Habitude, page 14
“No. I get that. I don’t have to. Like I said, though, I’m paying for the house.”
Faith puts her hands up in a surrender motion. “I know, and that’s fine. You made that fairly clear at Tollero’s.” She gives him a smirk and a sideways glance.
“We can get a joint account and pay the other bills from that if it make things easier.”
Faith contemplates that a moment. He said it so nonchalantly, but it’s kind of a big deal. Considering the simplicity of it, she replies, “It might.”
Once they reach the second property, Jonathan drives up the make-shift driveway thankful for his all-wheel drive, parks his car, and they walk up to the clearing. Brian is waiting there for him with his hands framing the horizon.
“Isn’t this beautiful, you guys? Man, this is probably the best view you could get.” Turning around, he gestures around him in a circular motion and says, “I think this clearing would be a perfect spot to build.”
Jonathan reaches for Faith’s hand as they look out over the bay. This property is located at the top of a large hill with a panoramic view of the coast going both directions. There is a line of trees that acts like a fence with the road just below them and a small strip of trees and then Amethyst Bay right beyond that. It’s simply breathtaking. This one is on five acres. Faith thinks about how nice it would be to have a garden. Especially with how much Jonathan enjoys cooking. It would be lovely to have some home grown vegetables for him to add to their meals.
Brian speaks up, “There are a couple more we can go see if this isn’t the one.”
Standing there, still awestruck by the view, Faith says, “No, I think we would like to write up an offer for this one.”
“OK! Great! I’ll get back to the office and get started on that right away.”
“Thank you, Brian. You’ve been such a huge help through all this.”
“Oh, of course! Actually, Faith, did you want me to come take a look at your house now, and I can give you an idea of pricing?”
“That would be wonderful!”
“Sure. I’ll follow you guys.”
Chapter 23
Verisimilitude
Noun; having the appearance of truth, probable
Brian walks through Faith’s house taking notes. He consults his phone a few times. Then they sit at the kitchen table to go over everything. Brian shows Faith the comparable sales in the neighborhood in the past six months. They are a bit higher than what she originally paid, so she’s hopeful.
“I don’t recall what you paid for this place.” Brian says as he shuffles through papers in his black leather ledger.
“It was one twenty-five.” Which now sounds like such a small number compared to what they are about to spend on a house.
“OK. I feel pretty confident that we can get you at least one forty, maybe even one forty-five.”
“Really? That would be great!”
“Yeah, the market has really started picking up. With the town being smaller, it can take a bit to catch up to the rest of the state. Properties in Caulfield have been going quickly and for quite a bit above asking for the past six months or so. It’s been an interesting time in realty.”
“I guess so.”
“When did you want to get this place on the market? We can wait until closer to when your new house is done being built, or we can list it in a week or so and see what we can get.”
Jonathan asks, “Do you think if we wait a couple of months, she could get more?”
“It’s a possibility, but there’s no guarantee. Waiting could work out, since the market is in an upswing currently, or it could completely back fire and end up costing her money in the end. There’s no way for us to know for sure.”
“Besides, what I’d save by not having my mortgage payment for those months could be worth it.”
“That’s true.”
“So, we’re listing it soon then?” Brian asks hopefully.
“Yes.” Faith answers confidently. She is feeling even more excited now, knowing she may make some money off her house.
Jonathan squeezes her hand. He can tell that getting this news has given her a sense of relief. Almost as much as getting an idea of the house plans and finding their property has gotten her excited with the entire prospect.
“OK. I have quite a lot of paperwork to do for you two then. I just realized we hadn’t discussed pricing for the land offer.” He opens his ledger once more and takes the listing sheet out.
“How much were they asking again?” Jonathan asks.
“They’re asking one hundred four thousand nine hundred.”
“Do you think we could get it for under a hundred thousand?”
“I think there’s a strong possibility. The housing market might be doing pretty well, but land sales are down. This plot has been on the market for a couple of months now.”
Faith is surprised by this. “That’s strange considering how beautiful that view is!”
“It is, but people aren’t building. That could change, so it’s good you’re doing it now. I will draw up the offer and get a contract over to you, Faith, for listing this place.”
“Sounds good. Thank you, Brian.”
“You’re welcome.
Jonathan shakes his hand, quite happy with all the progress they’ve made this weekend.
Faith and Jonathan walk Brian out and thank him one more time. He assures them that he will be sending a couple emails over before the end of the day.
Faith closes the door. Leaning against it, she says, “This has been an exciting couple of days!”
“It sure has been.” Jonathan walks up to her, placing his arms around her waist and pulling her into him. He leans down and kisses her.
“We’ve got a lot to celebrate.” Faith says, thinking Jonathan has hopes of going into her room.
“We do, but I have to get into work to finish some stuff I wasn’t able to do last night. Do you want to celebrate with dinner at my place tonight? You could spend the night.”
“I’d like that very much.” She smiles at him.
“Great. I’ll see you around six then?”
“Six.” She nods her head.
Faith walks Jonathan to his car then goes back into the house. She stops, taking a look around the living room. She thinks of everything that has happened in this house in such a short amount of time. This new chapter is exciting and fun, but it also means quite a lot of change.
Her eyes land on her furniture, wondering what they will need for their new house. She realizes she will need a storage unit for her belongings until the house is built and is ready to move in to. Jonathan will most likely not want all her things at his condo. Plus, he already has plenty of furniture there.
Faith decides to wait until tomorrow night at dinner to tell her parents and Hope the wonderful news. She does, however, send Jackie a text telling her all about it.
Jackie: That is so exciting! I’m so happy for you guys!
Faith: Thanks hun! I can’t wait, but unfortunately we will be waiting for a while.
Jackie: So, you’re putting your house on the market then?
Faith: Yeah. I don’t want to rent it out, so selling seemed like the best option.
Jackie: That’s awesome. It’s a cute house, I’m sure it will sell fast.
Faith: I hope so. I’m more concerned with price than I am with speed.
Jackie: If it sells you’ll move in with Jonathan then?
Faith: Yeah.
Jackie: It’s all going to work out perfectly. I can’t bring myself to live with Tom. I don’t think I’d get the quiet time I need.
Faith: You know that will have to change at some point if you two plan on staying together, right?
Jackie: Yeah, I know. I have to get back to studying. Tell your parents and sis ‘hi’ for me when you see them tomorrow and congrats again!
Faith: Thanks hun!
Faith quickly checks her email. Brian has sent over the contract and list price for her house. In the email, he asks if they can set up a time on Wednesday for him to come take pictures. She lets him know what time will work well and sets her phone down.
This is all moving so quickly. Faith thinks of the things she would like to get done before Brian takes photos and she starts making a list.
Before too long, it’s time to head over to Jonathan’s house for dinner. She is pretty sure he has something special in mind for them to celebrate. She has an anxious feeling that just won’t subside.
She changes into something a little sexier before heading over to Jonathan’s house for dinner. Knowing that whatever he has planned will be great and there’s nothing to be anxious about. This is a special occasion after all even if they are simply staying in.
Chapter 24
Attitude
Noun; a negative or hostile state of mind
When Faith pulls into park at Jonathan’s condo she doesn’t see his car in his usual parking spot. She waits a bit before deciding to go in. Luckily, Jonathan had given her a key. Although, this is the first time she’s had to use it.
Once she gets inside, she sits down on his couch and sends him a text asking when he will be home. Then she waits.
An hour later and she still hasn’t heard from him. She prides herself on having patience and being understanding, but a lack of communication when there were plans made and a time set is unacceptable. She feels disrespected and hurt. Her anger builds inside and as much as she tries to keep it in check, she feels like she’s failing miserably. There is no excuse for him to be doing this tonight.
In an attempt to calm herself down, she starts making dinner. Faith has no idea what Jonathan was planning for them to have, but he isn’t here to ask. She goes to his refrigerator and then the pantry to see what she can make for dinner. She grabs a few things to throw together and gets to work prepping and cooking.
The more time passes and she hasn’t heard from him, the more her emotions flip flop. One minute she’s as mad as she has ever been, and the next, she is worried that something has happened to him. Then, there is this little place in the back of her mind that thinks maybe he’s cheating on her. She hasn’t allowed herself to go there yet.
Faith doesn’t really believe he would do that, but this is also so unlike him, since he’s never done anything like this before. It’s completely out of the norm. She takes a deep breath. Reminding herself of his dependability up until tonight helps to calm her down a little bit.
The thought of calling his office crosses her mind, but she certainly doesn’t want Candi to know that Jonathan isn’t where he should be. Thinking of Candi just made everything worse. What if he’s cheating with her? What if all the late nights at work have been because he’s spending that time with Candi?
Faith thinks back to the night she questioned Jonathan about her. His answers were sufficient. He hasn’t done anything since then to give Faith pause or make her think that he wasn’t being genuine and trustworthy.
“Get it together.” She tells herself.
She wonders where these thoughts came from. Thinking back, she remembers that this was the type of thing Brock would do to her all the time when they were dating. He would make plans with her only to have her wait and never give her an adequate explanation as to why he was late.
Knowing her mind is simply making connections in similarities allows her to more easily let that line of thinking go. She checks her phone for the millionth time. Seeing that it’s now quarter to eight, she decides to leave. Dinner will be waiting for him on the stove when he gets home, but she won’t be.
She pauses for a moment and tries to call him. His phone goes straight to voice mail. None of this is making any sense. She looks up the phone number to the local hospital and calls, just to be sure he wasn’t in a car accident or anything like that.
No patients have been admitted under the name Jonathan Hall.
She is officially at a loss of what to do. If he were in an accident or was otherwise injured, surely he should be at the hospital. She thinks of calling the police department, but decides against it.
Walking through his door out into the crisp fall evening air is proving difficult. She wants to stay. In a strange way, it makes her feel closer to him, but it’s also messing with her emotions too much. At least at home she would be able to do something to distract herself. Here, this is all she can think of. She takes a deep breath steeling her courage, she opens the front door. Locking it behind her, she closes it and walks to her car.
Just as she’s opening her driver’s side door to get in, Jonathan pulls quickly into the parking spot beside her. Suddenly all the anger she felt building over the past two hours comes back in the form of rage.
Jonathan hurries to get out of the car and runs over to her. “I’m so sorry, Faith. I didn’t mean to be late.”
“I’m leaving. Dinner is on the stove.” She gets into her car, but Jonathan is holding the car door so she can’t close it.
“Please just come inside, and I’ll explain everything.” Desperation in his voice.
“I don’t want to hear excuses.”
“There won’t be excuses. Only really good reasons.”
She feels herself wavering. She wants to go inside, she wants to hear him out, but the anger won’t dissipate and that doesn’t work well for listening.
“Anything you say to me tonight is only going to fall on very angry ears. It isn’t going to help.”
“You have to let me make this up to you!” Faith hears his voice cracking on the edge of panic. She wonders for a moment if she should keep trying to leave.
She sits up straighter. Trying to keep her voice as calm as possible she says, “I said I can’t do this right now, Jonathan. Let me close my door.” She tries to pull it once again. Jonathan’s grip tightens and the door doesn’t budge.
“I can’t let you leave. I can’t let you drive mad.” His voice shaking even more.
She can see the reason he isn’t letting her leave is because he cares about her. This realization doesn’t soften her anger, though.
“I understand you are worried, but the time to be worried was an hour or more ago. You can’t simply stand me up and expect me to be OK with it.” Her voice slowly rising. “You didn’t even try to let me know what was going on.” Tears are threatening to fall. She takes a deep breath to keep them from betraying her.
“I’m sorry, Faith. I’m so very sorry.” He looks down at the ground. “Please, come inside.” The only way the desperation in his voice could come through any clearer would be if he were on his knees begging.
“I can’t.” She says it as firmly as she can muster. “This isn’t how tonight was supposed to go. There is no rectifying it at this point.” She reaches for her door once again. “I’d like to go home now.”
Jonathan’s desperation is beginning to turn into anger. Faith sees the change in his eyes. His voice lower when he says, “I told you I can’t let you leave.” He moves to stand in between her and the door making it even more impossible for her to close it.
“You can’t keep me here.”
“I can’t let you leave, Faith.”
“Jonathan. Let go of my car now!” Fear building in her throat as the words come out.
“I can’t do that.”
“You will do that.”
“I can’t.”
“Jonathan, you’re starting to scare me.” Her voice is a whisper; she doesn’t want to admit it out loud.
“I’m not trying to scare you, but you can’t leave me.”
Her nose and eyebrows scrunch up in a confused look, she softens it as soon as she notices. “I’m not leaving you. I’m going home. We can talk about this in the morning after we’ve both cooled down.”
“No. We can’t.” His voice is quiet, but strong. She’s never heard him sound like this before.
Faith is truly getting scared. She hasn’t ever seen Jonathan act this way. With fear in her throat, she takes her key out of the ignition. “I’ll come inside with you, but I’m not staying the night.”
“Please don’t make a decision yet.”
“Jonathan, I’m not sure that anything you have to say will change the fact that I’d prefer to sleep in my own bed.”
“How about we just go inside and enjoy the meal you made for us? I’m so sorry you had to do that. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We’ll talk, and you’ll see.”
“See what exactly?”
“That my reasons were good.”
“We can talk. I don’t have much of an appetite, though.”
“I understand.” Jonathan puts his hand out for Faith to grab. She ignores it, standing on her own volition. Jonathan closes the door behind her, then unlocks his front door. Faith walks in first. She tries to quiet the thoughts in her mind. She doesn’t want to be afraid of Jonathan, but his behavior right now is strange and she doesn’t understand why.
Jonathan goes straight to the kitchen. “Can I get you a glass of wine?”
“I don’t think I should drink.”
“Water then?”
“Sure.” Faith sits at the dining room table, unsure of what she’s expecting from this conversation. She wants to believe his reasons are good, but his erratic behavior outside makes her wonder if that could even be a possibility.
Jonathan brings her water glass and sets it down in front of her. He scoots his chair closer to her and sits down facing her, grabbing for her hand. She pulls it away. His head drops and he places his hands in his lap instead.
Looking back up, he runs his fingers through his hair. Faith usually thinks he’s so cute when he does that, but tonight, she is too mad to acknowledge it.
Jonathan is struggling with where to start. “I’m not sure how to say this…” He looks at Faith with anguish in his eyes.
