Page 6 of Wildest Dreams

“Mm-hm,” she says nonchalantly, before suddenly flipping over her vibrating phone and squealing. “Ooh, look at that! He’s texting me right now.”

As Fallon clicks open the message on her cell the bright green canopy overhead breaks, and I let out a sigh of relief as we enter a golden clearing. The head of the large Larch Peak lake is twinkling gently on our right and the whole reason why we’re here is waiting patiently on our left.

I breathe out a shaky, excited exhale as I take in the sight of the structure before us.

It’s a two story wood-built lakeside house, with a wide set of wooden stairs that lead up to a wrap-around porch. The first floor looks to the lake out front, looping around to a forest-facing patio at the back, with rustic columns creating an overhanging shelter outside and a sturdy base for the second floor balcony. There’s a cute dormer window set beside a medium-sized stone chimney, and the giant master suite sits imposingly under a gable roof.

I press a hand over my chest, trying to subdue my welling emotions.

“It’s perfect,” I whisper, fanning back my happy tears.

Fallon makes an intrigued humming sound as a piece of the porch railing thuds to the ground.

We look at it in silence as we mutually try not to panic.

“Okay, so itwillbe perfect once we’re finished with it,” I admit casually, manoeuvring the truck into a perfect 4x4 sized space beside the porch.

We both climb out of the truck and move around to the front of the hood, looking up at the large cabin with our hands on our hips.

“So, yeah, we’re going to have to fix pretty much everything that’s made of wood,” I confess as we take in the loose boards and water damage.

Fallon’s eyes fly to mine. “The whole house is made of wood,” she gasps, the magnitude of this summer project starting to dawn on the both of us.

I breathe out a nervous laugh and begin twiddling with my diamond earrings.

“Okay, technically you’re correct,” I begin, “but I don’t think that it’s the body of the build that needs the repairs. It’s mainly this outside porch patio bit that might need a little fix-up, because I’m guessing that maybe it wasn’t part of the original build? Like, the actual house looks lacquered up and secure – it’s the exterior railings and stuff that need redoing.”

“And then there’s the inside,” Fallon says, totally reading my mind.

I wave a hand to try and dispel our entwined fear of failure.

“The building isn’t hopeless, it just hasn’t been utilised. After we check the plumbing and electric it’s going to be solely an aesthetic job. Sanding, painting, and then the final stage will be properly decorating.” I twist my lips to the side, a frown creasing my brow. “It’s such a perfect small town hideaway, with so much potential. I just can’t stand the thought of my parents demolishing it.”

“Why would they demolish it?” Fallon asks, although when her eyes roam back to the wilting railing she purses her lips and says, “Uh, never mind.”

I give her a teasing roll of my eyes. “Okay, so it’s not just the fix-up job that has my parents wanting to quit on it, because fixing up a crappy porch can’t be that hard.”

I mean, I really freaking hope that it isn’t that hard.

“They construct and sell real estate, and most of their profits come from the big-money city states. The huge condo in Carter Ridge? That’s one of their smaller projects. But if I’m joining the company then I want to make sure that I love my job. Andexpanding their small town portfolio is literally everything that I’ve ever wanted.”

Fallon nods. “So this lakeside house…?”

“They didn’t buy the house to sell it – they bought thelandso that no-one else could. Because those little cabins across the shore there? They’re ours too. And they didn’t want anyone else getting their hands on this land and then potentially building something which would disrupt the beautiful view. But as soon as I found out about this property I knew that I didn’t want them to demolish it, and then it triggered this light-bulb moment of what I wanted my role in the company to be. To me, Larch Peak is perfection, and I want to use my time to restore builds like this one.”

“You mean like house flipping?” Fallon asks.

“Exactly,” I tell her. “When my parents acquire land, if there’s a build like this one, I want to re-establish it. Repair it. Give it a second chance.”

I shield the sun from my eyes as it glitters against the lake.

“I want to do this,” I admit, “and I’m going to prove to them that I’m the right girl for the job.”

Fallon has an understanding sparkle in her eyes as she says, “This is really important to you.”

“Yeah,” I admit. “And if I don’t complete this reno, then this lake house is going to be rubble when the summer is over. And if I don’t convince my parents that house-flipping and expanding into the small town avenue is worthwhile…”

I toe the point of my sandal in the dirt and shake my head.

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