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What if the reason she didn’t want to think about those things was less the situation she’d escaped with her ex and more that she just didn’t see that kind of a future for us? One would think she would have mentioned it, but perhaps not. Maybe she didn’t want to say anything while she was pregnant or in the hospital because she was afraid that I would leave her before Leo was born and not have anything to do with him.
I tried to shut those thoughts out of my mind. If any of them were the case, then I would find out soon enough. But she didn’t act like a woman who wasn’t interested anymore. Just one that was frustrated and tense, which considering our situation, was understandable. I had to give her a little space for that.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”
“All right,” I said, grinning.
I pulled the truck onto the road and started to drive north, toward the city line. As we passed what amounted for our town, she seemed to start growing both more curious and anxious all at once. She still wasn’t terribly familiar with the area, so she probably didn’t really know where she was, even though it was a straight shot from the town square. If she had to, she could walk back to her work by just following one road.
Eventually, I pulled off the main road and down a long, winding one that snaked through some trees and into a little grove. It was there that a house stood on a hill, overlooking what was at one time a plantation. The plantation was mostly a working farm now, but there was a good bit of land around the house that had been turned into a more picturesque garden. Still, it overlooked the area from one side and on the other led into the woods that shielded it from the road.
It was the house that she had seen at the relator’s office. And it was gorgeous.
So much work had been done to it already to prepare it for the showing. A new coat of paint had already been applied, and a new set of stairs leading to the porch had been built. A new roof with solar panels on one side was in the process of being put on, and signs of workers being there were evident, though they looked like they had either taken a break or the day off.
Allison looked through the window with an expression I couldn’t read. She was taking it all in, looking all over the land and the house, and I expected her to say something, anything about it. But instead, she stayed quiet, her lips pursing together, and when she turned back to me, her eyes were wide with a touch of anger and a piercing placement of tears at the corners.
Horrified, I waited to hear what she would say, but I knew it wouldn’t be good. This was what she had wanted for so long, and here I was giving it to her. But the look on her face was not saying she was grateful. I wondered how I could have gotten this wrong.
22
ALLISON
The first thing I noticed was that it was even bigger in person than all the pictures. The house itself was larger, and the property around it looked a bit overwhelming.
It was gorgeous, and the overview of the neighboring farm made it look like it was out of a storybook. I could just see the amenities I would add, the playground and sitting areas, the stable where I would keep horses for long walks on trails. I could imagine the pool in the back and the tire swing from the massive tree in the front. People would mill around there on a lazy weekend where they were determined to do nothing but relax, and others would be there, unexpectedly experiencing peace during a whirlwind stay.
It looked like there had been some work done on it recently, things that hadn’t been mentioned in the description of the place before. A new roof was clearly being put on with what looked like giant solar panels on the back side. I could see some of them off to the side of the house.
Also on the side of the house was some of the junk that had been piled up on the porch. The grass, which had been high, and I assumed was even higher than the pictures, was now freshly cut, and it showed off the beauty of the land around it. As the hilly yard rolled away to the farm on the other side, it looked like a painting. The other side rolled away into woods, much of which was part of the property, stretching all the way out to the street and then down an acre or so.
