Page 123 of Hometown Hottie

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CARSON

“As you can see, it’s been neglected these last few years,” I said to Daniel, the contractor, as I walked into the house with him.

I’d just closed on it earlier this week, but I was eager for the work to get started. One of Daniel’s teams was also helping build the new bakery, and another was starting to turn some of the old barns on the Murphy ranch into venues.

Nova was up to her ears in renovations and construction, and I was helping out where I could. It was good to be busy and I really wanted to get this house livable.

Daniel arched an eyebrow at me as we stood in the center of the small living area, his eyes dark with doubt. “This is where you want to live?”

“Eventually,” I responded. “Sooner rather than later would be good. I need to get out of my mother’s house, man.”

He laughed. An old friend from high school, he’d assured me that he had enough people he could call on to tackle another project, but I wondered if he was regretting that now. “You could’ve told me you’d bought a tear-down. I’d have called it a shell, but I’m not sure the structure counts as that. One more big storm and the whole thing could come down on your head.”

“It’s that bad?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck as I eyed the bits of plaster on the floor that had fallen off the walls and the cracks I could see in the ceiling. “Never mind. It’s that bad. What was I thinking?”

“Probably that you wanted to get out of your mother’s house,” he teased before the expression on his face grew serious again. “I’m not going to lie to you, Carson. This is going to be a big job. Do you want to tell me what you’ve got in mind here?”

I shrugged. “Honestly, I haven’t really had time to think about specifics. I’ve been looking for a property to build on, but there’s nothing suitable on the market right now, so I figured this was the next best thing. Salvage what you can and let me know what to do with the rest.”

He nodded slowly, his gaze sweeping around the place once more. “Okay, I’m giving you homework. I’m going to have my assistant send you some links. Look at them, and let me know which style you prefer. After that, you and I are going to sit down and talk about design. I’ll get a team of guys together for you while that’s happening, and I’ll get them in here to start with the cleanup while we figure out a miracle. Good thing I like a challenge.”

“Make the guys local and use as many as you can,” I said.

He gave me a sidelong glance. “I’ve heard you were on a mission to help the town. You sure you only want locals? We might need to wait for some of them to finish on other projects, but I’ll get together as many as I can.”

“Only locals but county-wide is fine,” I replied, sliding my hands into my pockets and rocking back on my heels. “I like windows. If that helps. Lots of natural light.”

He groaned. “You’ve spent way too much time in the city, but sure, I can bring in natural light. Would you like some green juice to go with that?”

I flipped him off. “Just the natural light is fine. Thank you.”

He laughed, pulled out his phone, and readied the camera. “I’m going to take a look around and get some pictures. You can either hang out or leave me with the keys and I’ll get them back to you.”

“I’ll hang out,” I said. “I still need to get a feel for the place myself.”

As he nodded and walked away, my phone rang. I headed into the overgrown garden before I took the call. When I saw my old agent’s name on the screen, my blood chilled a little bit, but I picked up, not yet having the answer I knew he wanted from me.

“Paxton, how are you, man?”

“I’m doing well. You?” He didn’t wait for a response, always too busy for small talk as he continued in his brisk, efficient tone. “The network is still waiting on your answer about that sports broadcasting gig, Carson. I can’t stall them forever and word has gotten out that you might be interested. I’m juggling offers here, but you need to let me know where your head is at.”

“I’ll have an answer for you soon,” I said. “I just need to talk to someone first.”

“Call me back as soon as you can.” He hung up and I sighed.

I headed back inside and dropping the keys on the kitchen counter. “Daniel? I have to leave after all. Keys are in the kitchen.”

“No problem, man,” he called from one of the bedrooms. “I’ll call you with an update as soon as I have one. In the meantime, remember to take a serious look at those links we’re going to send you.”

“I’ll do that.” I walked back out into the sunshine, but my blood still felt a little cold. I had to find Nova to talk to her about this, but I didn’t know what to say.

As luck would have it, I found Ryan first, overseeing work in the bakery. He grinned when he saw me walking in. “Hey, Mr. Investor Man. You coming to check that we’re not squandering your money?”

“Of course,” I joked. “I wanted to make sure you hadn’t taken it and run off to a tropical island.”

“I seriously considered doing that, but in the end, I decided to stay for another week or so. Cassidy has to have her nails done before we leave.”