Page 16 of A Chance Love

At first, April thought that it was footsteps. The ghost stories could have been true, and then what would she do? Could she really stay in a real haunted mansion? Each creak felt like somebody coming closer. She imagined doors opening and shutting, an old ancestor walking through them with a sheet over their head.

But as the night went on, closer to midnight, April thought differently about the noises that plagued the property. She found a pattern in the madness. A creak, then a groan, then a brush of wind, then a creak. And it began to sound like the house taking deep breaths.

April began to breathe with the house, as if it was teaching her a yoga class. It began to relax her. And she drifted off into a deep sleep.

In her dreams, she saw the house as it was when she was a child. The vibrant colors, sun bursting through windows without cobwebs and dust. The cabinets were back to their off-white color as her mom sifted through the food they stored there.

She walked outside barefoot and felt the grass tickle her ankles. Down the cobblestone path she skipped until she made it to the sandy beach below the wooden steps. In a flowing dress she ran down the beachfront, the sand weighing her down with each step.

It felt like she was finally free. This was what she truly wanted, this freedom.

And in an instant, she was standing on the beach as an adult, the way she was now. When she turned to look at the house, she winced, afraid it was what it had become in real life. But it wasn’t the dust-filled disaster of the house she arrived at today. It was magnificent.

A work of tradition and modern updates, the house looked even better than when April was a child. Probably because it was a work of her own. She knew in her heart that she created this place.

One by one, people began to gather at the beach. Before April knew it she was welcoming them. They smiled and stood in awe of the ocean and the sky, the same beach she’d known all her life.

Slowly she walked back up the wooden steps, saying hello to the people passing her by to get to the sand below. When she reached the house, there were people all over. The entryway was large, the front doors open as they came and went freely. April felt peace like never before.

Her excitement woke her up, and she almost hit her head on the top of the blanket fort she’d created. The lack of sleep didn’t get to her, not with all the inspiration flowing through her mind. Even though it was still dark out, she could see the horizon beginning to form out of the dusty windows.

April smiled. She made her way down the cobblestone path, down the wooden stairs, and onto the beach. The sand felt cool and wet between her toes.

Staring into the sky as the sun began to rise, for the first time in a long time, April knew what she wanted.

CHAPTER TEN

The pen slid across her paper like a hot knife cut through butter. It was seamless, beautiful rigid lines created realistic spaces. Her doodles were fantasies of the house she wanted this now-dump to become. And her lists were action items to get her there.

She didn’t need much to make this place look better. April would clean it herself, something she’d done many times before, though it was never quite this dirty. Then she could hire someone to get the electricity checked out, the plumbing and water tested. It would look brand new in no time.

Her phone on the dining room table next to her vibrated, shaking her from her focus. Maxwell calling again. She’d sent him to voicemail a dozen times by now. He’d left only a couple and she didn’t listen to them out of fear of hearing him yell at her.

There was no reason to listen to what the man had to say anymore. He wasn’t in charge of her. She’d clearly burned that bridge. There was no way she’d come back to him if he was going to act like this, not that it was on her mind to go back.

She couldn’t. Not now, after everything she’d been through the past two days. There was nothing back in New York for her. She had to push forward and make a life here. It was time to do this.

April focused back on her paper. She looked at the sketches, the fixes she wanted to do to the house. It didn’t feel updated with just the items on her to-do list. Plumbing, cleaning, and electricity weren’t going to get the smell out of the yellowing cabinets. She would probably need new ones.

But what kind would she buy?

Instead of drawing the bare minimum, April began to draw her dreams. Rich and dark cabinetry with bright countertops that shone when a new window in the kitchen made them glisten. It was a full makeover.

April looked it over again and again. She couldn’t see the kitchen being done any other way. It had to look exactly like she’d drawn it. Or she would be disappointed; it wouldn’t look right.

Room to room she redesigned everything while including the pieces of the original house she wanted to keep. It was all coming together nicely as she looked at every one of her drawings. Every room was done to perfection. The six bedrooms and several bathrooms were exactly how she pictured them.

It was just like it was in her dream. The front doors were open wide, people coming and going, enjoying the work she’d done to make it beautiful while also admiring the history of a home built by generations of the family.

But this wasn’t just a touch-up, this was a full home renovation. It was going to be harder than simply hiring a few people and putting on a fresh coat of paint. April swallowed hard as she looked at her ever growing list of things to do.

This wasn’t impossible, but April no longer had a job. The divorce would take some of her savings, no doubt. Even with her full life savings, she wouldn’t be able to do everything she wanted. It was too much, too extravagant.

The entire idea was too extravagant. The dining room enlarged to fit more people and several tables? The living room made into a sitting area with several televisions and coffee tables? The furniture alone would cost her a fortune.

April set the pen down beside her pad of paper. She couldn’t renovate this house. What had she been thinking? She shouldn’t have come to the island in the first place. This was all a dream, a fantasy. Those things don’t come true, not for practical people like April.

It wasn’t right to be sitting here dreaming when she’d left a whole life behind back in New York. April pulled out her phone and began sifting through emails. Email after email from Maxwell begging her to return to the law firm.

---