Pops had seen a blueprint of the plans, but Kay-Kay would be the first person to see, and hopefully understand, my vision.
“Watch for debris and nails and stuff,” I said as she stepped inside.
The main room opened up all the way to the steepled roof with large exposed beams that showcased the structure.
“Stairs over there, to an open plan second floor, and a loft above that, if needed,” I said. “This is basically a great room and dining room. The kitchen will be at the back of the house along that wall, opening up the back porch.”
She was staring up at the roof beams.
“Glass walls front and back. So you can get as much light inside as possible, and there should be a view of the surrounding land no matter where you are in the house.”
I was rambling. I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to stop. Mostly because she hadn’t said anything. Not a word. Finally, I broke.
“Well?”
“My brothers and I used to play in this cabin. Okay, not this cabin. That place is gone. But it was our own fort. A place for us that was free of adult supervision. Where any adventure we could dream up was possible.”
Damn, I thought, feeling slightly deflated. I’d taken a simple cabin and turned it into something ostentatious.
“You hate this, then.”
“No,” she said quickly. “When I played here, when I used to envision what the cabin looked like in my imagination…it was this. Grand and spacious, but still of this place, of this land. Like it belonged here. This…this is amazing.”
Praise had never been something I was comfortable with. I didn’t get it growing up, so when I did receive any accolades as an adult, I usually went straight to sarcasm as a diversionary tactic.
I didn’t want to do that now. Having her see this, someone who had grown up here, belonged here, herself, it meant something to me.
“Thank you,” I said, a little more gruffly then I would have liked.
“You designed this, didn’t you?”
“I had help. A friend I went to school with is an architect. He made sure it was physically sound, while giving me everything I wanted.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and I could see her mind had gone someplace else.
“It’s about as far away from Manhattan as you can get, huh?”
She nodded.
“I don’t know that I could ever live in a city again,” I said. “Not after being out here. It’s like I didn’t realize it, but the whole time I was there I couldn’t really breathe.”
“What city?”
“San Francisco.”
“Seems like a funny place for an arborist to work,” she said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“Don’t forget I’m an agricultural scientist, too.”
I don’t know why I was bothering to hide who I was. She was going to figure it out eventually. People didn’t often take jobs with no salary attached.
“Hmm. So when were you going to tell me that you’re rich?”
My eyebrows shot up. Okay, she’d figured it out quicker than I’d expected.
“You know, loaded. Independently wealthy. Dripping in it,” she added.
“I’m…comfortably well-off.”
