Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (152 page)

“How
do
you
see
this
stuff?
To
me
it
looks
like
a
scary
nightmare.
That
carpeting
looks
like
it
was
vomited
there
by
leftovers
from
the
reject
vault.”

“Let’s
go
see
the
other
one.
It’s
just
a
few
streets
over.”

The
next
house
was
almost
the
antithesis
of
the
last.
The
outside
looked
horrible.
Peeling
paint,
no
landscaping
at
all,
and
a
sagging
roof
made
her
nervous
to
get
close,
but
peering
into
the
old
Victorian
styled
home
made
her
excited.
“Wow.
Look
at
that
dining
room.
Are
those
pocket
doors?”

“The
inside
is
almost
perfect.
There’ll
be
a
bit
of
interior
stuff
upstairs
when
I
rip
off
the
roof,
but—”

“Rip
off
the
roof?
The
whole
thing?”

“Yep.
I’m
taking
it
down
to
the
rafters
and
maybe
replacing
those.”

“Wow.”

“Laird
is
excited
about
it.
He’s
convinced
that
we’ll
find
some
kind
of
historical
something
in
the
attic
and
the
house
will
be
worth
millions.”

“For
a
laid
back
kid,”
Aggie
said
as
they
walked
back
to
the
car,
“he
sure
has
an
imagination
on
him.”

“Not
to
change
the
subject—”

“Yeah,
I’m
hungry
too.”

“Where
do
you
want
to
eat?”

“Surprise
me.”

~*~*~*~

Their
table
at
Marcello’s
in
Fairbury
overlooked
the
ice
rink—something
that
added
to
a
romantic
ambiance
neither
was
accustomed
to
and
therefore
resisted.
Aggie
half-choked
on
her
salad,
tears
flooding
her
eyes.
Luke’s
hand
reached
across
their
little
table
and
covered
hers.
“You
ok?”

“Not
really,
no.”

“Feels
awkward,
doesn’t
it?”

“If
I
told
you…”

Luke
squeezed
her
hand.
“Tell
me.”

“I
feel
like
I’m
out
with
William
again.
It
feels
all
fake
and
horrible.”

There
were
worse
things
she
could
have
said,
of
course,
but
he
couldn’t
imagine
not
preferring
even something worse
to
any reference to her date with the deputy
.
Luke
swallowed
hard
and
thought
quickly.
If
only
his
lips
followed
the
speed
of
his
brain,
awkward
moments
like
this
might
be
a
much
rarer
occurrence.
“Close
your
eyes
and
tell
me
what
is
fake
about
it?”

“Candles,”
she
said
instantly.
“We
don’t
use
candles
at
home.
If
Ian
didn’t
knock
them
over
and
burn
the
house
down,
Cari
or
Lorna
would.”

“If
you
could,
would
you
like
candles
at
home
sometimes?
Maybe
on
the
coffee
table
or
even
on
the
mantel
?”

“The
mantel
would
be
pretty.
They’d
be
nice
on
the
coffee
table
after
the
kids
go
to
bed
and
we
have
dessert
alone.”

Alone
sounded
good.
Luke
could
feel
eyes
on
them
and
knew
that
someone,
if
not
many
someones,
had
realized
everything
at
the
table
by
the
window
wasn’t
peachy.
“You
could
also
have
them
in
your
room.
The
mantel
in
there
would
be
pretty
with
candlelight
on
it.”