Page 85 of Begin Again
“It’s nice to meet you, Nina,” Mr. Blackwood says, extending his hand toward me.Who is this man?
Jace gives me a look that says,Play. Along.
“You as well, Mr. Blackwood,” I say, still trying to gather my thoughts.
“Joseph, please.”
It’s hard not to offer the older man a genuine smile before my gaze sweeps over the house. It’s a beautiful home. Well-maintained, with a lot of charm. Black shutters shoulder each window. A wide porch extends the front of the house and wraps around the right side, with six steps up to it. Mountain-blend stones layer the foundation, climbing up the chimney on the far-left side, a warm contrast to the pure white siding. It could use anew roof, but it doesn’t look to be in terrible shape. Rolling hills of the mountain extend past us on all sides, and I can imagine the sunsets here are otherworldly. I can’t imagine why he’d want to sell to Jace. Knowing Ben, Jace’s partner, the whole thing will be torn down and they’ll slap a resort on it.
“Have we done a tour yet?” I ask.
“You want to see the house?” Joseph’s shock tells me he figured the same thing.
I meet Jace’s annoyed glance and smirk. If he wants me to play along, that’s exactly what I’ll do. Turning back to Joseph, I say, “Jace told me a little, but I’d love to see for myself. Being here…I have some ideas of how we can maintain it.”
Joseph raises a brow to Jace and Ben, extending his arm to me. “Right this way.”
The inside is even more charming than the outside. Original hardwood floors flow throughout each room, intricate wallpaper designs line the walls in some rooms while a mix of white and colored paints decorate the others, cozy furniture dots the living room and bedrooms, and knickknacks from years of travel and gifts from returning visitors rest in various places throughout the house. This is not the same kind of farmhouse aesthetic you see nowadays—it’s the real deal, and I’m in love with it. A warmth radiates from the inside out, making you feel like part of the family, and I can tell Joseph is a big part of it. The second we walk inside, he offers each of us a cup of coffee—which I happily accept, but Jace and Ben decline.
The kitchen, painted a bright yellow like sunshine on a warm, summer day, houses a four-seater handcrafted wood table in front of the window overlooking the side yard. White cabinets, tan countertops, and white appliances fill the space. Square, white tile backsplash lines the walls behind the stove, and utensils and small pans hang from black hooks on two rails on either side. It’s exactly what you’d imagine walking intoa farmhouse untouched by modern society and its call to rid homes of what makes them unique.
Joseph hands me the coffee in a ceramic blue mug with a hummingbird, and I try to hide my surprise. Surely, he didn’t see my tattoo—it’s hidden beneath my shirt sleeve. “I love hummingbirds. How’d you know?”
“I saw your necklace.” He smiles, and my left hand instinctively reaches for the small bird resting on my collarbone. The hummingbird hangs a few inches above the second chain holding Nick’s wedding ring above my heart.
A gift from Nick for Christmas years ago—the second Christmas we spent apart when he was in Boston—the hummingbird necklace arrived with a handwritten note. The note reminded me of what Nick and I had talked about two months prior when we’d secretly seen each other in Boston. We didn’t speak for five months after that. Not until another note arrived with a bouquet after one of my speeches. A few days later, he found me in Central Park and asked me to marry him…We got married at the courthouse the same day.
“You got lucky. Normally, it’s in the sink. Our guest who’s been with us uses it every morning before work. Guess he didn’t have any coffee this morning.”
“He had a to-go mug when I saw him leave with your daughter,” Ben says from the hallway.
“Oh, right, they had to run into town and grab some things. They should be back at some point, hopefully before you leave. I’d love to introduce you.”
Jace stares straight at me and offers a subtle nod, confirming the “guest” is Nick. I do my best not to react when my heart does a flip, trying to escape the confines of my ribcage.
“Well, c’mon, let’s see the rest of the house,” Joseph says, offering me his arm again.
The house has just as much history as I imagined, probably more than Joseph could know. His family restored it to its former glory when he was a child. While he’s done his best to maintain the property, it has become hard to manage with his declining health. As we walk through the house, Joseph tells me stories from his childhood and of his daughter, and I fall more in love with it. I can’t fathom the thought of tearing it down. A lot of love and hard work has gone into this house over the years, and the idea of losing such craftsmanship seems unthinkable.
My fingers graze over the wall of the upstairs hallway. It’s stark white with a smooth and even texture that only comes from a fresh paint job, confirming what I already knew from the smell in the air. “Did you recently have some work done?”
“How can you tell?” Joseph smiles.
I point to my nose. “I can smell the fresh paint on the walls.”
“That guest I told you about, he’s been lending a hand around the ranch.”
“You put all your guests to work, Joe?” Jace laughs.
“Poor kid came wandering into town ’bout a year ago without a dime to his name—or a name, for that matter. Needed a place to stay. I’ve been letting him stay here and help me get some work done around the property.”
Or a name, for that matter. What does he mean?
“Awful kind of you, sir,” Jace says, meeting my gaze briefly.
“Hard worker, too. Been a real help around here since Doctor Sanders said to lighten the load after my health scare.”
“Well, let’s look at the barn,” Ben suggests. “You said you had some work done in there recently.”
