Page 36 of No Turning Back
He leads me to the first door on the right side of the hallway. It’s another bedroom, smaller but still decent, with enough room for a bed, dresser, maybe even a desk if you squeezed it in. Then there’s a bathroom, which isn’t just a normal bathroom, it’s got two more doors, one leading to the hall and the other connecting straight into the bedroom at the very end of the row.
Sam says pointing towards the second bedroom, “That one needs some repair but it’s just like this one.
I know it’s not big,” he says, motioning to one wall, “but we could put a bed up against that side. You can change the colour if you want, but I just painted it, there’s more cans in the hall closet.”
He scratches the back of his neck. “I mean, it shares a bath, but I’m not planning on getting any more roommates or anything. Once I finish the work in the second room, you could even use it as an office.”
I wander over to the window, peeking out at the wild, overgrown land stretching all the way to the tree line. The sky’s still got that washed-out blue from earlier, and the grass ripples in the wind like an ocean. It’s beautiful in that stubborn, unkempt way.
“Don’t you need an office?” I ask, glancing back at him.
“There’s one downstairs,” he says easily. “My ma was using it, so it doesn’t need any work.”
I smirk. “Is there a girlfriend that would mind me moving in here?”
He shakes his head, the beard swinging like a mermaid’s tail. “Nah.”
“What about your ex-husband? He gonna take an issue?”
I shrug. “He might, but he’s my ex-husband… so what can he do?”
Sam chuckles. “So…” he trails off, watching me.
I turn to face him, fighting the urge to squeal like an idiot, and then look back out the window. “How is this place just thirty minutes from the city?”
He steps up beside me, close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off him. “Well, that mud road we took back there-”
I nod, remembering how I thought we were lost.
“-that’s not exactly a road,” he says. “The owner lets locals use it. Cuts the travel time by about fifteen minutes.”
I smile, still staring at the land. “This scenery might actually be worth the extra fifteen minutes if he ever changes his mind.”
“He won’t,” Sam says with quiet certainty. “We take care of each other around here.”
I look at him, standing there like a damn Viking beside me. Jesus, I forgot how huge he is, kind of hard to ignore with him right next to me. I’m not exactly tiny at 5'6", but he still towers over me by nearly a foot.
Taking a deep breath, I blurt out, “God, I would live here forever if I could… but I can’t.” I end up answering his question before he even asks it. “As soon as the divorce is over, I’m gonna apply for adoption. I’m a foster parent, but I don’t think I can foster when I have a roommate… or when I am a roommate. Not that I’d bring home strays without asking.”
Sam looks away for a second, thinking. “I was a foster kid.”
That makes my head snap toward him.
“When I was twelve, my ma ended up in the hospital, and since we didn’t have any family, I wound up in foster care. It was… nice. First time I realized what having a mom felt like.” He shrugs lightly. “Anyway, if you still wanna do that, I’m alright with it.”
“I’ll ask my social worker,” I finish, my voice a little softer than before.
Sam nods like it’s already settled. “Cool.”
We stand there for a moment, just looking out the window at the wild, beautiful land. I can almost picture it, kids running around out there, a couple of dogs, maybe even the place looking alive again.
He clears his throat. “Wanna see the rest of the house?”
I smirk. “Lead the way, cowboy.”
“I’m just finishing up some cases, then I plan on doing repairs full time, open up the ranch again,” Sam tosses over his shoulder as we walk downstairs.
I drag my gaze from the way his shoulders flex with every step. “Yeah,” I say. “That’s nice. Well, count me in for… the easy stuff.”
