Page 45 of A Fresh Start on Crumcarey
Luke grinned at her. He liked the way she said his name. He liked the fact that she was excited to go along with his hair-brained plan without knowing what it was, even though she must be completely knackered from a long day at work.
Hell… he justlikedher. Everything about her.
Luke let out a breath and returned her grin. Suddenly, this didn’t feel risky, or stupid, or way out of midfield. It just felt right.
‘Ready for a magical mystery tour of Crumcarey?’ he asked, pulling on his seatbelt before turning to meet her bright eyes.
‘Always!’
They drove in companionable silence for a good ten minutes, and Luke took the road that led up to the cliffs where the puffins hung out in the summer. They were all gone now, of course, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t the cheeky little birds he was taking Maggie to see.
‘Nearly there,’ he said, shooting her a smile as he turned down a rough track.
Once upon a time, he imagined it would have been carefully tended, its potholes filled once a year and the hump in the centre scraped back. Now, though, there was a good chance they’d both need to visit a chiropractor after bouncing down the narrow, rutted path.
‘Where on earth are you taking me?’ giggled Maggie, bouncing around in her seat and eyeballing the sad-looking cottage at the end of the lane.
‘Welcome to Peedie Croft,’ said Luke.
‘O-kay…’ said Maggie slowly, turning to stare at him.
‘Come on – let’s have a poke around!’ he said, not quite ready to let her in on his plan just yet. He wanted to see what she had to say without confusing her with all the details.
Maggie shrugged and hopped out of the car, grabbing a bobble hat from her jacket pocket and pulling it on to stop her long hair from going crazy in the wind.
‘How long’s this place been empty?’ she said, craning her neck.
‘As far as I know, at least forty years,’ said Luke, leading the way to peer through one of the windows.
Maggie followed him eagerly. After a brief look, she peeled away and wandered towards the overgrown walled garden at the back.
‘What do you think of the place?’ he said, following her.
‘It must have been lovely once,’ she said. ‘Hey, can we go inside?’
‘Sure!’ said Luke.
It didn’t take them long to look around. The cottage was completely dilapidated, but that’s not what Luke saw in front of him… all he could think about was his plan.
‘So… what would you do with it?’ he said lightly, as they made their way back outside. He’d done his best to make it sound like a throwaway question, but he had a feeling he’d just failed miserably.
Maggie raised an eyebrow at him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean… if it was yours to renovate, what would you do?’
She went quiet for a moment, staring at the old place thoughtfully. ‘Do you have a pen and paper in the truck?’
‘I might have an old napkin?’ said Luke.
‘Better than nothing!’ laughed Maggie.
‘You keep thinking and I’ll grab it for you,’ said Luke.
Five minutes later, Maggie had drawn a stunning sketch of Peedie Croft in the middle of a piece of kitchen roll. Around the edges, she’d added smaller sketches, outlining new features that could turn the shell of the old place into something rather lovely.
Luke shook his head, completely blown away by the sheer talent Maggie had been sitting on for so long.
‘I mean… this is seriously rough,’ she said, adding a few arrows to the drawing before popping the cap back on the biro. ‘Of course, it would all depend on what it was going to be used for. A porch is a good starting point though – kind of essential up here!’
