Page 7 of What Comes After

I couldn’t say it wouldn’t, but I also knew that there was the possibility something else might make me happier.

Knowing Lily had found someone who made her happy, I started thinking about my future. I was even more determined to find a place to settle down, and I knew it wasn’t going to be found in Hollywood.

Of course, I’d had my fun. Lots of it. But at the end of the day, none of that was something that would be permanent. I wouldn’t be happy living that life forever. No matter how much I enjoyed acting, I wholeheartedly believed there would come a point when I needed to quit.

And how did the saying go? Quit while you’re ahead.

That’s where I was now. I felt I’d left my mark on the industry, and I could be proud of what I’d been a part of.

What I was struggling with was where I wanted to settle myself down now. More importantly, I wondered who I’d find once I did.

Unfortunately, unless I could figure out the first part of the equation, making the second happen was going to be nearly impossible.

I’d already been to several coastal towns up in New England, and while so many were beyond incredible, nothing was truly grabbing my attention.

I had a feeling if I turned him down, though, Charles was going to be thoroughly disappointed.

“Do you really think there’s something that might work for me?” I finally asked.

“I do,” he assured me. “There are a couple of estates I’ve got lined up, but there are two that I believe are going to be the ones you’ll have a tough time deciding between. They’re both exquisite. I can send over some preliminary information on them before we meet later this morning if you’d like, but even if you think you won’t like them, I urge you to check them out in person.”

“Alright. How about you do that first? Send those over to me so I can see what we’re heading into, and we’ll take it from there.”

“I can absolutely do that for you, sir. They’re both within the size range that you wanted, and they have not only the land that’ll offer you the privacy you’re seeking but the views you were hoping to have as well,” Charles shared, truly doing his best to sell the properties to me ahead of time.

“You’ve sold me on the visits today,” I promised him. “Even if I don’t think they’ll work for me, I’ll still check them out. It’s not as though I had anything else planned for the day, so if you’ve got properties to show, I guess I’m going to go and look at them.”

I could hear the pride in his voice when he replied, “You won’t be disappointed, Mr. McCormick.”

“Sounds great.”

“I just sent the property listings over to you, so you can have a look before we meet. I’ll see you at my office at ten-thirty this morning.”

“That works. I’ll check my email after we disconnect here, and I’ll look forward to seeing you soon,” I returned.

With that, Charles and I disconnected our call.

I stood for another minute or two on the balcony, looking out at the view. It really was gorgeous.

A moment later, I walked back inside the hotel suite and pulled out my laptop. Opening my emails, I saw two of them waiting from Charles.

After opening both emails and evaluating the property listings, I realized that perhaps I’d jumped the gun. The first property looked incredible, seemed to have all that I wanted inside the house, and it certainly offered the privacy and seclusion I wanted and needed for the life I wanted to build moving forward.

Even better, there was a shot of the view from the east side of the house, and I was willing to go out on a limb to say that the view was even better than the one from my hotel.

The second one offered more of the same, but not so much of a view. At least, there wasn’t one pictured, even if the description said there were views.

Just as I finished viewing the listings, a knock came at the door, indicating room service had arrived.

Since it was a gorgeous summer morning in July, I figured I’d enjoy breakfast out on the balcony.

As I sat there, enjoying my food and the scenery, I made a mental note to contact my assistant, Hazel, later this morning. She’d just recently started working for me after my former assistant retired.

Hazel used to be Lily’s assistant, and when I’d learned that she was available, I didn’t hesitate to scoop her up. She was still in L.A., and since I’d been gone for quite some time now, I wanted to check in. Normally, my assistant would be reaching out to me regularly, but I’d spoken with Hazel yesterday, and she’d asked me if I’d have a problem with her making a trip out to visit Lily, since they’d become best friends when she used to work for her.

I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I’d encouraged her to make the arrangements to go and have a good time. She wasn’t planning to leave immediately, so I wanted to catch her up on these properties, especially considering I’d told her yesterday that I was thinking of moving on from New England and heading down the coast. There was no doubt she had already worked out the flight plans for me.

I lifted my coffee mug to my lips to take a sip, and my phone buzzed on the table, indicating I’d received a text message.

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