“C’mon in!” She leads me inside.
“Ladies, I’ll walk with Ghost so you can catch up. We both need to stretch our legs a bit.”
“Thank you, Yeti. Love you.” Open affection in Alicia’s voice gives me hope for humanity, and I just know I’m going to love him no matter what. I still can’t get used to her calling him Yeti though, but to each their own.
“He isitfor you, Alicia.”
“He is.” She glances at the door as if expecting him to walk back inside, and I instantly feel uncomfortable—I knew I should have booked something for myself, and now I’m imposing on their quiet, happy life. “I’m so happy to see you!”
As Mark promised, he walks Ghost for a good hour before they both come back. Mark gives Alicia a quick kiss, tells me how glad he is to finally meet me, and retires to their room since he has another shift tomorrow. He mentions something about doing half-shifts for some reason, but I’m too exhausted to understand. So I just bid him goodnight with a tired smile.
Ghost stays with us and alternates his attention between me and Alicia. We eat and talk, then talk some more, drink wine, and eat again. By the time I’m able to lie flat, it’s almost one in the morning, and my vision is blurry. I strained them driving the whole day, and now, after the wine, I’m only half coherent.
While we were talking, Alicia made a bed for me on the couch in the living room since they only have one bedroom. I agreed to stay here before I knew there would be no place to sleep. Alicia doesn’t seem to mind, but I do.
As I lie on the couch under my heavy blanket that Mark brought in from the car and stare at the ceiling, I think about getting out of here as fast as I can. And it’s not that I’m not grateful, because I am, but me being here is totally ruining the cozy vibe they have going on. I can tell. Yes, Mark is welcoming and polite, and Alicia seems happy, but they also seem a bit uncomfortable due to the lack of space with three people here.
I’ll call the bed and breakfast tomorrow after I meet with Archie and see his new home.
ChapterSeven
JOSIE
It took me forty minutes to find the place. Good thing Alicia gave me a cup of coffee to go, or I’d be extremely unpleasant by the time I found this place in the middle of nowhere.
My employer was already here, leaning on the side of his black Range Rover.
“Archie,” I say with a sigh after walking around the outside of the house. “I can’t savethis.” I point at the half-ruinedthingin front of us. Buthalfdoesn’t even begin to describe it. In fact, it’s more than half. The building is about ninety-nine percent gone. It’s just walls and a roof from what I can see.
“You can,” he replies stubbornly. His thick brows draw together. If it weren’t for him getting aggravated, I’d say he looks hilarious. Angriness doesn’t become him.
“It’s easier and quite frankly,” I wince, imagining the zeros he’ll need for this project, “cheaper to start from ground zero rather than fixing it.”
“Josie.” His voice turns pleading as he starts blinking fast like a cartoon character. “Pretty please.”
“Archie,” I call out to the logical part of his brain that’s in there somewhere, using my best teacher voice—the very same one my middle school teacher used when she thought I was being unreasonable. “I’m telling you, fixing this house will take longer than you might think, and you’re telling me you want to be living in it inAugust.” I shake my head to prove my point. “It’s impossible, man. It’s the first week of May—totally not enough time. Plus, what you’re asking for is hard. Do you see the door?” I point at the gorgeous, arched door, most likely made of oak and woven with steel. “That’s old. I’d be a monster if I replaced it with a new one. I’m serious. I’d kill myself. I won’t even wait for anyone else to do it. I can’t find someone who will do the work for me here becausethatwoodwork requires the skill set of a jeweler.” I throw my hands up in exasperation. “Look around, Archie. Should I ask a squirrel or maybe a moose?”
He lets out a loud snort and tells me, “You’d be surprised.”
I scrunch my nose, not understanding what he’s talking about.
He coughs into his fist, obviously hiding a laugh, and sobers up, glancing around sheepishly. We’re on the side of a midsize field. And I’m talking in Maine sizes. Everything is ginormous. I swear, the tallest pine tree on the planet grows in the backyard of this not-so-fine house. The porch is lopsided with decaying steps. In fact, only about three of the steps are even still safe to walk on. You’d have to jump to reach the top. The roof has visible holes in it. And those are the minor repairs. Half the vintage windows are broken. It will take forever to find replacement glass because you can’t just do an easy reconstruction of a place like that—it’s like placing a band-aid on a broken arm.
I’d have to gut the inside if they want to have heat during the brutal Maine winters. That is if they want to keep their toes attached. But while doing that, I still have to keep everything that’s original intact. You either bring a place like this back to its original glory and charm or bulldoze the crap out of it and build a modern building with modern things like AC and central heating. Anything in between is a crime. I’m not even talking about permits—if the locals deem the house ‘historic,’ we are screwed because they will not let us make any visual changes.
“Wait a minute,” he says and pulls his phone out. He types for a few seconds before he looks at the screen, the sound of ringing blaring from the speaker.
“Hey, babe!”a sultry voice responds, clearly thinking Archie is alone, and I instantly feel out of place. The way she says his name has my cheeks turning red.
“Hey, Lei,” Archie turns into a big, tattooed marshmallow in front of my very own eyes, and I bite my lip, trying not to smile, even though it warms my heart seeing this sudden change. “I need your help.”
“What’s up? I’ve got a minute.”Her voice becomes muffled as she speaks to someone on the other end of the line, and Archie turns to me.
“Leila is on a business trip in Florida. She’s a journalist.” His voice is full of pride, and I can’t contain my smile anymore.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”Leila asks worriedly.
“Yes, Lei. Don’t worry,” he calms her down and flips his phone at me.
