lance’s infuriating voice. But that wasn’t enough. I was pissed. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so angry.
My vision went red as I turned my attention from the road and hurled the offending phone across the car. “You can take your forgiveness and shove it right up you’re a— Shit!”
My rant morphed into a frightened yelp as I looked back to the road just as something gray and white darted out in front of me. Slamming on my brakes, I jerked the wheel to avoid hitting whatever it was, sending my car sliding right into the ditch.
By the time the vehicle finally jerked to a bone-jarring stop, I was breathing heavily and clutching the wheel so tightly it was a wonder my fingers hadn’t fused to it.
I managed to peel my hands away and open the car door, stepping out on wobbly legs.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered as I rounded the hood and saw that the front driver-side tire was blown out and was currently resting atop a humongous jagged rock.
“Oh my goodness! Are you all right?” I turned from the mangled tire and looked up toward the road. An older woman with an attractive blonde bob was standing in the open door of her car, staring down at me in concern.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I turned back to my car, giving it a slow inspection. For the most part, the car seemed to be relatively intact, but there was no way in hell I was getting it off that rock and out of the ditch on my own. “Something jumped out in front of my car and I swerved to miss it.”
“Looks like that may be the culprit right there, sweetie.”
Glancing in the direction she was pointing, I saw a familiar ball of white and gray fluff sitting at the edge of the road. “So you’re the one to blame?” I asked accusingly, narrowing my eyes at the cat.
In response, it let out a meow, lifted one of its front legs, and began cleaning its paw. I didn’t speak cat, but I was pretty sure that was the equivalent of shooting me the middle finger.
“You could be hurt and not realize it. You didn’t hit your head, did you?” the woman asked, coming around her car to the edge of the ditch while wringing her hands in front of her. “Maybe I should call 911.”
“No, that’s really not necessary,” I insisted, moving around to the passenger side and opening the door to grab my purse. It took a bit of searching, but I managed to locate my cellphone under the seat. Unfortunately, thanks to my outburst after Lance’s message, I’d managed to shatter the screen. I lifted my head to the woman and winced, holding up the broken phone. “But any chance you know the number for a tow truck company?”
She gave me a sympathetic grin and waved me over to her. “You’re in luck. My husband owns a garage in town. Let me put in a call. Come on outta that ditch, and we’ll get this whole thing sorted out.”
I carefully navigated the small incline as she pulled out her phone and made a call. Once I reached her side, I offered her an apologetic smile as she disconnected. “Thank you so much for this. I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t stopped. My luck, I’d have started walking and gotten myself lost in the mountains or something.”
From up close I could see a hint of gray laced through her blonde locks and faint lines around her eyes and mouth as she smiled at me, revealing she was probably somewhere around my own mother’s age, but unlike the Hyland matriarch, this woman had aged beautifully and gracefully without the assistance of Botox or a plastic surgeon.
“It’s not a problem at all, honey.”
“I’m Farah, by the way.”
She gave me a sweet, kind smile. “Good to meet you. I’m Beverly, but everyone just calls me Bev.”
“Thank you again, Bev. I really appreciate all of this.”
“Don’t think anything of it.” Her smile faded and her face turned stern in a way I imagined all other mothers but mine would. “But for future reference, you should never brake or swerve to miss an animal. This could’ve ended up a lot worse.”
Bennett would have said the same thing, only he probably would’ve coupled it with that look and a litany of curse words.
“Yeah, I know. I just reacted. I didn’t even have time to think.”
The cat chose that moment to saunter up to us and plop its butt right back down by my feet, meowing again like he wanted my attention.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I snapped, not giving a single damn if I looked like a lunatic, standing on the side of the road, arguing with a cat. “This is all your fault. I don’t want to hear it.”
All of a sudden, the mangy feline began to purr, and proceeded to rub its head against my calves.
“Hate to break it to you, sweetie, but it looks like this little bugger’s claimed you.”
“Oh, no. I can’t . . .” I took a step backward, but that cat followed, purring contentedly as it curled around my foot and lay down.
Bev chuckled lightly. “I’m not thinkin’ you have much of a choice.”
I had to admit, the damn thing was kind of cute, but . . . “I can’t keep it. I don’t have a home for it. I’m kind of living out of a hotel room for the time being.”
“Redbud Inn?” Bev asked curiously.
“Yeah. Just until the work on my house is finished, but that’s still a while off.”
“Don’t you even worry about it,” she said, bending low to scoop the cat up off the ground. “Poppy’s the sweetest little thing. She won’t mind you havin’ a pet while you’re stayin’ there.”
I hesitated for just a moment before taking the cat she all but shoved into my arms. “I’m not sure . . .”
“Sure you are,” she stated emphatically. “Every girl should have a pet.”
A pet.
I’d never in my life had a pet before. My parents forbade it no matter how many times I’d asked. I’d wanted one so badly that, when I was thirteen, I’d found a stray dog eating out of a dumpster and took it home with me. I knew my parents would lose their minds, so I did my best to hide the little thing in my room, sneaking it leftover scraps after dinner and only taking it out to use the bathroom while my parents were gone or had already fallen asleep.
While I was at school, I kept it in my bathroom and stuffed a towel under the door to try and muffle its whining. Then, on the third day, I came home and discovered he was missing. I was frantic looking for him. I could still remember the blank look on my mom’s face and the chill in her voice when she caught me searching.
“If you’re looking for that ugly mutt, it’s gone.”
My eyes began to sting with tears I couldn’t let fall. If she saw, she’d yell at me for being so soft. “Wh-what did you do with him?”
She lifted that ever-present glass of wine to her lips and drank. “I had Bennett take him to the pound. He’s probably being put down as we speak.”
I’d waited until I got to my room before breaking down, and that night I’d cried myself to sleep. But I should have known better. Bennett cared too much for me to ever break my heart like that.
After school the next day, he’d swung by his house before taking me home. As it turned out, he’d gone against my mom’s wishes and decided to keep the dog himself. All because he knew how much I loved it. For years I’d go over to visit him every chance I got, and when he passed away from old age my senior year of high school, I’d been comforted by the knowledge that my sweet Bennett had given the old boy a great life, and that he’d known unconditional love from the both of us.
Forcing myself out of bad memories and back to the present, I looked at the soft, fuzzy bundle in my arms, and right there, on the side of the road, with my car in a freaking ditch, I made a decision.
“I’m gonna call you Crash.”
Bev tossed her head back and let out a hoot of laughter. “Oh, that’s just perfect!”
And it really was.
Chapter 6
Farah
The guy who showed up with the tow truck looked at my Mercedes sitting lopsided in the ditch before turning to me with a furrowed brow. “Anyone ever tell you not to swerve for animals?”
Hugging Crash tighter to my chest, I let out a heavy breath and mumbled, “Yeah, I might’ve heard that somewhere before.”
Fortunately, one of the blessings of being new and relatively unknown in this town was that I didn’t have anyone who could hold this over my head. If I’d been back home, Jase would have had a field day, giving me all kinds of crap. I never would have lived this down.
“Just hook the car up and get it back to the garage, Franky,” Bev said in a bossy tone, and with how fast he moved to do her bidding, it appeared he was used to it. A while later, my car was out of the ditch and hooked to his big truck. “Come on, Farah. I’ll give you and Crash a ride. Franky’ll meet us at the shop.”
Crash napped in my lap as Bev peppered me with questions, showing genuine interest once I told her I’d only moved to town a few weeks ago.
“I’ve been wonderin’ who bought the old Laughlin place,” she said when I told her about my new home. “People all over town have been talkin’ about that place finally bein’ scooped up, but no one really knew by who.”
“You’re looking at her,” I murmured while idly scratching Crash’s fuzzy head.
“That place was a real gem back in the day. So sad that somethin’ with a history like that fell into such disrepair.”
My ears perked up and I sat up a little higher in my seat, turning to get a better view of Bev. “History?”
She glanced to the side quickly, giving me a look of surprise. “No one’s ever told you the story of that place?” At the shake of my head, she let out a wistful sigh and began telling me how that magnificent house came to be. “It’s just the most romantic story. So back during the Civil War, Tennessee was pretty divided, and once the war ended, there was still a lot of bad blood. One of the town’s wealthy founders, Merle Caroll had a young daughter named Mary. Mary had gone and fallen in love with a man by the name of Jackson Laughlin. Problem was, Jackson was a poor former Union soldier, and Merle was a hardcore Confederate. He found out his daughter was in love with a man he viewed as the enemy and absolutely refused to allow them to be together. But Jackson wasn’t giving up. He was head over heels for Mary, and he was determined to make her his wife.”
“Oh my God,” I gasped, leaning in her direction as I eagerly awaited the rest of the story.
“Jackson barely had two nickels to his name, but every day, he’d make the trek through town to knock on old Merle’s door and ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“That’s so sweet!”
Bev smiled.
“Yeah. I mean, of course Merle said no over and over again. Told Jackson that his little girl deserved better than some broke, penniless man who couldn’t give her the life and home she deserved.”
I was on the edge of my seat, literally and figuratively. “So what did Jackson do?”
“He told the old man he’d prove he could give his daughter a great life. He worked himself to the bone, doing any job he could, scrimping and saving every dollar, and while he was doing that, he was also building Mary the home of her dreams.”
My jaw dropped as I sucked in a dramatic gasp. “No way!”
Bev’s lips tilted into a blinding grin as she looked over at me and winks. “Oh yeah. Built that house by hand. Took him forever, but once he finally finished, it was so grand, so beautiful, that even stodgy old Merle couldn’t bring himself to deny his baby girl a man who’d work his fingers to the bone—literally—to give it to her. They got married, he moved her in, and they had themselves a whole bushel of kids.”
“Wow,” I breathed, turning back to face the windshield. “Now I love it even more.”
“As you should. The house stayed in the family for generations until a little over twenty years ago when the bank foreclosed on it. Robert Laughlin had gambled away most of his family’s money, so he couldn’t keep up with the payments. On top of that, he was also a lazy slob, so the house was already falling apart. It was so bad already that even the few who could afford the place didn’t want to take on the work, so it just sat there for years and years. And now it’s all yours.”
Now it was all mine. A stunning home that had been built by a man for his woman as a show of love and devotion.
Oh yeah, I totally loved my new house.
While I allowed myself to swoon over one of the most romantic love stories I’d ever head, Bev made a left turn, past a long fence into a large forecourt. The structure ahead of us looked like a typical mechanic shop, only on a much larger scale. The metal-sided building had five bays stretched side by side with what looked like an office at the very end. I thought nothing of it at first, that was until I looked at the big letters along the top of the building that spelled out Banks Body and Auto Repair.
Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set Page 258
