So Connor pulled out his phone and called Lucas, who did pick up, luckily. I listened with half an ear as Connor asked after Marie. Of course I couldn’t hear Lucas’s reply, but from the growing frown on Connor’s face, it appeared his cousin hadn’t spoken with her, either.
“Okay, thanks,” Connor said. “We’ll just keep checking — no, we really hadn’t talked about that.” A long pause, and I looked up from my iPad to see him frown and push his overgrown hair back off his forehead. “I don’t think — well, okay, I’ll talk to Angela about it and let you know. I doubt we could do anything before Tuesday because of the holiday. Yeah, okay. ’Bye.”
He ended the call and shoved the phone back in his pocket. Sensing I wasn’t going to be getting any more reading done today, I closed the Kindle app on the iPad and set the device down on the coffee table.
“What was that about?” I inquired.
“Lucas hasn’t heard anything from Marie, either.” He was frowning, reaching up to rub his brow as if his head hurt.
“I sort of gathered that.” Since he continued to scowl, I got up from the couch and went over to him, then put my arms around his waist. “But what did he want you to talk to me about?”
Connor folded me in his arms, pulling me close. “Oh, you know Lucas. He’s got the bit between his teeth on this house thing, says he was talking to one of his golf buddies, someone who’s going through a nasty divorce. Anyway, the guy wants to sell their second home — or maybe it was their third home — the one here in Flag. He’s selling it fully furnished and is ready to deal, mostly because he just wants to get out from under it.”
In a way that sounded great, as long as Connor and I both liked the furniture. It would save us a lot of work. Then I wanted to shake my head at myself. I couldn’t live in Flagstaff. My home was in Jerome, high up on Cleopatra Hill. But because I didn’t know what was going to happen, and had to make myself realize that Connor might be raising two babies on his own, I had to recognize that this apartment was going to be woefully inadequate in a few short months. If Connor could slide into something that was basically turn-key, it would take a lot of the pressure off.
“Okay,” I said. “It sounds like it could be a possibility. What’s he asking for it?”
“A hair under a mil.”
I pushed myself away from him and gazed up into his face, looking for the joke and not seeing it. “A — a million?” I finally managed.
“Ange, I got more than that from the sale of Damon’s house. If we like this place, we can get it for cash.”
Since I didn’t know what else to say, I had to settle for a weak “wow” before going back to the couch so I could sit down. Suddenly my legs felt just a little shaky. I had to hope that someday I’d get used to the casual way the Wilcox family threw large chunks of money around. “And he wants us to look at it.”
“Sooner rather than later. Maybe Tuesday.”
“That won’t work,” I said immediately. “I’ve got to be back in Jerome. The contractors are coming to get started on the kitchen.”
He grimaced before coming to sit next to me on the couch. “Damn. I’d forgotten about that.” A pause as he seemed to study my expression. “Are you really going through with the remodel? It just seems so…disruptive.”
“It will be,” I replied. “But I can’t cancel the whole thing. It’s way too late for that. And it wouldn’t be fair to all those people counting on the income from the project.”
“You’re right, of course. And that sounds like something a prima would say.” To my surprise, he bent forward and kissed me, very gently, on the lips. “So okay, maybe Wednesday or Thursday.”
“Thursday,” I told him. “I need to be back in Jerome for more than just one day. Partly because I should be around for the contractors, and partly because I know no one’s thrilled about me disappearing up here for the weekend. They didn’t say anything, of course, but you could practically see the disapproval radiating off the elders when I told them I wouldn’t be around for a few days.”
“They need to watch it…especially Margot. She has no idea that I could unleash Lucas on her at any time.”
The thought was so incongruous that I had to laugh. “I dare you. Seriously.”
“Well, if Lucas sells us on this house, he’s going to need something to occupy his time….”
The glint in Connor’s eye as he said this as so devilish that all I could do was pull him to me and kiss him, kiss him hard. His mouth opened to mine, and we tasted one another, the fire of our bond licking along our veins. In short order I was in Connor’s arms and being carried upstairs, where we spent the rest of the afternoon losing ourselves in one another, forgetting about houses and disapproving elders and the mystery of Marie’s radio silence.