Page 76 of Justice for JoElla

“What?”

“Looking athouses? Neither of us have that kind of money! Have you lost your mind?”

Well, there it is!he almost shouted as he laughed. “Oh, we don’t, do we?”

“No. Not unless you have some secret stash.” She stopped and turned to stare at him. “Oh. My. God. You’ve got a secret stash.” When he said nothing, she slapped his leg. “Say something!”

“Years and years ago, I had this college buddy. His parents were in dire straits, and he needed money for his next semester, so we were kicking around ways he could get it. I asked him how much he needed, and he said about fifty thousand. My grandparents had given all of us a trust fund, and I was already of legal age to get to the money, so I asked him if there was anything he could sell me that I’d pay that kind of money for. And he said yes?a little piece of property that nobody was using and he could get rid of it.”

“So you bought it.”

“I did. I didn’t even think twice about it. Didn’t even go see it. Hell, I didn’t see it at all until about five years ago. Went for a conference and went out to look at it. Ramshackle little falling-down house on the property, weeds shoulder high, nothing anywhere near it. But I didn’t need the money, so I did nothing with it.”

“How is it that Maria didn’t get a piece of this?”

“Because when I bought it, I put it in my mom’s name. I was still a student. She said it was fine with her, so she asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to sell it.”

JoElla snorted. “Probably after she saw my apartment.”

“Why, yes, I think it was right after that!” Brandon said with a laugh and JoElla punched him in the shoulder. “So I did nothing with it because I didn’t want to call attention to it and have Maria find out about it. Today, after I signed all the papers, I called a realtor there and asked what they thought they could get for it. Turns out it was a good investment.”

“Yeah?”

“Babe, he told me I can get seven million for it easily.” JoElla’s jaw dropped and she sat there, mute. “You look a bit surprised.” She still didn’t speak. “You havenothingto say? I’ve rendered you speechless? Note the date and time,” he murmured with a grin.

“Wait. Did you say sevenmillion?”

“I did.”

“And where exactly is this property?”

Brandon thought his cheeks would explode from smiling. “The Florida Keys.”

“Holy shit. You bought a piece of property in the Keys for fifty thousand dollars?”

“Yeah. It was out in the middle of nowhere. And now that the island has grown up and spread out, it’s prime real estate. The realtor actually told me he thinks he can get closer to ten million for it, but I don’t care. All I want is enough money to buy us a house. Not a fancy one, just something we’ll love to live in and be comfortable in.”

“None of the houses we’ve looked at will put even the slightest dent in that money. But you keep saying ‘we.’”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be honest… I thought you were going to surprise me with a ring and a proposal.”

I knew it!he laughed internally. “Is that what you want?”

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”

“That’s fine. But know this. I’m going to buy a house for us to live in. And when we get married, your wedding gift from me will be putting your name on the deed. It’ll be your house too. So just know that.” He took her hands in his. “Which one did you like the best?”

“The truth?” He nodded. “The second one we looked at. I loved the balcony, and the décor, and the architectural style. And it had that cool little apartment over the garage, which would be good if one of the kids had to stay with us at some point.”

“I agree. I think it was my favorite too. We don’t need a pool, and we can make our own flower garden. That house is plenty big enough. As soon as the sale goes through on the property, I’ll buy it and we can move in. Matter of fact, two of those houses were available to rent until we purchase, and I think that was one of them. You interested?”

“Hell yeah! When can we move?”

Brandon laughed. “I’ll call Milli tomorrow and find out. Now let’s go have dinner.”

They talked and laughed all through dinner, and Brandon felt better than he had in months. They were going to have a home, a place they could relax, entertain, settle down. And Maria would be wondering how the hell they afforded that.

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