“It must be strange to stay up here this long without the others. Are you heading back to New York soon?” Tori almost didn’t want to know how much time she had left, but she had to ask.
Wade nodded. “In a couple days. I still have a few things to take care of before I go back.”
“That’s right. You still haven’t bought my land,” she said with a weak smile. She’d enjoyed the past few days without the topic coming up. “Time is a-ticking on that.”
He glanced down at his mug and took a sip. “I guess I’m not going to worry too much about that anymore.”
Tori’s brow shot up in surprise. She didn’t hide it well at all. “What?”
“You don’t want to sell it to me. I can’t make you. I don’t know what I could offer to change your mind, so there’s no point in fighting over it anymore.”
What should’ve been a victorious moment didn’t feel quite how she’d expected. Going up against Wade, she’d always secretly thought she would lose. One way or another he would wear her down. And now, although he’d named her the victor, it didn’t seem as if she’d won. After the past few days, a part of her didn’t want to beat him. The thought had crossed Tori’s mind that if he’d stay, she’d consider selling it to him. She wanted to build a home, not just a house. Somehow having Wade there with her was an integral piece of her design.
Selling him the land would make him happy. She wanted him to be happy. She could find another piece of land, but replacing Wade’s place in her heart felt nearly impossible.
And yet, she felt a tug of hope deep inside. If he no longer wanted her property, maybe she could have both him and the land. She’d known trusting Wade would be an issue as long as he had this ulterior motive. If that was gone, what could that mean? Had he really given up wanting the land or did he care too much about her to hurt her like that? He hadn’t said anything about how he felt for her. If he was going back to New York and life as usual, he probably felt nothing at all but had just run out of time.
She’d be left with no reason to hate him when it was all over.
“I’d like to spend the last few days with you before I go.”
She hadn’t expected that at all. If he wasn’t just romancing the property away from her, maybe there was more here than she’d thought. With a sigh of dismay, Tori shook her head. Wade always seemed to want the things she couldn’t give. “I have to leave tomorrow. I’m going to Philadelphia for a few days. They’re having the ribbon-cutting ceremony on my building down there on Saturday afternoon. I’ve got to wrap up all the loose ends. I probably won’t be back until the seventh or eighth.”
“Oh.” Wade’s expression was curious. A hint of disappointment mixed in with something else she couldn’t put her finger on. She could almost see his mind spinning. She remembered that expression from watching him at his desk when she worked with him.
“You could come with me,” she suggested.
He looked at her and shook his head. “I can’t. I’ll need to be back in Manhattan before that.”
“I guess I’ll have to catch up with you in the city sometime. Or the next time you’re up this way.”
Wade nodded, his expression guarded. He must’ve realized, as she had, that this would be their last date. Their last night together. “Do you have another project coming up that you’ll be traveling to soon?”
“Not for a few months. I’m going to Vermont for a while this summer to design a ski lodge. Until then, I’ll be here, working on building my house.”
“Do you have the final plans drawn up yet?”
Yes and no. She had twenty plans completed, but for some reason her clarity about what she wanted had become muddled over the holidays. “I have to make a few final decisions. That’s all. I should be able to get the contractors in place to break ground in the next few weeks.”
Wade’s green eyes widened just a touch at her words, but Rose brought their plates and the expression vanished. “I should give you Troy Caldwell’s number. He’s got a great building team that does excellent work.”
Tori nodded and tried to focus on her food. She’d heard Caldwell was the guy to work with around here. She just hadn’t gotten around to speaking with him before the holidays. It seemed that once she got back from Philadelphia, she’d have plenty of time. Wade would be long gone.
The rest of the meal was spent discussing the neutral topics of local electricians and concrete companies. Every now and again Tori would look up to find Wade watching her. There was a hesitation in his voice, a touch of worry lining his eyes. She wasn’t certain she was the cause of it, though. He seemed a million miles away tonight. Maybe the stresses of being away from work were distracting him.