I shut the door behind me then noticed the sounds coming from the kitchen. I moved to the dining table and set down my things. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”
He came out of the kitchen with two plates, and he set one down in front of me along with a fork and a knife. “Do you eat fish?” It was a large green salad with a seared piece of salmon on top. It was covered with tomatoes, avocado, pecans, and fresh fruit. He set his at the head of the table before he retrieved a bottle of wine and two glasses.
I didn’t get to eat like this. For one, I didn’t have time to go to the store and get all the items. Secondly, I didn’t have time to make it. Thirdly…I probably couldn’t afford to spend a lot of my income on fresh food, when I should be saving it for a home or retirement. “Deacon, you didn’t have to make this for me—”
“Do you eat fish?” He uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses.
“Well, yes…but you didn’t have to go to the trouble.”
He sat down, placed the cloth napkin over his lap, and started to eat.
It was a sweet gesture, and I didn’t know what to say. He was so cold in the beginning, and while he was still a little moody, he showed how thoughtful he could be. I took a seat. “Thank you. It looks amazing.”
His laptop was open, so he looked at it as he ate.
“How was work?”
He stabbed his fork into the bed of lettuce before placing it into his mouth. “A piece of equipment broke down, so I had to spend all day fixing it.”
“You couldn’t bring someone in to do it?”
“Take too long.”
“And you just know how to fix things?”
“Simple trial and error.”
I wished I were smart enough to figure out everything I put my mind to. I was a smart woman, but if you told me to fix the transmission in a car, I would never be able to figure it out—even if my life depended on it.
He ate much quicker than I did, scarfing down his food like he really didn’t have time to enjoy it. “What did you want to show me?”
The salad and wine were a great pairing, and it was a nice change from my usual frozen burritos. And it took me no time to make it because someone else did it for me. I opened my folder and placed a few papers in front of him, along with my laptop. “I told you I have some clients who have cabins in Connecticut. Well, one of them is selling this really special place on the water. The second he told me, I thought of you. As a favor to me, he didn’t put it on the market right away, that way you could buy it directly from him…assuming you want it.” I pushed the pictures toward him.
He picked up the first page, seeing the exterior to the house, the long driveway with a gate at the end so anyone passing by couldn’t come on to his property without the code. It was a beautiful two-story home, a traditional-style cabin in the woods, surrounded by large oaks and pines, a forest right on his property.
“It’s five acres, so there’s plenty of space. The inside of the house has been renovated, so it’s got an open floor plan that you’d like.” I handed him the next page. “It has a large back porch, an outdoor fireplace, a private dock with a beautiful view of the lake.”
He continued to stare, actually reading all the information about the place. When he grabbed his highlighter and started to mark things, I knew he liked it. He flipped the pages back to the front like he was looking for something specific, and when he found it, he turned back to what he was looking at.
I hit a button on my keyboard. “The site has more pictures if you want to take a look.”
Now he abandoned his dinner and clicked through the pictures, staring at every single photo for a long time, like he had a photographic memory that could take every piece and map out the entire property in his head.
I kept eating, letting him have all the time he wanted. “This is so good, Deacon.” I felt like I was at a five-star restaurant right in his condo. He knew how to sear a piece of fish without burning it, while still keeping it tender inside. He knew how to coat the leaves with the right amount of dressing, not overwhelming it.
He picked up his fork and started to eat again.
“I know you never said you were interested in buying a place right now. I just thought I would bring this to your attention because it is a rare property, and the second he puts it on the market, it’ll be gone.”