“It’s all this dust…” she croaked, and burst into tears.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LAINIE
Oh, God. What are you doing? Stop crying! Of all the stupid things…
Harrison had noticed. Of course he had. She could tell the moment he realized her sniffs had changed from dust allergies to sobs: his arms went stiff, and he pulled away from her, almost imperceptibly.
He tried to gather her in his arms a moment later, but the damage was done.
Lainie pulled away from him. “Don’t. Please. I’m fine. It’s just the dust, really.”
Which is a lie, but I’m not going to admit that to my one-night stand. Even if he did turn out to be the guy I hired to evaluate my grandparents’ house. Especially because of that.
She took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m fine. Can we look at the rest of the house? Just quickly?”
She didn’t meet Harrison’s eyes. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she saw concern in them.
Probably cry some more, she thought bitterly. God, this is so pathetic. I hate it so much. Crying doesn’t help anything, so why does my stupid body keep doing it?
“Of course,” Harrison said softly. He aimed his flashlight at the door, and offered her his arm. She took it, telling herself it was just because she didn’t want to trip and fall on anything in the dark.
He didn’t mention her outburst as they ventured around the rest of the house. Lainie was glad. Despite all her preparation, looking around the old rooms was harder than she had expected.
It wasn’t all bad, after all, she thought. Most of the time I spend here was wonderful. It was just those last few days that it hurts to remember. Before that…
It was easy to fall into memories, walking around the familiar rooms. Here was the kitchen, where she’d shared meals with her parents and grandparents, or bothered her Gran while she was baking. The front hall—those wooden floorboards had once been polished so smooth she could slide around on them in her socks. After riding down the banister of the main staircase, for instance.
Then there was the old lighthouse. Lainie remembered thinking it looked like a wizard had teleported it into the middle of her grandparents’ wooden house. No one had ever painted or papered over its white walls to make them match the rest of the house.
And climbing up the staircase inside it was like stepping into another world, Lainie remembered. The thick walls insulated the old lighthouse from the creaks and groans of the wooden house.
And the shouting. Lainie remembered that.
Harrison stopped her as she made for the stairs. “I don’t think that would be safe,” he said. “The boards down here are bad enough. I don’t want either of us falling through the floor. You, especially.” He moved his hand to the small of her back and whispered conspiratorially, “I haven’t even had my breakfast yet. I’m afraid I’m not up for any heroics on an empty stomach.”
Lainie smiled. She couldn’t help it. “All right,” she said. “Let’s leave all this behind us and get back to your office to figure out the next step.”
She hadn’t noticed the floor creaking before—just the dust carpeting it—but she did now. By the time they made it to the front door, she was more than happy to see the back of the crumbling house.
Outside, the sun was shining, but the air was still crisp. Lainie breathed in deep, imagining she was cleansing the dust out of her lungs with the fresh salt air.
Well, that was useless. The storage unit, the house—I haven’t found anything that could help.
I just have to face up to it. There’s only one way for me to get out of this mess.
“Right,” she said once they’d both dusted themselves off. “I think it’s pretty clear we’ll have to knock the whole thing down.”
“Knock it down?” Harrison looked genuinely shocked, and Lainie frowned at him, puzzled.
“Yes, knock it down.” She stared at him. “Look, I work in planning, so I know how this is going to go. There’s no way I’ll be able to pay you to fix up the building to sell and make any profit on it at all. The renovation costs would suck up any revenue.” She sighed, and wiped her face with a fresh tissue. It came away grey with dust. “Ugh. The land is probably worth more without the building on it, anyway. I’ll have to check a couple of databases—I couldn’t find any recent sales data for this region, it’s like no one has moved here in years.”
She stopped. Harrison wasn’t looking reassured by her explanation. She knew she was rambling, but she was making sense, wasn’t she? So why did he look like he was going to be sick?
“What’s wrong?” she said, her voice faltering.
Harrison’s face cleared—or maybe he just got control of it. He gave her a weak smile, but she couldn’t miss the line that formed between his eyebrows. He was acting like everything was okay, but clearly she’d done something wrong.