Chasing Dreams
Page 94

Given the type of resort they were looking at creating, the name suited it. The goal had been to come up with a name to reflect the carnal temptation they fully intended it to be. So, thanks to an online dictionary and a case of beer, Alluring Indulgence was born.
He wouldn’t lie, he was anxiously waiting for the day they opened their doors, but in order for that to happen, Kaleb had to convince Carl to sell him the land. With a resigned sigh, Kaleb shut the truck door and made his way to the side door of the house.
Rapping his knuckles on the wood frame, Kaleb waited like he always did until Carl’s gruff voice instructed him to “Come in,” The man never bothered to get up, nor did he bother locking any of his doors so Kaleb let himself into the large, typical farmhouse kitchen.
“Mr. Stranford,” Kaleb greeted Zoey’s father as he stepped into the living room.
Instead of a greeting, Kaleb was met with a muted “Hmmphh”.
Figures.
“How are you today?” When Carl pointed to the couch, Kaleb took a seat, keeping a smile on his face and his eyes on the old man sitting in the chair.
Just like in recent days, Kaleb felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia sitting on the couch in the Stranford’s dated living room. With the dark wood paneling, well-worn hardwood floors and a ceiling fan that had to have been produced in the 1980’s, he was hit with flashbacks from his teenage years. There was even the faint smell of cigarette smoke still lingering, although Kaleb knew Carl had quit smoking long ago.
He and Zoey spent many days sitting right there on the very same maroon and green, flowery couch Kaleb sat on now, talking, laughing and avoiding the glares of one ornery old man who continuously traipsed back and forth through the room, making sure the up-to-no-good teenage boy in his living room wasn’t somehow taking advantage of his sweet little girl.
“Was doing fine until you showed up,”
That was definitely the Carl he’d grown accustomed to. He much preferred the ornery old man to the fragile, forgetful one he’d spent hours with, as well. Carl had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within the last year, and as each day passed, Kaleb recognized more and more symptoms. At times, he was positive Carl didn’t know who he was, even though he pretended to.
“If you’re looking for Zoey, she’s not here,”
Kaleb barely heard him over the television turned up loud enough for Carl to hear without the hearing aids he refused to wear. Glancing over at the TV and then back at Carl, he bit back a laugh when Carl sighed dramatically before turning the volume down with the remote on the arm of his chair.
“I’m not here to see Zoey, Mr. Stranford. I’m here to see you,”
“Ahhh,” Carl didn’t look any happier than he sounded by the news. “Out to try and steal my land again, are you?”
“No, sir,” Kaleb said, forcing back a smile. He was, of course, looking to acquire some of Carl’s land, but in his opinion, the offer was more than fair. So, no, he was not looking to steal anything.
“So, why is it that you can come over to talk to me about my land, but you aren’t here trying to woo my daughter?”
Kaleb couldn’t tell whether Carl was serious or trying to jack with him. Woo? Seriously? Who said woo anymore?
He couldn’t very well tell Carl that he’d been thinking about “wooing” his daughter for some time now, but had never gotten up enough nerve to do so. No matter how Carl sounded, Kaleb wasn’t convinced he’d take any man’s intentions toward his daughter as a good thing. Not after her devastating divorce.
Shaking off that train of thought, Kaleb focused his attention on Carl once more. “Mr. Stranford, I wanted to stop by to see if you’d come to a decision about the land,”
“What are you planning to do with my land again?”
Kaleb’s hands balled into fists, but he kept them hidden. He was fairly certain Carl knew exactly what he and his brothers intended to do with it, but he figured he had no choice but to oblige him.
“Sir, we’re looking to build a hotel,” Well, it was more of a resort, but he didn’t want to go into the details.
“A hotel? Like what? A La Quinta?”
Fighting the urge to laugh, Kaleb shook his head. “No, sir. Not a La Quinta.” Not by a long shot, he thought to himself.
“What do you plan to do with my house if you build this hotel?” Carl asked, sincerely, his forehead creased with worry.
“We don’t have any plans for your house, Mr. Stranford. We aren’t looking to buy the land that your house sits on. We’re only looking to acquire the one hundred acres that sit adjacent to my father’s land,”
“One hundred acres, huh?”
Oh, brother.
“Yes, sir,”
The amount that Kaleb and his brothers were looking to purchase was about half of what Carl owned in total. Even though he was certain Carl didn’t have any intentions of using the land in the future, they didn’t want to go overboard. In Kaleb’s opinion, Travis was riding a fine line as it was.
Since Travis was insistent that the entrance face the south, for a number of reasons he’d been told, this had been their only option.
“And how much are you offering me?”
Kaleb was pretty sure he saw a twinkle in Carl’s eye, and if he wasn’t mistaken, the man was trying to catch him in a lie. Well, that was one thing the Walker’s didn’t do. They didn’t lie, and they didn’t try and cheat someone out of what was rightfully theirs.
Taking a deep breath, Kaleb settled in for the long haul. For the next half hour, he repeated the same conversation he’d had with Mr. Stranford for the umpteenth time.
 
 
To say Zoey was tired was an understatement.
She and V were going on hour number three of their weekly visit to the Wilson’s gi-freaking-normous house in which they scoured the five thousand square foot monstrosity from top to bottom. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t quite so gullible because when Victoria Wilson had bragged about how well kept her house was, Zoey had actually believed her.
Ummm... That was so not the case.
“V?” Zoey called out, her voice echoing off of the Travertine floors and twenty feet tall ceilings. “Where are you?”
Making her way to the master bedroom downstairs, Zoey had a good idea where V was, and she smiled at the thought.