Gravel crunched in the distance as I stood in front of the old Shirley house.
Glenda and Robert Shirley had lived here their entire lives before moving into a nursing home in their old age. They bought the house back in the sixties as newlyweds and raised their three kids here. After the kids had grown up and moved out, they spent countless hours here with their grandkids too.
I checked on the place from time to time, because occasionally rowdy teenagers liked to jump the iron gate at the end of the driveway and come out to the abandoned house to cause havoc. It had been for sale for years, but nobody around here wanted to buy it and put in the time it would take to restore the old house back to its glory days.
The crunch of gravel got louder as I looked the place over. Someone was coming up the driveway. As I rounded the corner of the house, Colt’s truck came into view through the tree line. He parked in front of the house and hopped out. Hopefully, he wasn’t here to kill me and leave me for dead in the middle of nowhere.
He nodded when he saw me crossing the front yard.
“There you are,” he said.
“How did you know to find me out here?”
“Carmen said you’d be here,” he admitted.
Carmen was a dispatcher. She’d been working dispatch long before I ever became sheriff in Silver Creek.
“Did you come to kill me and leave me for dead?” I asked, only half-joking.
“No,” he said. “I came to see if Jace had.” He smirked. “After you left dinner last night, Cassie admitted to threatening your life too. Not sure which one you should be more scared of, honestly.”
“Cassie was an assassin in her past life.”
“I completely agree with you on that.” Colt laughed. “What are you doing out here anyway?” he asked, looking around at the overgrown yard and weathered house.
“Actually, I own the place now.”
“You what?”
“Well, I will officially once Katy gets the paperwork finalized, but yeah. I called her this morning to see if she was still selling the old place. She said the Shirley kids were willing to give me a good deal, since they’ve been trying to sell it for so long. They just want it off their hands, I guess. I had enough money from my time in the military to buy it for bottom dollar. Drained my savings, but it’ll be worth it.”
“What do you plan on doing with an old house and ten acres?”
“Give it to your sister.”
He laughed, a deep, belly laugh.
“I don’t know if you know this or not, but Molly is terrible at home projects. Have you seen that chicken coop she built? If I were a chicken, no way would I live in that death trap. There’s no way she can fix up this house like it needs to be,” he said, staring at me like I’d lost my mind.
“My plan is to remodel it first and then give it to her,” I clarified.
“Okay… but why?”
“I never want her to worry about where she and our son are coming home to at night. She can have ten gardens, a hundred chickens, and whatever other crazy things she wants out here. I just want her to always have a place to land—somewhere that always feels like home. Somewhere our son will always remember and love.”
“Shit, man,” Colt said, laughing while pretending to wipe an imaginary tear from under his eye. “You’re gonna make me cry, and I’m not even the one you knocked up.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t come out here to kick my ass.”
“I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll figure out a way to make things right. This seems likea pretty good start to me. Are you going to tell her right away or keep it a surprise?”
“I think I’ll keep it a surprise. That way she can’t talk me out of it.”
“Have you been inside yet?” he asked, taking in the overgrown yard and wilted siding.
“Not yet. Don’t get a key until I sign the papers, but I thought I’d come out and take a look around anyway.”
“What’s your plan?”
