Page 62 of Wasted

"Hello, Taylor Coleman?"

"This is her," I said into the speaker.

"My name is Harvey Holley, and I bought your property. I was wondering if you could come by sometime today. We've spent the last month cleaning the place, and I found some things I think you might want to keep."

"Oh," I said. "Uh, yeah, thank you. I can come by in about an hour."

"Perfect," he said. "I won't be here, but the box is inside the front door, and the key is under the doormat." I almost laughed because that's where I'd always kept my spare key.

"Thank you, Mr. Holley." I disconnected.

"Who was that?"

"Harvey Holley," I answered. "He wants me to come by my parent's house and pick up a box of things he thought I might want."

"Oh, wow. That's nice."

This was a huge reminder that I had nothing. "Bailey, I'm not ready to give up the bar yet. I need a little time to figure out a plan for myself."

"I understand."

"But I do need a favor." I sighed. Bailey's forehead creased. "Can you come with me today to pick up the box?"

"Yeah, of course."

Going back to my home, I had to give up felt like a cruel kind of torture, and I wasn't sure I could do it alone.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Taylor

The ride to the ranch was silent. All the pain, sadness, and heartache I'd felt the day I walked away was weighing heavy in the pit of my stomach. I shouldn't have agreed to go back, but I couldn't help but wonder what he'd found that I might want. For the past few months, I'd avoided driving down this road because I couldn't stomach the realization that I'd let it go.

Bailey swerved her truck down my old long driveway. "It was really nice of them to keep this stuff for you."

My eyes flicked to her, and I forced a smile and nodded slightly. It was nice, and I was thankful the owners weren't home, so if I did cry, they wouldn't see. She eased to a stop, and for the first time since I'd left, my gaze shifted over the property, and my heart swelled as I moved from the remodeled horse stable to the new horse corrals and a then completely remodeled house.

I shoved open the truck door and stepped onto the dirty driveway. Sucking in a deep breath, I took it all in.

"This..." I swallowed as tears burned the back of my eyelids. "Is amazing."

"Yeah," Bailey sighed. "They fixed the place up. It looks just like it did when we were kids."

It was like they snuck into my dreams, printed them, turned them into blueprints, and then created my dream home.

"Come on," Bailey smiled. "I'm dying to see what they did with the inside."

I followed her up the steps. "We should just get the box and go."

"What?" She scowled. "No, we should look around. It's not like we'll have the chance again."

"Bailey," I snapped as she reached for the door handle. "It's not my house anymore. They were nice enough to let us come get this box. We should get it and go."

"You go then." She smirked over her shoulder as she shoved the door open. "But I'm going to look around." I rolled my eyes. Bailey was always a troublemaker, but that was why I loved her. If it wasn't for her, I'd have missed out on amazing experiences growing up and some of my not-so-amazing experiences, too. "Aren't you curious?"

I followed her into the large living room, and my jaw dropped. It was restored to its original beauty. It looked exactly like the house I'd grown up in, minus all the old broken and damaged furniture. The fireplace that hadn't worked since I was a kid had a small fire burning inside it, and the floors with rotting wood had been replaced with new wood stained with the same dark hardwood we'd had growing up.

"Okay," I whispered like someone might hear me. "But one quick walk-through, and then we leave." I couldn't help my own curiosity. I wanted to see the rest of the house.

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