We clink our glasses and sip. I exhale before looking out where the waves meet the pink sky. My heart feels heavy but full.
“I’m going to miss this view.”
“Oh, that reminds me. I got you something.”
I look over as he pulls out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. My skin tingles as I reach for it. I have no idea what to expect.
Maybe a plane ticket to visit him in New York.
I unfold it, staring down at the document that’s definitely not an airline ticket.
In bold letters across the top, it saysGENERAL WARRANTY DEED.
Underneath that line has my full name, Summer Lark Sullivan.
“What is this?” I murmur, not believing my eyes.
“It’s the deed to the house.” He says it like he’s ordering a bagel with fucking cream cheese.
I blink again, trying to catch up with the words he just spoke.
“But why does it only have my name on it?” I flip it over, searching for Russell Dayton Copeland II.
“Because it’s yours, Cupcake. I want you to have it. I want you to stay.”
My eyes slowly crawl up his body until they meet his amber gaze. My chest is thumping erratically, and my skin is flushed.
“I don’t understand …”
He reaches out to tuck my hair behind my ear. “Do you not want to stay here?”
My hands are shaking. “I do. I just … this is too much.”
This house is worth so many zeros. Way too many for me to accept as a gift from him.
“I don’t need a house this big.”
“It’s only four bedrooms, plus the studio. If you’re okay with it, I’ll work out of the home office, and you could set a bedroom up as a photography studio for portraits. You could even rent out the apartment to someone for extra income and to cover the taxes and insurance.”
“You want to live here too?”
He sips his champagne. “I really need to split my time between here and New York. I’ll keep my penthouse there, but we can spend our summers here and fly back and forth whenever you need to.”
We.
I look out over the white-capped waves in the growing darkness. The string lights are hanging overhead, creating a warm, cozy ambiance. Tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“It’s too much, Dayton. I can’t accept it. Don’t you need to pay back the loan?”
I look back at his face to see him frowning.
“What loan? They owned the house outright. I thought you knew that.”
“The loan for the new deck and the outdoor kitchen.” I gesture to the stone countertop with the flat-top grill, the sink, and a glass-front mini fridge. “I don’t want you to be forced to keep paying that off when it should come out of the sale. And this house was your inheritance too! No, I won’t accept it.”
He laughs out loud, setting his glass down. “I didn’t need a loan for that.”
I look around at the extravagant deck. Now that I’m really thinking about it, he paid Janice directly for the furniture today. I just assumed they were loaning it to use and would take extra out of the commission once it sold.
