“Hey, can you shine the light on the ceiling?” she finally asked.
With the lighted flashlight still in his hand, Caleb asked, “What on earth for?”
“If you’re not going to arrest me, then humor me.”
He chuckled low. “Don’t tempt me, Katie. The jury is still out on that one.”
Caleb lifted the flashlight and sent beams of light soaring up towards the cathedral ceiling, until he settled the flashlight on the big hole in the roof, a scar that was a sign of loneliness and neglect by those who had once cherished the small chapel.
“That’s not good,” he said.
“You think?” she asked, chuckling. “I wonder how much it would cost to fix that.”
“Why would you want to? This whole building probably has all kinds of rot and decay. Some from the weather and some from a band of kids like we were only interested in coming out here to party.”
“I used to think this would be a great house for someone to live in.”
Caleb chuckled as if she were crazy. And maybe she was. In the shape the chapel was in, it would take a lot of money and hard work to bring it back to something that was inhabitable. Just seeing the few things dangling and broken as they sat there made Katie second-guess her decision to come here alone.
“Stop laughing at me,” she said, suddenly self-conscious.
“I’m not.”
She jabbed him with her elbow.
“Okay, I guess I am. But look at this place,” he said sweeping the flashlight beam around the room slowly. “Can you actually imagine living here? I mean really living here?”
“Yeah. Of course, not in the shape it’s in. I’m not stupid. And I’m not a carpenter, which is my biggest problem.”
“Oh, you think that’s the biggest problem here?”
She chuckled at his sarcasm. “I do have a vision though. I hate to see something so beautiful like this chapel continue to deteriorate beyond repair. Someday someone will buy this place. They’ll purchase it for the land so they can put up some other monstrosity of a house. Or worse. The buyer will probably litter the field with condos that will end up being a scar on the landscape.”
“Ouch. I have a condo.”
“You do? Really? I thought you rented that house near the police station. Isn’t that the street you grew up on?”
“Yeah. It’s close to town and convenient to the police station. It makes it easy to get to the station when I’m called in during a storm. But I do own a condo not too far from here up in on one of the mountain skiing areas. It was an investment.”
“Ugh.”
“You disapprove.”
“You sound just like my brother. You think in terms of investment not vision.”
“Right now I’m envisioning us getting out of here. Aren’t you cold, Katie?”
“Yes. But don’t change the subject.”
“We have a subject other than you trespassing?”
“I’m focused on the chapel,” she insisted.
“I thought we were talking about Kas and him not being a visionary,” Caleb said.
She glared at him, but wasn’t sure if he could actually see it. “Okay, fine. Don’t get me wrong. I think my brother has done an amazing job of building a very successful company. But I thank God that he has someone in his life now and is going to bring him down from whatever investment cloud he’s been living in for the past ten years.”
“That’s right. I heard he got engaged.”
“No, not yet. Close though.”
“Is that like horseshoes or…”
Katie chuckled and jabbed him with her elbow. “Knock it off. You’re making fun of me again.”
Slight pangs of jealousy hit her square in the chest. She hated the feeling, especially when it came to her brother. Katie was happy for him. She truly was. And she liked Tabby a lot. In some ways her brother and Tabby were so different. And in some ways she couldn’t imagine a better match.
And it sometimes irritated her to think about what Kas had found in Tabby. Her own marriage had fallen to pieces because Katie and Bruce hadn’t had that type of a match. Looking back on it now, she wasn’t sure what she was even thinking when she’d agreed to marry him. It had been mistake. But no one could have convinced her of that back then.
Katie felt Caleb nudge her.
“Where did you go?” he asked.
“What?”
“You drifted off somewhere.”
“I did?”
“We were talking about your brother and Tabby.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Tabby is nice. She’s going to find New York City a little challenging after living most of her life in Montana.”
“That’s for sure,” Caleb said with a shrug. “The only mountains out there are buildings.”
“What, you bought a condo that you don’t even live in?”
Caleb placed his finger against his chin, and then said, “You mean, why I bought it or why I don’t live there?”
“You mean you have a different answer for each?”
“Yeah.”
“You said you bought it for an investment. Does that mean you rent it out?”
“Sometimes. It’s rented on a weekly basis when people from out of town come to vacation.”
“So someone pays you rent for the place you own and you rent out a house from someone else.”
“Right.”
“Why?”
“I told you. The house is close to the station.”
“But why don’t you just live in the place in the mountains.”
“It’s too pretty.”
She chuckled and it seemed to echo off the walls and the ceiling inside the chapel. “Too pretty? What does that even mean?”
“Not the area. Although it’s beautiful country up in the mountain. It’s not me.”
She nodded as if she understood, although she wasn’t quite sure she did. The perfect match was a hard thing to be sure of.
Caleb leaned back against the back of the pew, making
