Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Five seconds later, the bell above the door rang, and without taking her eyes off of Matt, Sarah said, “Good afternoon, Lori!”
Turning to follow Sarah as she approached Lori, Matt looked even more dazed and confused.
“Hello, Sarah. Do you have any of that amazing cream Lucy makes for eczema? It works better than anything I’ve tried before.”
Sarah smiled at Lori and led her away from Matt to the other side of the store. Matt shook his head, glanced around the store, and then made his way to the front door and quietly slipped out. I turned to see Sarah watching him make his escape. As soon as the door to the shop closed, she visibly relaxed.
Lucas took my elbow and led us back to the office. I shut the door then leaned against it while Lucas gave me a questioning look.
“Did you see Matt? He almost looked…”
“Confused?”
Lucas shook his head to correct himself. “No. He almost looked as if he’d had a revelation of some sort.”
I drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “The only thing I noticed was how the two of them looked at one another. For a hot second, I swore they were about to kiss!”
Lucas’s brows shot up. “That would interesting.”
Smiling, I agreed, “It most certainly would be.”
“Oh no, Hollie. No. I am not going to let you put a spell on Matt or Sarah.”
Putting my hand to my chest as if hurt by his words, I fought back a smile. “Me? I would never do such a thing!”
He rolled his eyes. “Right. And I’m a witch.”
I couldn’t help but grin.
Lucas
A week since we’d gotten back from Ireland, Hollie and I stood in the middle of the living room of a house we were looking at. We had both decided to sell our places and buy something big enough to raise a family in, but for the time being, we were living at Hollie’s house.
Finding a single-family home in Salem big enough to even think about raising more than two kids in was a task in and of itself.
“Lucas, this place is amazing!” Hollie said, making a turn in the living room for the third time.
Smiling, I nodded.
“Now, you’re in the heart of historic Salem,” our real estate agent said, “so that’s why the price is higher. But this Queen Anne single is so precious that I had to show it to you both.”
“JulieAnne, I’m so glad you did! I want to see more!” Hollie exclaimed.
“Let me give you the run-down. The house was built in 1890, and it has four bedrooms, two full baths and two half baths. There’s an eat-kitchen, a large family room, and a spacious dining room for hosting dinners. There’s also a formal living room, two fireplaces, and the house has the original hardwood floors throughout. It even has a seasonal screened-in porch and a beautiful fenced-in yard—which, I might add, is a rare find this close to downtown Salem.”
“You said there was more parking besides the two-car garage?” I asked.
JulieAnne nodded. “Two additional spaces in the driveway, so you have enough parking for a total of four cars.”
“It’s such a great location, and it ticks off all the things we wanted, besides the three full baths,” Hollie said as she looked at me with anticipation in her eyes.
“Let’s keep looking at the rest of the house, shall we?” I said.
JulieAnne and Hollie both smiled.
“As you can see, the family room is rather large. There’s a large open space above that’s used for storage right now. You could easily add in another bedroom and bath.”
“That’s good to know,” I said as we walked into the kitchen.
“It’s your typical historical home,” she continued. “You don’t have the open floor plan, but you could see if you might be able to open this wall so you could look into the family room.”
Hollie and I both nodded.
“Here on the other side of the kitchen is the formal living room with another fireplace. There’s a small butler’s pantry between the living room and the formal dining room.”
“Oh, look at that screened-in porch, Lucas!” Hollie exclaimed.
JulieAnne smiled. “There are two staircases, one by the kitchen that used to be for the servants, and the other is right here in the foyer. The only way to get down to the basement is the staircase near the kitchen.”
“Let’s go down first!” Hollie said.
The basement held the laundry, a large storage area, and a bedroom and half bath. There was plenty of room to turn the half bath into a full bath. It would be the perfect area for a guest room.
“We could turn this large storage area into a man cave maybe!” Hollie stated.
I nodded. “Or another area for the family. A theater room?”
“That’s a great idea!” JulieAnne said.
We made up way back up and through the kitchen and to the staircase in the foyer. Upstairs consisted of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One was in the primary suite.