Page 85 of Yours, Forever

All I could do was nod. We crossed the arch into the living room. The stairs were tucked at the right, going up in an L shape and disappearing in the middle of the ceiling. Underneath it, a built-in shelving unit took over the rest of the wall all the way to a corner rock chimney. That wall would make for a great reading space and, with sofas in front of the fire, the living room would be amazing.

The far wall stole the show with the view of the ocean and the beach below, and yes. I had been right. A patio and even a small patch of greenery filled the back of the property.

"This looks promising. What do you think?" Max asked.

I took a deep breath. "I can see sofas over here, and these shelves full of books, photos, and unique pieces of décor."

He inspected the space as if translating my vision to his own.

I turned to the other side of the house and continued. "I think an eight-place table would fit there… let's see the kitchen."

"I love how much wood there is. The white walls help keep the place bright; it doesn't look too dark."

The kitchen had a big island overlooking the dining space. The counter space was laminate and out of style.

Max ran a finger through it. "Changing these to stone would be easy."

"We'd have to buy appliances, too."

"Has the place been renovated?"

"I think it was sometime in the late 90s, but I don't know much else."

"I could ask my realtor to give us the details and book a good inspector."

The door at the back of the kitchen led to a pantry and, if my spatial awareness was any good, it made good use of the nook behind the powder room at the entrance.

"We might need to change the shelving here. Some of these sections are warped."

"Probably the humidity."

"Ready to go to the second floor?"

We went up the stairs. It was built out of solid columns and slabs of wood, trimmed and worked to fit the classic looks that made me yearn for a Craftsman-style home.

The stairs ended in a big space with more rock at the corner, part of the chimney. It could work well as a family room… one day long in the future. If I managed to divorce Max, recover from the grief, find someone else I liked enough to be with, and think about children then. The chances didn't seem that high, that I could do all of that before my thirties ended, so maybe I could make it into… a TV room.

Several doors lead to three decent-sized rooms, a big bathroom, and a final door to the principal room. We entered the space. The windows had a view of trees, rock, and ocean, and I almost wept.

The principal bathroom was a nice size but outdated as well, just like the closet. It could potentially fit all of my and Max's clothes… for as long as we were married… and if we continued to share a bed. I gulped.

His thoughts seemed to be along the same lines. "We can fit a king bed in here. The closet could work, if we keep it clothes only. We might need to add more storage space in a few places." He stole a glance at me. "I may be getting ahead of myself."

I stood by the window and looked at the beach. "So far, only cosmetic changes are needed."

"Do you like it?" He came to stand by me. He didn't pay attention to the view, but to me.

I liked it. So much so, that I had a hard time chaining my feelings to the blocks of cement to which I usually tied them. For a moment, my dreams ran free, and they whispered promises to me I was scared to hear.

A nod was my simple answer.

He caressed my face, asking for my eyes. "Can I talk to my realtor, then?"

I gazed at him. "You like it, too?"

"It's gorgeous. You have good taste."

"I don't know, Max. It's… a lot. I don't know how we'd make it work. You pay… it's in your name… but I keep it? I don't like that. We pay fifty-fifty, put the house in both our names, and it gets negotiated in the divorce?"