Page 16 of The Forever Formula
“Well, it should be.” Rachel pulled out her phone. “Do you want to see?”
I shrugged. “Sure.” What could it hurt?
She tapped away on her phone for half a second before she found it. “Huh. Okay, you were right. It’s not millions, plural, but it is almost a million. It says it’s worth eight hundred thousand. Girl, you’re rich!”
“Let me see that.” I snatched the phone from her hands. “Oh my gosh.”
The number hit me pretty hard. I’d never realized. We did have a good number of acres, and all the analysts were saying the real estate market had gone up a lot.
That’s when her words really hit me. If I sold this place, I’d have a lot of cash on hand, but the idea of selling Grandpa’s property made my stomach twist.
Could I really let go of the only roots I had? It made the most sense—to sell it and move on—but could I really do that?
“Come on,” I said to Megan. I grabbed her bag while she marveled at the hundred-foot-tall ponderosa pine at the edge of the driveway.
“They do not have trees like this in Texas.”
“They sure don’t,” I said.
After I showed Megan around, I set her up in my old room. Something about having her stay in my grandpa’s room didn’t feel right. Instead, I moved my suitcase into that space. It was the master bedroom, after all, and I imagined Grandpa would want me to stay there.
Since it was almost dinnertime, we parked ourselves in the kitchen. And while Megan opened a bottle of red wine, we chatted. I was worried the cabinet doors were still tacky, so I was careful, but I had painted them two days ago, so they were probably fine.
We fixed a chef salad for dinner and chatted a little about my grandpa. It was nice having someone here. It had been too quiet, but staying busy had helped. I’d gotten all of the new cabinet pulls installed yesterday. I’d chosen black, and they looked good against the cream-colored cabinets.
“This looks great,” Megan said, adding cucumbers and diced ham to her salad bowl.
Our dinner wasn’t gourmet, by any means, but I loved a good build-your-own salad bar.
“We could build a bonfire tonight if you’re up for it,” I said, sprinkling my own salad with a generous spoonful of sunflower seeds.
“We won’t be attacked by a bear, will we?”
“It’s unlikely, but if you hear anything rustling around out there, be sure to let me know,” I said, only half teasing.
Megan frowned at me. “That’s not comforting, Rach.”
The look on her face was worth it, though.
I shook my head. “We’ll be fine. I lived here for eighteen years and was never eaten by a bear, not even once.”
The truth was, there were bears and mountain lions in this area, and we’d seen both over the years. But for the most part, they were afraid of humans and did their best to steer clear of us.
After dinner, we put on sweatshirts, took our wineglasses, and ventured outside. I built us a fire while Megan got cozy under a blanket.
“The stars are insane here,” she said softly, looking up at the sky.
I gazed up at the night sky. I guess I’d forgotten about some things that were unique to this place, and I liked seeing it through Megan’s eyes. We didn’t have stars like this back in Houston.
Once the fire was crackling away, I sat in the chair beside her.
“So,” she said, cutting a glance my way, “are you still feeling good about your breakup with Roger?”
Way to cut to the chase.
I let out a slow sigh. “Honestly? More than ever. I didn’t realize how much he was holding me back.”
Megan made a sound of agreement.
