“Well, you fell in love with a bookseller. And I’m still a little jealous about that, so.”
Dell laughed. Luca smiled.
“Fair enough,” Dell said. “I’m glad, though,” he added after a beat. “Genuinely. I’m happy for you.”
“Thank you,” Luca said. And then he cleared his throat. “The thing is, though. Turns out farming’s kind of a perilous business.”
Dell turned to him.
“You want to sell your cabin to have money for the farm,” he concluded. Luca nodded. Dell turned back to the ocean. “I get it,” he said. “It’s just such a good cabin.”
“I know.”
“You mustreallylove him.”
“I know.” Luca hugged himself a little harder. Shook his head. “It’s fucking sick.”
Dell laughed again.
“What’s your acreage here?”
Luca told him. It wasn’t much, but he owned enough ofthe land surrounding the cabin that a developer couldn’t build right next to it. And the dunes and beach beyond belonged to the state.
“I’ll have my inspector come out this week,” Dell said. “But I don’t need to look around myself. I know how great this place is. But if her report looks good—” Dell tilted his head, thinking.
And then he listed a price that made Luca’s jaw drop.
A price at least double what he’d been hoping for.
“Dell. That’s?—”
“It’s what it’s worth, man. Trust me. Even ten years ago, whoever sold this to you for that price was an idiot.”
Even though this was exactly what Luca had been hoping to hear?—
Luca looked behind them, over his shoulder through the glass door.
“It’s one room.”
“It’s beautiful. Ocean view.”
Luca squinted at him.
“Are you just being nice to me?”
Dell smirked. Took another sip of beer.
“I wouldn’t bullshit you, Luca.” Luca still squinted at him. That wasn’t a real answer. Dell’s smirk turned into a true grin. “Mae and all their friends really love your guy’s pickles, though. Would be a shame if they couldn’t get them anymore.”
Luca huffed and shook his head. Looked back at the sea.
Whatever Dell was doing—fuck, Luca shouldn’t question it anyway.
“Speaking of Mae,” Luca said a minute later. As soon as the words hung in the air, regret squirmed in his gut. Even though?—
Even though Luca knew, somewhere deep inside himself,that the reason he’d asked Dell to meet him in person wasn’t so Dell could appraise the house.
It was so Luca could ask him this.
