Page 28 of Love Songs (Harmony Lake #3)

I pulled myself together, plastered the biggest smile I could muster on my face, and had to clear my throat a few times before I could sound words again.

“Congratulations,” I said, wincing internally at the less than enthusiastic cheer. “But you do know this house needs a lot of work, right?”

“Ye-es,” Dallas drew out, studying me for a few seconds, as though unsure of what to think of my reaction.

Then the light came back on in his eyes.

He nodded and spoke a mile a minute when he said, “Nolan Kaslo, the realtor, told me all about its history. It’s amazingly rich and added to the charm that drew me in.

But I’d know from the second I saw it that it was home. ”

The same way I’d felt when I’d first seen it, too .

“I know the feeling,” I agreed softly. It was supposed to be my home.

“Come on.” Dallas opened his door. “Let’s check it out.”

I took a second to pull a few deep breaths into my lungs, telling myself to be happy that it was Dallas who’d bought my dream house and not some developer who’d tear it down and build condos or something unsightly in its place.

“What are you going to do with it?” I asked as I exited the car and walked with Dallas and Jaylin to the front steps. “Are you going to tear it down and build a new house?”

He stopped so fast that I bumped into him.

“ No way ,” he said with equal parts conviction and horror that I’d dared to ask such a thing. “I’m going to restore it back to its original grandeur, with a few new modern touches in the kitchen and bathrooms, mostly. But it’s too gorgeous of a home with too deep a history to tear it down.”

“Good,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets.

“Wow, Dad,” Jaylin said, awe lacing her voice as he she looked up, taking the house in. “This place is sick. It’s like something out of a horror movie.” She turned to me. “Is it haunted?”

“No,” I sniped, my tone sharper than I’d meant. Jaylin and Dallas both looked at me with matching expressions of surprise. “No,” I repeated softer. “It’s not haunted. Just old and neglected.”

She hummed thoughtfully, then, with all the conviction of a teenager, said, “We’ll take care of it from now on.”

My body relaxed a little at knowing they were going to do right by the old girl, but now that the initial shock had worn off, I didn’t quite know what to make of this shift in reality.

Before today, my chances of any future with Dallas were an abstract pipe dream, given how opposite our lives were.

Yes, my feelings for him were growing bigger and deeper, and I wanted to find a way to be with him, but a part of me, deep down, doubted that could happen.

I was fully rooted in Caldwell Crossing.

My entire world was here, and no matter how involved my heart was getting with Dallas, the idea of leaving it all behind for a life of travel and celebrity gave me hives.

And Dallas? His life was constant motion and screaming fans and public scrutiny—everything small town living wasn’t. The two just didn’t mesh.

But now . . . Did Dallas buying this house mean he’d be moving to Caldwell Crossing permanently, and the abstract suddenly became real?

“Can we go inside?” Jaylin asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Absolutely,” Dallas beamed.

“But don’t go up the stairs,” I added, shuddering at the idea of Jaylin falling through the rotten stair tread and getting hurt. “They’re unsafe.”

Jaylin’s gaze shot from me to her a dad a couple times, then she nodded and held her hand out, making a gimme motion.

Chuckling, Dallas handed a key to Jaylin, who rushed up onto the sagging porch to open the door.

He turned to me with concern swirling in the depths of his eyes. His mouth dipped into a slight frown.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you moving here?” I blurted.

His expression blanked, and his body stiffened. I didn’t like that look, didn’t like that I put it there, but I had to know. I held my breath as he stared at me, as though unsure what I was asking. I was unsure too.

“Yes,” he said cautiously. “When Jaylin’s summer break begins and the house is renovated. And I thought . . .” he trailed off. He swallowed audibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and looked up at the house.

“Thought what?” I breathed when he didn’t continue.

“I thought,” he repeated, turning back to me. “I think there’s something happening between us, and that maybe, if you feel the same, we could see where it goes?”

My spirits lifted at the idea of him being nearby, of seeing him anytime I wanted, and my dream future took on a new shape, becoming clearer than it had before.

This time, instead of fixing up and living in this home with a faceless partner, Dallas’s face shone brightly at me as we sat on the back patio overlooking the lake.

Instead of only two big dogs making up our little family, I now saw Jaylin playing in the water with those dogs, and a horse looking on from the newly re-fenced paddock.

I nodded, words I wanted to speak all clogged up in my throat. I reached for his hand.

“Let’s go check out your new house.”