Angela couldn’t keep the gasp from slipping out as she opened the folder and caught a glimpse of the kind of money Duncan was talking about. He was offering her more in a month than she’d made in a full year at the bakery. It was ridiculous how much their lives had changed.
“What are we supposed to do?” Kiara asked.
Duncan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
She lifted her folder. “This kind of money means we don’t have to work. What are we supposed to do with all our time? I can’t imagine just sitting around all day, every day.”
“You can do whatever you’d like. Travel. Take online college.”
“You wouldn’t let me go to an actual college?”
Duncan stared at her for a long moment. “Is that what you’d like to do?”
“I don’t know,” Kiara admitted. “But I’ll need to dosomething.”
Angela agreed with her. It had been nice not to have to work after working so hard on the homestead and in Briar Hollow. But having nothing to do moving forward didn’t hold much appeal.
“Why don’t the two of you talk it over, then we can meet again to discuss your options.”
“Okay,” Kiara said. “We can do that.”
“Moving onto the second purpose for this meeting,” Duncan looked toward the window as the sound of a helicopter approaching the estate reached them. “I have an architect joining us this morning to help you formulate ideas of what you’d like for your home.”
“Our home?” Angela asked.
“You are more than welcome to live in this house for as long as you’d like, but I thought perhaps you’d like your own space here on the estate. Annie has her own home, and Julian has a home in New York. So, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to work with an architect to design a home for the two of you.”
“That’s… amazing,” Angela said. She’d never imagined she’d one day have a place to call her own, though it had been a fervent wish.
“It’s up to you if you’d like to share a home, or if you’d rather have two separate houses.”
“We’ve never really talked about something like that,” Kiara said. “I guess we figured we’d live together until one or both of us got married.”
“That can still be the case,” Duncan said. “The architect I’ve hired for this project is very good, and he’ll be able to turn what you’d like in your home into reality.”
Angela’s head was spinning, and she felt a bit like she had to be dreaming. This couldn’t possibly be true.
How had she gone from her struggling life in Kentucky to this lavish life in Idaho? It didn’t seem like it was actually real.
And yet the pinch she gave to her arm told her that it was. She was wide awake and getting ready to design her dream home. Whatever that was.
When the architect walked through the door a few minutes later, he had Jude with him. Angela had been trying her best not to think about the man since she’d stormed away from him after their shopping spree. He’d made his feelings abundantly clear, and she’d known that she had to keep her distance as best she could.
But she couldn’t deny that something settled inside her at the sight of him. The spinning of her head and the fluttering nerves quieted when her gaze landed on him, even as her heart beat faster.
“Welcome, Garrett,” Duncan said as he held out his hand to the only stranger in the room. “I’d like to introduce you to Angela and Kiara. They are the people you’ll be designing for.”
Garrett was a handsome man with styled light brown hair and hazel eyes. He looked to be in his late thirties. Maybe around Jude’s age.
“Nice to meet you,” he said as he shook their hands in turn. “I look forward to working with you.”
“I’ve also asked Jude to be present to give his input on the security of the building.”
Jude held himself stiffly. And though he nodded at both of them, there was no smile in his greeting. He was probably angry with her for how she’d acted.
She lowered her gaze to her hands. It hadn’t been the most mature way to handle their interaction, she knew that. But it had been difficult to be rejected. And she’d felt stupid and like he was just tolerating her because of his job.
“Why don’t we go into the boardroom?”
