wasn’t about to push. He knew what it was like to need time to work through your shit.
“Good for you,” he replied with a nod.
“And don’t change the subject.” She twisted in her seat to face him, not that he could penetrate the thick black lenses of her glasses. They made her look like some Hollywood starlet hiding from the press. “Where on earth are you taking me?”
Trent watched the sign approaching and slowed the ute. It was easy to fishtail in these front-heavy vehicles, especially if you had nothing in the tray, and he’d seen one too many dickheads do it on the highway when they almost missed a turn. Flicking his indicator, he eased off the bigger road.
“Trent,” Cora prodded, sliding her glasses down her nose to flash her baby blues at him.
“We’re going to a little place called number three Bramble Court.”
He navigated onto a quiet residential street, the houses thinning out as he took another turn. Then another. Number one…two…three. He pulled the ute to a stop in front of the block. It was overgrown, weeds running wild and the grass alternating patches of straw-like tufts and dry, dusty earth. Set back from the street was a rundown structure with a broken front window and a graffiti tag sprayed in black across the front door.
Cora eyed him curiously. “It’s a good thing I know you’re not the murdering type. This place is…”
“In need of some work,” he supplied.
“I was going to say the perfect place to bury a body.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Nah. There’s way too many nosy people around these parts.” He winked. “You don’t know gossip until you meet some of the folks in Patterson’s Bluff. They make it a sport watching people out of their front windows. I swear, they’ve uncovered all kinds of secrets—affairs, divorces, secret business arrangements…”
Cora made an adorable snorting sound. “But no murders?”
“We’re a chill people here; the ocean is a very calming influence.” He pushed open the door and stepped out onto the road. “And I hear murder is a whole lotta work.”
Cora followed Trent up the driveway, which was little more than a section of dirt loosely paved with gravel. The building was a complete eyesore and vastly different from how it looked in the photos from the online listing, which had used clever angles to hide the worst of it. But he’d bought it anyway, seeing the potential others might not. He’d need to get a demolition crew in and have a thorough cleanup. After that, save for a few towering gums, which he was adamant about keeping, it would be a clean slate.
He held up his hand, covering the shambling building so he could see nothing but the land around it. The block looked long and a little narrow, but it flared out at the back. It was an odd shape, but he could make it work.
He walked onto the plot, his boots crunching over dead grass and twigs and gum nuts. There was a sliver of ocean at the back, the slight incline of the land giving enough height to see the thin blue line over the back fence. If he built a two-story house, he could put a balcony out back and watch the calm waves roll in from the bay side of his hometown.
“I assume you’re going to get rid of the murder hut?” Cora said, coming up beside him.
“It’s got a certain charm to it, don’t you think?” He couldn’t keep the amusement out of his voice.
“If that charm is crack-den chic, then yeah.” She wrinkled her brow. “Should we even be here? Isn’t this private property?”
“You’re a stickler for the rules, aren’t you?” he said with a grin. “And you’re right. It is private property. My private property.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You brought me to the place where you want to build your home?”
When she said it like that, it sounded…intimate. Beyond the unspoken boundaries they’d laid around them. For some reason, bringing her here, showing her his plans—he felt proud for the first time in a long time. Maybe it was seeing Jace and Angie so loved-up and future-focused and happy.
It had been a long time since he’d wanted those things for himself.
“The view is really pretty,” she said, taking a look around. After her initial reservations, she seemed to warm to the place, especially when she spotted the magnificence beyond the backyard. “You could build a two-story house facing… What?”