transfer into his bank with the promise of a homeowner’s loan with them.”
I laughed slightly. “Wow, what you can do when you have money.”
“Baby, this had nothing to do with money, and everything to do with the fact that I’m a Cortell.”
“And everybody in town loves the Cortell brothers,” I laughed.
“Hey, we’re charming and sexy. Who could say no to us?”
“Apparently nobody.”
“Anyway,” he said, pulling out the menus. “The transfer is made. I thought maybe we could look at houses next week.”
“Oh, I already have one in mind.”
“Yeah, Mr. Groverton told me that, but it sold two days ago.”
“Really? Damnit, I really wanted that house.”
“Well, I have another idea if you’re up for it.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell you,” he said, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “I want it to be a surprise.”
“You know I’m not big on surprises.”
“I think you’ll like this one.”
“Robert, why do I have to have my eyes covered?”
“Would you relax and just go with me on this?”
I sighed and relaxed into the seat. I had no idea what he wanted. He just called me this morning while I was at work and told me that he had to show me something this afternoon. Then he showed up and dragged me away from work, even though I was trying to finish up some last minute things for Eric. I had been working hard all week to make it up to Eric for abandoning him the previous week. I got the feeling that all his grumpiness was due to the fact that he actually had to go through the mail, instead of me doing it for him.
“Alright, we’re here. Just hang on. I’ll come around and help you out.”
When the door opened and he pulled me out, I still had no clue where we were. “Can I take this off now?”
I felt his fingers slip through the blindfold and remove it. “Alright, now!” he shouted, slipping it off my face.
I stared at the house in front of me and frowned, then looked across the field to where my crappy trailer sat about a half mile away. “I don’t get it.”
“This is the house, remember?”
“Yeah, this is the property we always came to at night. What about it?”
He grinned and held up some papers. “I bought it for you.”
My jaw dropped. “You bought this?”
“Yeah, yesterday. This was the surprise I was telling you about last week. When I saw it was for sale, I knew that it was meant to be. What are the odds that just when you need a new place to stay, this house would become available? That’s not a coincidence.”
“Robert…you should have talked to me about this first.”
“I know,” he sighed. “This was something you wanted to do, but there was another buyer lined up. I didn’t want to miss out on it.”
I stared up at the two story house, tilting my head to the side as I stared at it. It was definitely old and in need of some repairs, but it was a cute house. “What does the inside look like?”
“Let’s go check it out,” he grinned, grabbing my hand and pulling me closer to the house. “I had an inspection done first, and it passed. It just needs a little updating. I figured that might be something you’d like to do.”
I stepped into the house as he shoved the door open. The house was one of those early twentieth century houses that you see in magazines. It was beautiful. All the original wood was still there, and though everything was outdated, Robert was right, I would have fun making this place my own. I walked from room to room, checking out everything, and just taking in the fact that this was mine. I couldn’t believe it.
“Robert, you didn’t pay for the whole house, did you?”
He held up his hands and shook his head. “I promised you I would only make the down payment.” He nodded his head from side to side with a sheepish smile. “It may be a little larger than the average down payment, but I wanted to make sure you weren’t struggling if something needed to be repaired. Plus, now there’ll be room in your budget to start making this your own.”
I couldn’t believe it. I just didn’t know what to say. Part of me wanted to be angry with him, but the other part of me knew that there was more to this old house than just a place for me to live. We had memories