At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [57]
Fine, he thought. She was angry? Welcome to the club, my dear. He shut the door and trailed slowly behind her, showing no desire to catch up.
“Today’s the big day,” Mrs. Reynolds said, smiling as Lexie approached. “You two ready?”
Lexie nodded; Jeremy said nothing. Mrs. Reynolds looked from Lexie to Jeremy and back again. Her smile faded. She’d been around long enough to recognize a spat when she saw one. Buying a house was stressful, and people reacted in different ways. But it wasn’t her business. What was her business was getting them both inside to sign the papers before the spat evolved into something that might cancel the deal.
“I know they’re already waiting for us,” she prompted, pretending not to notice their sullen expressions. “We’ll be in the conference room.” She took a step toward the door. “It’s this way. You two are getting one heck of a deal. Once the house is finished, you’re going to own a real showplace.”
She held the door open, waiting for a response.
“Down the corridor,” she urged again. “The second door on your left.”
Once inside, she hurried past them, almost forcing them to follow. They did, but as fate would have it, the lawyer wasn’t in the room.
“Take a seat. I’m sure he just stepped out for a minute. Let me check on him, okay?”
Lexie and Jeremy sat kitty-corner to each other as Mrs. Reynolds disappeared from view. Jeremy reached for a pencil and began tapping it absently on the table.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Lexie finally asked.
Jeremy could hear the challenge in her tone but said nothing.
“You’re not going to speak to me?”
Slowly he lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Tell me what happened with Trevor Newland,” he said, his voice quiet. “Or should I call him Mr. Renaissance?”
Lexie’s eyes widened only slightly, and she seemed on the verge of answering when Mrs. Reynolds reappeared in the doorway with the lawyer in tow. They took a seat at the table, and the lawyer spread the file in front of them.
The lawyer began to explain the proceedings, but Jeremy barely heard him. Instead, his mind flashed back to the past. The last time he’d been in a room like this, he’d been finalizing his divorce with Maria. Everything seemed the same, from the large cherry table surrounded by padded chairs, to the shelves filled with legal books and the large windows that let in the sunlight.
For the next few minutes, the lawyer explained the contract page by page. He walked them through the numbers, showed them the totals of the bank loan and the home inspection, the appraisal, and the prorated taxes. The total suddenly seemed overwhelming, as did the fact that he’d spend the next thirty years paying for the house. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Jeremy signed where needed and then slid the pages to Lexie. Neither of them asked questions, neither one held up the process. At one point, Jeremy saw the lawyer exchange glances with Mrs. Reynolds, who simply shrugged in response.
In time, the lawyer reassembled the three files: one for the seller, one for his own records, and another for Jeremy and Lexie. He offered the file, and Jeremy reached for it as he rose from the table.
“Congratulations,” the lawyer said.
“Thank you,” Jeremy answered.
There was no small talk as Mrs. Reynolds led Jeremy and Lexie from the room; once they got outside, Mrs. Reynolds congratulated them as well before heading quickly for her car.
Outside, in the sunlight, neither Jeremy nor Lexie seemed to know what to say until Lexie finally broke the silence.
“Can we go to the house?” she asked.
Jeremy studied her before responding. “Don’t you think we should talk first?”
“Let’s talk when we get there.”
The first thing Jeremy noticed when they pulled up to the house were the balloons tied on the post near the front door; he saw the WELCOME HOME banner