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He was right. They continued past the white farmhouse, then a short distance further on turned down a narrow lane between overgrown trees, their branches scraping the top of the wagon. She shivered and moved a little closer, and his tail gave her a comforting squeeze.
The road ended along with the patch of woods. Open farmland stretched out in front of them, but he was too busy staring at the house to the left to pay much attention. He’d never seen such a rundown wreck. He opened his mouth to say so, but Lottie spoke first.
“Isn’t this wonderful? I love it!”
“You love it?” he asked cautiously.
“I do. It’s just what I dreamed of when you offered - I mean when you told me about this job.”
“You dreamed about this house?”
She followed his gaze to the small cottage nestled at the edge of the woods. It had a green roof and a wide front porch just like the one at the main house, although on a much smaller scale. The paint was peeling, leaves and other debris had piled up on the lopsided porch, and two of the windows had broken panes. None of that appeared to deter her.
“Maybe not exactly, but it will be adorable once we finish fixing it up.”
“I agree,” Ida said as she joined them. “It has a lot of potential.”
“Potential?” he asked Temel as the two women went ahead, and the older male gave him an apologetic look.
“Believe it or not, it is in better shape than many of the farmhouses. The roof doesn’t leak and it’s -”
“I know. Structurally sound.”
“If you’d care to look at some of the other properties…”
He shook his head as he watched his wife climb the rickety looking stairs, Raja in her hand so he could inspect the house as well.
“No. My wife likes it and that’s the most important thing.”
“I agree.” Temel said and they smiled at each other.
They had just reached the steps when he replayed the conversation in his head. He hadn’t been choosing his words to allay any suspicions on Temel’s part - he had meant every one of them, from calling her his wife to the importance of her happiness.
He had fallen in love with his fake wife.
CHAPTER 12
Lottie smiled happily as they stood on the front porch waving goodbye to Ida and Temel, then looked back out over the open fields. They clearly had not been worked for some time but they were filled with wildflowers, nodding peacefully under the summer sun. And best of all, they stretched uninterrupted to some low, rolling hills and then a row of high mountain peaks far in the distance, as expansive as the ocean view she loved.
“Isn’t this beautiful?” she asked Celenk.
“Mmm,” he agreed, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.
He’d been remarkably quiet as they toured the house, his face not quite set in his former unreadable mask, but definitely abstracted.
“Are you worried about the amount of work it’s going to take to fix it up?”
The inside wasn’t in any better shape than the outside, although some attempt had been made to prepare for their arrival. The floors had been swept and the generator turned on. There was a table and chairs in the big kitchen at the back of the house, and even more importantly, a big bed with clean sheets and a pretty quilt in the downstairs bedroom.
He’d raised a brow ridge at that and Temel shrugged.
“Just being prepared. It was easy enough since we’re so close, but if you hadn’t wanted it or chose somewhere else, we would have moved the furniture. We still can.”
“This is fine,” she said quickly. “Isn’t it, Celenk?”
He’d looked at her then, his eyes bright blue.
“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
