Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“He thinks you’re flirting with him, but you’re just being nice.”
“I try to be nice to everyone now.”
“Well, stop.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t smile so much,” he ordered, sounding ridiculous, which was absolutely charming.
“I need to speak to you,” Mr. Farley yelled at me.
“Not now,” Gale and I said together.
“And I’ll work on being more of a dick,” I lied, enjoying how irritated he was, unable to control my grin.
“I thought you were supposed to be scary.”
“Pardon?”
“You said people were afraid of you.”
“They used to be.”
“I might enjoy that,” he grumbled.
“No. You’re too nice of a guy yourself.”
“I can be mean too.”
Doubtful. “I’m sure you can,” I placated him.
He met my gaze. “The baby was good.”
I put my hand in his hair loving the feel of it sliding through my fingers.
“Okay,” he said, straightening up and turning to the Farleys. “Now, who are you two, and why’re you yelling at Maks?”
Which basically closed the door on their visit.
“Oh, Gale,” Ada gushed happily when she returned from speaking to Eugenia. “Guess what we’re going to turn all this land into?”
Gale started praying under his breath.
“What is he saying?” Ada asked me.
“He’s saying please God, don’t let it be a snake sanctuary.”
“Oh, heavens no, but yes, a sanctuary, for dogs and cats.”
“Thank God,” he rushed out, reaching over to pet Misha. “I hate snakes.”
“Well, I don’t hate them,” Ada said, “but really, is this the best climate for them?”
“No,” he insisted. “Not at all.”
She only smiled at him.
ELEVEN
“You know,” Ada was saying as she and I walked together toward the bungalow two weeks later, Misha running in front of us, or more accurately, bounding, as he was leaping in little arcs, “the house is so very big, perhaps instead of having you and Misha live out here, the two of you should move in with me, and we could offer the bungalow as an incentive for the vet we’ll hire and keep on staff.”
“That’s a very kind offer, but we’re going to have Dr. Coleman be our vet,” I explained. “We’ll partner with his clinic, which will help make certain that it remains in our community, which benefits not only us, but others.”
“So then each new dog or cat we get in will go to Dr. Coleman’s clinic?”
“Exactly. But I do think the bungalow can be made into the office and perhaps a place to keep animals who need to be quarantined. Once we break ground on that, we’ll make certain we fence the entire area from where the barn is back to the edge of the property.”
“Why not from where the drive begins at the frontage road? All that land is mine.”
“And what does Gale own?”
“Oh, I see what you’re saying. His piece is strange. It’s that square the house sits on and two acres back.”
“Okay. So we need to start, in my opinion, from the barn.”
“Well, you know best.”
“I don’t think that’s true, but it’s sweet of you. What I do know is that we need to have a conversation with a reputable builder, and they’ll be able to tell us what can be zoned for residential and what can be zoned for commercial. Our sanctuary will be a bit different as we’ll be a nonprofit, so I’m fairly certain we can put a nonprofit near a residence, but again, a builder who knows all about permits and what can go where will know precisely what we can do.”
“You’re so clever, Maks. I really am so fortunate to have you here.”
“Keep that in mind, please, when we start to have conversations about the house.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” she grumbled.
I smiled at her. “Here’s the thing. You have so many salons in the house and little puzzle-box rooms that fit together, and I’m wondering if a more open layout might be better, especially if, let’s say, Eugenia stays long-term, has a family, or if there are other people whom you might want to invite down the road.”
“You mean friends in need or other relatives.”
“A generational home. That’s what my mother had growing up, and she loved it. Her grandparents on the ground floor, then her parents and she and her brothers, then unmarried aunts and others above them.”
“That sounds lovely.”
“Your folks are gone—”
“Thank God.”
“Ada, that’s not nice.”
“Oh, Maks,” she said with a shiver. “If you knew them, you’d be happy too.”
I couldn’t very well argue the point with her about parents since my father was the devil incarnate. “Did you like your grandparents?”
Her smile was instantaneous. “I did. Especially my mother’s mother.”
“There, see? I miss my mother every day, and my grandmother, and I mean this in the best way when I say that you remind me of them.”
“Oh, Maks, I take no offense. I’m sure your grandmother was charming.”
“She really was and—what is that?” I yelled at Misha, seeing him shove his nose into the dirt. “What’re you doing?”