Page 108 of Time Out

Unequivocally.

Maggie would, too, as soon as she realized the alternatives, if it came to that. Which really made the idea I had that popped into my mind as soon as I heard my baby’s heartbeat the best idea ever and because I had such incredible friends, they wholeheartedly agreed with me without hesitation.

Which was exactly why Eden and Cole were standing on the front porch on the home next door to his parents. The home where Eden had returned to after seven years last fall to help take care of the woman everyone in this small town of Marysville loved.

The home where Marley Bickerstaff passed away last fall.

Eden and Cole, and his parents had been torn on what to do with it since. None of them wanted a stranger to move in. No one wanted to see the home fall apart further and yet none of them wanted to renovate it, either. It was too soon. There were too many memories inside the walls of the home that sat at the top of the hill with the gravel driveway.

Rocks clinked against the undercarriage of my truck as I pulled up and behind Cole’s.

He and Eden stepped to the top of the front porch stairs.

“Why are we here?” Maggie asked. “Isn’t that Cole’s mom’s house?”

“Yeah.” I hadn’t known Marley well, and not for long before she fell ill, but she’d still treated me like I was a grandson she’d known my entire life. “So, I have an idea…”

Before I could say it, Maggie’s door was opened, and Eden stood there. “Come on, come on. I have to tell you, I think this is wonderful.”

“What’s wonderful?” Maggie asked her.

Eden’s steely gaze smacked right into me, and she scowled. “You didn’t tell her?”

“I was getting to it,” I muttered.

Eden rolled her eyes. “Boys. Come on, Maggie.” She glanced into the back seat. “You must be Ruth. Hi, I’m Eden, and that guy on the porch is Cole. He’s friends with Davis here, and they play on the same team.”

As she spoke like a whirlwind, something I hadn’t anticipated from Eden, ever, Maggie slowly slipped out of the truck and Ruth followed.

“What’s going on?” Ruth asked.

“No idea,” Maggie muttered, but they followed Eden up to the porch.

“Give me a second,” I called out to all of them and reached for Maggie’s hand. “Before we go in there, hear me out, okay?”

She smirked and then stared at the house with the grand front porch. “Do I have a choice?”

“I’m serious, Maggie. Please?”

She must have caught the serious tone in my voice. We could joke all we wanted, have all the fun in the world, but when it came to my family, I would always be serious.

“What is it?”

“The home. Remember hearing about Marley the other night?”

“Yeah.”

“This was her home. She left it to Eden in her will, but Eden hasn’t been able to decide what to do with it. She lives with Cole, and they haven’t been able to bring themselves to sell it or anything, and it’s not huge, but it could be a great start. Needs updating and renovating, new floors that kind of stuff, but the land is perfect. The bones of the house are perfect.”

“Davis, what are you saying?”

“I think we should buy it from them, and they’re actually good with the idea.”

“Davis!” she shrieked, and everyone on the porch was staring at us.

So okay, I should have brought this up in the car, but truthfully, I’d wanted Maggie to see the cute downtown that was growing and feel the warmth in the small town as we drove through it. It was three times the size of where she grew up, half the size where I did, but the proximity to Nashville and to the stadium still made it easy for me to commute.

We wouldn’t have to raise a child in the city.

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