Meant for Me | ✔️

4) A beautiful thing

This chapter is dedicated to kristenxmusic and her dad. ♥️

Sunday, August 3rd.

A D D I E

We arrived at one of the long winding driveways that was shaded with trees on either side, their thick full branches of leaves creating an overhead awning. The gravel crunched beneath the tires and there was nothing but green for what felt like forever.

That was until we approached an enormous home that looked to be from the Victorian era but had been renovated and was modern and sharp. The weatherboard was a crisp white and the shutters were midnight black. There was a wraparound porch on either floor. The railing was thick steel and there were wide windows and French doors everywhere.

On the other side of the parking space, was a second driveway that led toward the acres of open fields where I could see sheds and barns and animals. I stepped out of the cruiser and was hit with an array of different smells. Clean air was the first and the rest I couldn't put a name to. It wasn't bad, it was just so different. The air was different. I had never experienced it before.

"Yep, that's horse shit," Raine stood beside me and inhaled a deep breath, she had a pair of aviators on now. "Or it might be Noah, the donkey."

"Noah?"

She shook her head with a small smile. "Willa named him after Noah from The Notebook."

"She watches that?"

"Loves it," Raine said. "We fast forward through the sex scenes, but she's obsessed with those classic romance movies. Milo thinks it's better than her watching some of the trash that's on television now. He's hoping that it'll raise her standards and she'll settle for nothing less than being courted by a gentleman."

I nodded. "Not a bad idea."

"Yeah but I said the best chance she has is seeing her dad's example," Raine grinned. "So, Milo is the Noah to my Allie. Flowers, cute dates, compliments. He's a catch."

"Noah and Allie fought a lot and then had an affair while she was engaged."

Raine's smile slipped and she was quiet for a moment. "Well, shit."

I laughed and it was so sudden and abrupt that I almost missed the fact that it came from me. "It's all for true love, right? I mean, Noah and Allie loved each other until death. So, that's the main thing."

She laughed as well and then we wandered up to the front of the house, but instead of going in through the front door, we went around the porch, to the back garden where the deck extended and was covered in outdoor sofas, a large twelve person table, a fireplace and an egg swing. It was gorgeous. It overlooked stretches of rolling land, there were tall trees with tire swings hanging from the thick climbing branches, flower beds, vegetable gardens, bench seats sat among the nature and lavish dog houses were lined along the back fence.

"Wow," I murmured, wanting so much to see it for what it was, rather than having a looming dark cloud of despair distorting the view.

"I'm going to go in and find out how far brunch is. Want to come?"

I looked over at the open French doors which looked as if they led to a dining area. The kitchen can't have been far, I could smell hot bread and bacon.

"I'm just going to make another call," I was still holding my phone, the sundress had no pockets. "I'll come in after. Where do I go?"

"Unless we're back, we'll be in the kitchen. Straight through those doors and to the left."