Page 52 of The Life We Left Behind

“I didn’t say anything,” I snapped again, flushing at the fact that I’d clearly been grumbling under my breath without realizing it.

The document was exactly what he said it was. It was so straightforward that there was no need for me to keep drawing this out except to annoy him. Even though that sounded tempting, I also wanted to get him away from the house before there was any chance that Cade could return.

“Fine.” I signed the document and quickly stood from my seat. “But just so you know, this isn’t an agreement to sell. You can do your survey, but I’m still considering my options.”

Trace looked like I’d just slapped him as he snatched the paperwork back from me. “We’re doing the surveys in good faith, Delaney. You can’t back away from the deal now.”

“There isn’t a deal yet. You made an offer dependent on the results of the surveys. I haven’t accepted it yet.”

Trace squinted in annoyance. “Have you had another offer?”

“No.”

“Then what are you doing? No one else—Wait, are youstaying?”

“Why? Does that sound so terrible?”

“You can’t stay here, Delaney. You don’t know the first thing about running a farm.”

“Actually, I know a lot about running a farm since I was raised on one, thank you very much. You know nothing about running a farm. Besides, this isn’t exactly a farm anymore, is it? It’s just a house sitting on a lot of land.”

Trace scrubbed his hand down his face as he paced back to the car. “Look, Delaney. That night was clearly a mistake, but you don’t need to punish me by tanking this deal.”

“It’s not that,” I said in outrage.

The sheer balls on this guy. He was just like the rest of them, thinking the world revolved around the Farringtons, and we’d all just bow at their feet.

Trace yanked open his car door like it had insulted him and then turned to glare at me as he stepped inside. “We’re acting in good faith on the basis that you agreed the offer was fair. We might not have signed the paperwork, but if you back out of the deal now, Delaney, I’ll send the matter to our legal team.”

“You think threatening to sue me is the way this needs to go?”

“I don’t know, Delaney. I don’t really know you at all anymore.”

And then he got into his car, threw it into reverse, and left.

What the fuck just happened?

How did we go from spending the night together, him leaving to give me a chance to realize we should be together, and then Trace threatening to sue me?

I needed answers, and unfortunately, the only place I was going to get them was from the man who’d just stormed out of here in a tantrum.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t a tantrum, and it might have slightly been deserved after I threatened to pull the land sale. But I wasn’t doing it out of spite, and after everything that hadhappened between us, I thought he’d have been happy that I was considering staying.

But then he’d seen Cade, and everything had changed.

Maybe Trace was exactly the type of man that I thought he was.

“Mom, I had an éclair!” Cade shouted as he flew into the house. “And then we walked around town. And we had ice cream. And we found a bookshop. And then Aunt Blake fell over nothing. And then?—”

“Wait, what? Is Blake okay?”

“Nothing is damaged apart from my pride,” Blake shouted from the hallway before the two of them came into the kitchen.

“You should have seen it, Mom. We were walking along, just talking, and then suddenly she was on the floor, and she shouted?—”

“I think your mom can guess what I shouted,” Blake deadpanned.

Now, that was going to hit the town gossip hard.

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