CHAPTER 15

It felt strange to be an adult now. Dawn supposed that she had been an adult for a while, but it seemed even more real now. She no longer lived in a house with her mother and father. Now, she lived in a house of her own with her soon-to-be husband. They had purposely put the wedding off for a year. It would give them time to get their business started and more than enough time to plan.

“I don’t know why we should wait so long. I mean, why not just do what people here used to do and just get married on a cliff atop the mountain? Hell, we could get married in that old pit we used to dig around in all the time.”

“We haven’t been there in ages!”

“No, we haven’t. I suppose we outgrew it.”

“Why are you in such a hurry to get married?” she asked.

“Why aren’t you? You are giving me a complex.”

“I am not. Am I?”

Dawn put down the book she had been reading and looked at him, studying his face and examining his thoughts.

“Stop pushing your way into my head,” he told her.

“Liam? Are you really concerned about me not wanting to marry you?”

“No, of course not, Dawn. I just want you to be my wife. I want us to begin our lives together.”

“We have already begun our lives together. We live in the same house, and we are hardly ever apart. Everything we do, we do toward a common goal of getting our business going and getting a house of our own. We don’t need a piece of paper that says we are man in wife to do that, do we?”

“I suppose not,” he admitted.

“But it still bothers you?”

“I’m just…I don’t know. I guess I’m just ready. My entire life has centered around being married to you and making you happy.”

“There is more to your life than that, Liam. There is so much more.”

“I know. I don’t mean that. I’m not saying it’s all I have going in my life. I’m just…I don’t know.”

“Listen, Liam. I love you more than anything in this world. I want to marry you in the worst way, but you know we can’t just sneak off and do that. Your father is the dragon leader, and there are expectations.”

“I don’t care about expectations!”

“No, but your parents do, and we are going to honor their wishes. We are going to marry in a traditional ceremony in front of hundreds of people we hardly know or care about, but on that day, there will only be one face that I even notice. When I’m walking down that aisle toward you, I will only see you. It will be as if no one else is even there.”

Liam smiled and kissed her on the cheek. She knew he was still bothered about it, but he knew she was right and he would come around. If they agreed on anything, it was that their wedding day would be the best day of both their lives.

“You want to go look at the new space with me today?” he asked.

“New space?”

“Yeah. Remember I told you that they built a new block of offices in the city center? Some are for sale, and some are for rent.”

“Oh yeah. They are ready to be looked at then?”

“Sure are. That sounds great. When are we going?

“Now? He just sent me a text and said he could meet us there if we have time.”

“Let’s go then. I’ll change.”

Twenty minutes later, they were standing in the first of several offices he had to show them. Dawn looked around disapprovingly. It was way too small, and there were hardly any plugs in the walls.

“We are running a media company. We’re going to need a lot more space and a lot more electrical outlets.”

“I agree. Are the others bigger?”

“Not really. They are just spaced differently.”

“That stinks. This is a great area, and it is within walking distance of where we live right now,” Liam replied.

He looked toward Dawn, scratching his head. She knew he had been hopeful that they could move forward. She was beginning to realize that he was feeling like he was on hold somehow. He needed this. He needed to at least line up an office. Moreover, he needed something to keep him busy. Dawn looked back toward the realtor.

“Yes, let us see that one.”

“Excuse me?” he replied.

“The one you are thinking about. Let us see it.”

“I…how did you know?”

“She is just very intuitive. Do you have another place to show us?” Liam asked him.

“Yes, but it’s very rough. It’s abandoned and not an adjoining office like this one. It is in disrepair.”

“Sounds just like something that might be just what we need,” Dawn replied.

“All right, let’s go then.

They walked behind him as he led them to a large building almost directly across the street. It had once been an old cottage owned by the woman who ran the diner down the street. When the city center began to grow quickly, it had been vacated by the people who had lived in it last and rezoned as commercial property, but no one wanted it. Looking around inside, Dawn could see why.

“It needs a lot of work,” Liam said.

Dawn looked in his direction. He was smiling and running his hands across the old woodwork that was still visible on the chair railings and the large stones that made up a fireplace on one end. It was practically gutted, with only the support beams that had once framed the walls of former rooms.

“How much do they want for it?” Dawn asked him.

“Not much,” the realtor replied.

“How much is not much?” Liam asked.

“They’ll sell you the whole building for ten thousand euros.”

“Are you kidding me?” Liam asked.

“Maybe eight. It’s nothing more than a frame really, but it is solid, it’s large, and the location is prime.”

“We’d have to put quite a bit of work and money into it,” Liam said.

Dawn knew it was more a comment to himself than her. She also knew that his statement of disbelief about the price was not because he thought it was too high. It was much lower than either of them had expected. Still, it would need a lot of work, and how much would that cost them?

“Let us think about it,” Dawn told him. “Do you mind if we bring someone in to look at it and give us an idea of how much we are looking at in repairs and upgrades before we discuss anything more seriously on the price?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been trying to sell this place for a very long time. Most people just look at it and walk out. If you are interested in it, then do whatever you need to do and call me with any questions. I’ll talk to the owners about the price.”

“Good enough then. Thanks for showing it to us.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, handing each of them his business card and showing them out.

Dawn and Liam stood at the front entrance and watched him walk back down the street to his car and get in before walking across the street to the pizza parlor they had been frequenting for years. Liam hadn’t even had to ask. She had seen him thinking about their specialty pizza the moment he had laid eyes on the sign.

“I’d have given him twice that,” Liam told her over a gooey slice of stuffed crust meat lovers pizza.

“I know. I’m glad he kept talking when he should have kept quiet instead of going down on the price.”

“Yeah. He didn’t care much about his clients. He just wanted to get rid of it in a hurry. I forgot to even ask who owns it.”

“Liam, I love that you are so excited about the place, but even if they give it to us, it might be too much to get up to par.”

“We’ll get people in there tomorrow to find out.”

“So we will,” Dawn laughed, taking a bite out of her pizza.