Let It Be (Butler, Vermont #6) - Marie Force Page 0,17
head was spinning, but in the best possible way. His excitement was contagious, even if she still worried that someday he’d be sorry he’d given up the chance to live in his beloved England for a year. He’d promised he wouldn’t, and she had no choice but to believe him, especially since he was making plans that required her full attention.
“I called a Realtor in Butler before we left Mississippi,” he told her when they were outside of New York City.
“You did what?”
“I called a Realtor, told her how much I could afford to put down, and she found me what she called a fixer-upper. We can use everything we learned this summer to make it our own.”
“You did not buy property without even seeing it first.”
“What if I did?”
“Lincoln! You’re insane! No one does that. And when were you going to tell me about it? We’ve been on this bus for more than twenty hours already!”
“People do things like that when they’re trying to convince the one they love that they’re serious about making a life in the place she loves.”
“You told me you love me more than the Beatles. I’m already convinced you’re serious.”
“We’re going to need a place to live.”
“So you wait until we get there to figure that out. You don’t call some random Realtor who might be a scammer for all you know. Who is it anyway?”
“Someone named Gertrude who goes by the nickname of Dude.”
Molly began to laugh. She laughed so hard she couldn’t breathe.
“What’s so funny?”
“You bought a house from the woman known in town as Snow White because all she really cares about is animals.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. What the heck did she sell you?”
“Now, don’t freak out or anything…”
“Oh my God. What did you do?”
“She told me about a barn on Hells Peak Road. You know that road?”
Again, Molly laughed until she cried. She laughed so hard, she ended up in a coughing fit. “Tell me,” she said between gasping breaths that had the few other people on the bus staring at them, “that you didn’t buy the old Andersen barn.”
“I’m not sure who the current owners are,” Linc said, a bit indignantly.
“You have no idea what you bought, do you?”
“I bought us a place to live.”
“You bought us a falling-down wreck of a barn where cows were living a few months ago!”
“She said it was the only property currently for sale in Butler, but she didn’t mention the cows.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Is this woman named Dude an actual Realtor?”
“Among other things. It’s okay. You can get the money back, right?”
“Um, well, so…”
“Lincoln Abbott! You did not put down money you can’t get back on a falling-down wreck of a barn where cows lived a few months ago!” She paused, looked at him, her eyes wide with alarm. “Did you?”
“Maybe?” he said with a sheepish grin.
“How much?”
“Like ten thousand?”
“Dollars?”
“Yes, dollars, and don’t look at me that way. If I want your parents to take me seriously as their daughter’s future husband, we needed a place to live.”
“Did it have to be a falling-down barn where cows lived a few months ago?”
“It needed to have room for all the kids you told me you wanted.”
“At least they’ll each have their own stall. Will they get fresh hay every day, too?”
Linc gave her the side-eye. “I had no idea that my sweet Molly Stillman could be so sarcastic.”
“Still want to give up Oxford to live in a broken-down barn in Vermont that probably smells like cow shit?”
“Hell yes, because sarcastic Molly is sexy Molly.”
“You’re not right in the head.”
“I believe I told you that the night we met when you called me a sociopath.”
“I should’ve paid closer attention that night. What else did Dude sell you besides a broken-down barn with a sagging roof?”
“She sold me on a dream of a life in Butler, Vermont, with you and our stable full of kids and maybe your family’s business if your dad decides to hire me, and snowy winters and breathtaking autumns, of apple picking and maple-syrup making and a simple, fulfilling life that sounds better to me than anything I’ve ever experienced. But only if you’re there to make it all perfect.”
“I’m thinking about forgiving you for the barn. Eventually.”
“When that barn is the coolest house in Butler, you’ll be thanking me for having the foresight and wisdom to get us a home that can accommodate the five children you told me you want.”
“Five? I said maybe three.”
“I heard five.”
“Now you’re hearing things, too. I’m