Lie of My Life

15 Opportunity Knocks

Fortunately, the next few weeks kept me too busy to dwell on the vagueness of my relationship with Carter for too long at a time. We had more clients than ever now that the advertisement had been up long enough to schedule consultations and Aaron had managed to get the proper permits while Emma had been able to purchase even more land so, between meeting with clients and perusing building plans, I was hardly leaving my office much at all these days. And, with Carter spending most of his time at actual physical construction sites, we only ever saw each other after work. Either during friendly get togethers or late nights when he would come over alone.

Everything was looking up. Things were going well. As long as I could ignore the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach that all of this was destined to fall apart sooner rather than later, I could actually say I was happy.

The first available opening in my schedule that I had, Aaron had called to ask Mindy to send me out to the house we had been working on for weeks, the one that had been Shane's original inspiration for the ad and my original inspiration period. Apparently, it was coming along nicely and my brother wanted me to take another walkthrough and pick it apart one final time before they finished up. So I went, climbing into my car and driving through the city to the dusty road it rested off of. Aaron was waiting outside when I arrived. I looked up at the stone façade as I approached.

"It looks beautiful," I told him, slightly breathless.

"Just wait until you see the inside," he answered with a smile.

But I was already speechless at the sight of the outside. The intricate stonework, the shiny new windows, the dark brown accents and statement front door. It was every bit the cottage I had dreamed of.

Aaron pushed open the front door and we entered into a small foyer, one wall composed of inlaid shelving and hooks for coats and bags. I ran a finger along the white planked wood and smiled. The floors were a gorgeous hardwood and the walls were a perfect slate. Even the crown molding was finished, bringing out the white of the shelves. The whole thing had the hallmarks of the farmhouse/cottage style I adored so much. I felt my heart swelling as we moved forward into the living room. This was the first design I had ever dreamed up, my goal when opening Country Vibes. I loved to decorate and renovate other people's houses but building one of my own, to my own specifications, with everything I loved and wanted, that was something else entirely.

The living room was finished as well, although slightly less so. The walls were painted and the floors were laid but there were some exposed wires in the ceiling where lighting was being installed. One of our workers was on a ladder now, attempting to install the large industrial box light I had chosen.

We pushed through to the kitchen and found Carter bent over one of the cabinets, installing the handles and checking the ensure the slow close mechanism was working. He looked up when we entered and smiled.

"The kitchen is the least finished," Aaron was telling me. "As you can see, we're finishing up the cabinets. Then we've got to lay the countertop but our granite guy said it'll be delayed a week so we won't be able to do that until then. Appliances are coming tomorrow though so we should be able to get them all in but the sink."

"It's beautiful," I told him, gazing up at the high ceilings and the natural light streaming in from the giant picture windows. "Breathtaking."

I took a moment to take it all in and, when I turned back, I saw that Carter was watching me, a faint smile on his face. Aaron was staring down at the building plans laid out on top of the bare counters. I cleared my throat.

"Well, thank you for calling, Aaron. I'm glad I got to see this," I said. "I should be getting back to the office now, though. I've got a meeting in half an hour."
Aaron nodded and both of them bid me goodbye as I left the construction and headed back to the city.