I sighed. It’s not like I expected Alex to rush out of his house as we were pulling up, but he did know we were coming by, so it was annoying that he wasn’t there. It was the little things that proved someone actually cared.
I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.
“He better not be in town,” I muttered to myself. If he’d forgotten us, I was going to let him have it.
“Hey, Aspyn,” he answered.
“Where are you?” I said, not bothering to keep the sharpness out of my voice.
“At my house.”
“I’ve been knocking on the door, but you’re not answering.”
“Well, I … oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t explain it well when you called me earlier. I’m not at the cabin. I’m at my house. The McMillian’s o
ld place. Just head on over. The door’s unlocked. Just come on in.”
“Uh, okay.”
Alex ended the call.
I sighed, torn. It was kind of annoying that Alex hadn’t made things clearer, but I did know how moving into a new place could be difficult, and from what he’d said on the phone, it was a bit of a fixer-upper.
“Come on, sweetie,” I said to Kadie, “let’s get back in the car.”
* * *
A couple minutes later, we pulled into the driveway of Alex’s new house. I allowed myself a soft smile at the sight.
I’d always loved this house as a kid, something about the angles, and the large windows. It was too bad the McMillians themselves were so grouchy.
I blinked a few times as I thought the whole situation over. I didn’t know how much the McMillians were selling the house and land for, but it couldn’t have been that cheap. From what little I’d been told, Carl and Alex had gone in together to able to afford it.
Carl didn’t have a ton of free money, and so I wondered what Alex was bringing to the picture. Working construction paid well enough, but it wasn’t like construction workers got rich, and despite his injuries, he wasn’t on disability.
The whole thing made me a little suspicious, but maybe Alex had spent the last 13 years saving every penny. That wasn’t a bad thing in a man normally, but some other things made me wonder about that. When he’d shown up in town, he didn’t even have his own truck, and the one he bought wasn’t new.
Money was tight for me because I had a daughter, but he didn’t have anyone to worry about but himself. Still, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to dark places, but decided to let it go for the moment. It’s not like I thought he was dealing drugs or anything. At least not totally.
I helped Kadie out and led her by the hand to the front door. Not only was it unlocked, but it was open, probably to help air the place out. Musty didn’t even begin to describe it.
A ripping sound reached my ears.
“Alex,” I called. “You in there?”
“I’m in the kitchen,” he yelled back. “Y’all just come on in. Don’t worry. I haven’t painted anything yet.”
We entered and soon found Alex in the kitchen ripping down some faded floral print wallpaper. Yuck. It looked awful.
He shot us both a grin. “Welcome to my new home.”
“Your house smells funny,” Kadie said.
“Kadence!” I said, my cheeks flaming. It might have been true, but that didn’t change the fact that it was rude.
“Sorry, Mama,” Kadie said, looking down at her feet.
Alex just laughed. She looked up with a smile.