“If he is, we’ll find out.”
Mitch couldn’t help wondering if Lance was so determined to pin the fire on Alex Montoya that he would wrongly accuse an innocent man. “What if it wasn’t him?”
“He’s the only one with motive.”
“We don’t know that for sure, “Mitch countered.
“Hey, by the way,” Lance said, “Darius asked that we meet him at his office next Wednesday evening.”
“Did he say what for?”
“He said we had some business to discuss, but he wouldn’t say more than that.”
“Does it have something to do with the fire?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Sure, I’ll be there.” He was sure that by then he would need a night away from his wife—if they hadn’t already killed each other.
The following morning Mitch and Lexi drove to the real estate agent’s office to begin looking at houses. And though she still felt like death warmed over from a bout of kneeling to the porcelain gods, she put her best face on. The agent, Mark Sullenberg, was a friend of the family, which meant she and Mitch had to act happily married.
Unfortunately, he was really good at it.
There was barely a minute when he wasn’t touching her, either holding her hand or casually draping his arm across her shoulders. He was so good, so charming and sweet to her, she started to forget they were only playing a role. It made her think of that week in D.C. and how perfect it had been, how naturally they had connected, which in turn made her feel depressed and lonely, because she knew she would never feel that way again.
She just prayed they would find a house soon, so they could go back to hating each other. But after looking at half a dozen homes, they hadn’t found a thing either of them even remotely liked. They were all ultramodern in exclusive gated communities with lots of BMWs and luxury SUVs in the driveways. And they all looked the same. Lifeless and boring. By the sixth house, she could see that Mitch was getting frustrated and she was beginning to think that building new might be their only option.
“Can you show us something different?” Mitch asked Mark. “Something a bit more…”
“Traditional,” she finished for him.
“Exactly,” he said, looking surprised that she’d nailed it right on the head. “Something with some character.”
“There is one property that recently came on the market,” Mark said. “It’s just outside of Maverick County. A renovated plantation house. The only problem is that it’s located on ten acres of land, and you said you wanted to look in more of a suburban setting.”
“How big is it?” Mitch asked.
“Fifty-five-hundred square feet. It used to be a horse farm, so there’s a barn and stables.”
That caught Lexi’s attention. Her uncle on her mother’s side had kept horses when Lexi was a child. Though she had always wanted to learn to ride, her father would never allow it. Too dangerous, he’d decided. But her uncle would let her brush the horses and help feed and water them. The idea of owning a horse or two thrilled her.
She glanced over at Mitch, thinking she would reduce herself to begging if that was what it took to make him agree to at least look at it, but he appeared as intrigued as she was.
He shrugged and said, “Couldn’t hurt to look at it.”
They piled back into Mark’s car for the twentyminute ride, Lexi feeling uncharacteristically excited. For some reason, she had a really good feeling about this one.
“I’ll warn you that it’s a little run-down and overgrown,” Mark told them. “When the owner died, there was a dispute with the will so it’s been sitting empty for a while. It has a lot of potential, though.”
They pulled off the road into a long, tree-lined driveway. He hadn’t been kidding when he said it was overgrown. It would take a lot of work to get the yard in order. But Lexi couldn’t keep her eyes off the house itself. It was…amazing. A huge, white Greek revival with pillars and balconies and black shuttered windows. She could just imagine herself in the evenings sitting on the long front porch drinking lemonade and watching the sun set, or playing with the baby in the shade of the trees.
She knew without a doubt, this was the one. This was home.
Mark pulled to a stop and they all climbed out. As he’d done before, Mitch took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. But this time it was different. This time he really held on, as though he was brimming with pent-up excitement.
“It was built in 1895,” Mark told them, “and completely remodeled about thirty years ago. It’s a little rough around the edges, but an excellent investment.”
She and Mitch stood there for a moment, side by side, hands clasped, gazing up at the remarkable structure. Lexi didn’t know about Mitch, but she felt as though this was meant to be. As if, for the first time in her life, she’d finally come home.
“So, what do you think?” Mark asked.
“We’ll take it,” they said in unison, then looked at each other, startled that they were in complete agreement.
Mark laughed. “Wow, how’s that for a consensus? You haven’t even seen the inside.”
“Well, then,” Mitch said, giving her hand a squeeze, “let’s see it.”
Lexi knew at this point that it was only a formality, but they followed Mark up the porch and through the front door. The interior was a bit shabby and outdated, the kitchen and bathrooms in particular desperately needed updating, but all Lexi could see was the potential. Mitch must have felt the same way. When they concluded the tour he told Mark, “Let’s write up an offer,” and when they got back to the office to fill out the paperwork, instead of bidding low, he offered several thousand above the asking price.
Though she didn’t let it show, she felt almost giddy with anticipation. They were buying a house. A house whose renovations she would help plan, and whose rooms she would decorate however she chose. She could hardly wait to get started.
She had never felt so…alive. As though an entirely new and amazing world was opening up to her.
“I’ll submit this right away and hopefully we’ll hear something in the next day or two,” Mark told them as they were leaving. “I’ll be in touch.”
Though she was practically bursting with excitement when they were in the car on the way back to the townhouse, Lexi tried to hide it. An automatic defense mechanism she’d learned from dealing with her father. If he knew something was important to her, he would use it against her as leverage. A true politician.
Then Mitch asked, “So, you liked it?”
She could no longer contain herself. She blurted out, “I knew I wanted it the second we pulled into the driveway. If I had every house in the world to choose from, that’s the one I would have picked.”
“It’s going to need a lot of work. It’ll probably be months before we can move in.”
“I would be happy living in it just the way it is.”
He shot her a sideways glance. “The interior is a disaster. We’re going to have to gut it and start from scratch. The renovations will go much faster if it’s unoccupied.”
Although she would be happy moving in there today, he made a good point. Especially with the baby coming. The sooner it was finished, the better.
“I’ll start calling contractors