Like none of what’s sitting under the ground out here exists.
I stand at the edge of the porch, hands braced on the railing, looking out over the land.
It should feel like something, like accomplishment or relief, because this was the goal.
Build something solid. Something mine. Something that didn’t come with history attached to it.
Instead, all I see is everything that came with it anyway.
Buried deep enough that someone thought it would stay that way.
Until we dug it up.
Footsteps sound behind me.
Heavy. Familiar.
Wade steps up on my left, Luke on my right, Brooks leaning against the post like he’s been there longer than any of us noticed.
No one says anything at first.
We just look at it.
The house, finished and real.
“You actually did it,” Luke says after a minute, low, almost like he’s not trying to break the moment.
“Yeah,” I answer.
Wade lets out a slow breath. “Hell of a place.”
It is.
Big enough to hold more than one life.
Built like I knew that from the start, even if I didn’t admit it.
Brooks glances at me sideways. “Doesn’t feel the same, does it?”
“No,” I say.
Because it doesn’t feel that way.
Because it’s not just a house anymore.
It’s tied to something now.
Something bigger than boards and nails and plans drawn out months ago.
Wade rests his forearms on the railing, looking out across the property. “Still worth it?”
I don’t answer right away.
My mind goes straight to Riley.
Then to Hadley.
Standing there, small and steady, trusting me without even knowing what she was trusting me with.
