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“Our house?” I repeat incredulously when he gets into the car. He looks at my face and laughs. “You look like I just told you I bought you a pile of plastic.” He pats my knee and turns the car. He starts out of my driveway.
“Yes. I bought us a house.” He sighs. “I’m sorry I’ve been so secretive, but I wanted everything to go through before I told you. We had to get approval from the feds—”
I cut him off. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone and he’s not making any sense.
“Reece, what are you talking about? You bought us a house? Why? I don’t want to live here alone. I couldn’t sleep in a house here by myself. You’d only be here a few days a month.” His eyes on the road, his profile shows all the emotions that pass over his face. None of them are appropriate responses to my outburst. He only smiles and then grins.
“Reece.”
He just glances at me and breaks into a wide grin. “Patience, Fifty.” His enjoyment obvious.
Ugh, I really hate that nickname.
“Okay. Fine. I’m just going to sit back and relax,” I say, glancing out of the window to watch the desert go by. I marvel, as always, that the land so close to the ocean is so dry.
He pats my leg again. “It’ll be worth the wait. And we’ll be there in less than a minute.”
He turns left into a gated community and stops at the guard post. He shows his ID to the guard and the gates open.
When we drive in, I expect to see big houses, manicured lawns. The manicured lawns were there, and the houses are beautiful, but modest. And there are scores of them. The street we’re on is lined with houses as far as the eye can see.
“It’s a three-mile-long road. The entire subdivision is enclosed in the gate.”
“What is this place?”
“It’s our new neighborhood,” he says gleefully as hops out of the car.
41
Reece
Loreto Bay is said to be the greenest and most lush city in all of Baja. I walk over to open the door for Lucía after we pull into the house that I designated as ours when I bought this development. I’ve been keeping a lot from her, but I wanted this to be right before I told her. The deal was signed this morning and I got on a plane and came straight here.
“I bought this community from a developer who finished construction, but was caught up in a lawsuit that meant he couldn’t afford to carry the cost of the development while he was waiting for people to come in and buy. It was supposed to be a retirement community for Europeans and Americans who were looking to spend part of the year here,” I say as I help her out of the car.
“It was meant to be?” she asks as she lets me lead her up the stone tile walkway. The landscaping is perfect. Everything is.
“Now, it’s going to be staff housing for the studio we’re building here. Staff that’s going to be made up of voluntarily departed and deported people.”
She stops in her tracks and tugs my arm to make me stop.
“Hold on, stop and explain. Now. It’s obviously something great, because you’re grinning like you’re high. So, just tell me.”
“You’re ruining my fun.” I scowl. She scowls back . . . and it just makes me want to kiss her.
“Fine.” I relent. “Let’s go in and get out of the heat, I’ll tell you.” I open the door and lead her inside and watch her face as she takes in the coral colored stucco walls, the Travertine tiled floor, the beamed ceiling lined with sky lights. The hand crafted local furniture and artwork are things I picked out. “We can redecorate later, if you don’t like it.”
She spins to face me. “You’re building a studio?” I laugh at her doggedness.
“In partnership with the largest media company in South America. Yes. We signed the deal this morning. It’s been a nightmare because we’ve had to negotiate with the Mexican government to purchase the property. I had to get my parents on board. They’re not thrilled that I’m moving to Mexico, but they understand and they agree that Artemis is ready for this kind of expansion.”
I grab her and pull her into me. “I talked so much about my family and my duty to it. But you’re my family, too. We may not have a piece of paper or blood that says so. But we’ve got something much stronger than either of those. We love each other. We chose each other. And so, I had to find a way to be here while you were.”
She steps back and just stares at me. Her eyes bright, her smile, that smile, even brighter.
“You’re moving here?”
I nod and laugh as her dark eyebrows rise nearly to hairline. Her eyes narrow.
