And then another silence ensued.
It occurred to her that he didn’t want to move from her any more than she wanted to move away from him. Perhaps it was born of nostalgia for a time when they didn’t know all the things they knew now about men and women and hearts and truth.
Though she couldn’t, of course, read his heart. After all, she’d been wrong before.
A hick from the sticks,he’d said to whoever called him on the phone that day. Avalon?She’s just a hick from the sticks.
She realized now, as he stood here, that a part of her had always refused to believe he’d actually meant those words. This part of her, she knew, was not to be trusted. She’d learned that the world was a safer place when you cleaved unto a “what you see is what you get” philosophy. It wouldn’t protect you from every shock, of course, like finding your boyfriend in bed with the intern. But it was a pretty good guiding manifesto and the only way she could explain the gulf between what she felt was true and what he’d actually said.
“Mac,” she finally said quietly, evenly, “if you’ve finished with your... what is this? A farewell lap of the property?... I’m going to take a stroll over to Devil’s Leap and climb up there to take in the view.”
He hesitated. “Um...”
“What?” she said irritably.
“There’s just one little issue.”
“...What?” More tersely now.
“Technically you’d be trespassing on private property if you do that.”
Foreboding prickled at the back of her neck. Which was the only reason she didn’t shout, “YES MY PRIVATE PROPERTY.”
“What are you talking about?” She took pains to sound bored.
“Aw, don’t tell me you didn’tknow.”
She didn’t have a smart-ass answer prepared for this, so she opted to remain enigmatically silent. She had a sneaking suspicion she really wasn’t going to like the next thing he said, and that Mac, on the other hand, was really going to enjoy it.
“The land here at Devil’s Leap is intwoparcels, Avalon. It always was. The eight acres with Devil’s Leap and the swimming hole and the groundskeeper’s cottage is over there.” He gestured down the road to what looked like a sturdy, weathered box with a roof. She’d thought that was a shed. “The other parcel is the house and the two acres surrounding it.Youbought the house and the two acres surrounding it.”
He said this with the maddeningly patient cadence of a kiddie show host.
“I knew that.” She’d tried for insouciance. Her voice emerged a little cracked, however, and a beat after she preferred.
And it was a great big fat lie. In the thought balloon over her head, a cartoon Avalon was kicking another cartoon Avalon over and over.
“Yeah?” he just said, with mild interest.
“I just figured the swimming hole owner would cut his new and closest neighbor some slack and not object to a little nostalgic stroll. Especially since I’m a Hellcat Canyon native and my family has deep roots here.”
“Well, I’m sure that all depends,” Mac said genially.
“I’ll just make him or her an attractive offer for the property.” She shrugged as if this was no big deal at all. She wasn’t entirely certain how she’d go about doing it, unless she sold a big chunk of GradYouAte stock. She’d spent almost all of her savings.
“Attractive, huh?” Mac mused. Unnervingly, he wasn’t blinking.
She didn’t say a thing.
“Whydo you need a house this big, Avalon?” he asked suddenly. “Going to install a husband, kids, a Labrador, a few forest creatures?”
He was fishing: an irrational, reflexive happy stab of gratification.
“Why doyouwant it? Do you plan to install your third trophy wife and a legion of spoiled and ungrateful stepchildren who have run-ins with the law?”
He was amused. “I’m going to fill it with hookers and blow. And rock stars and rappers. I’ll have nonstop parties. I’ll have limousines and ambulances and helicopters going in and out with equal frequency.”
There was a beat of silence.
