Free Curses by Traci Harding Page B

glance drifting to the young real estate agent who was showing them the place. ‘The house is worthless … it’s only the huge acreage that makes the property even mildly interesting.’
    Phillip smiled, knowing that she liked it. Her complaints were solely for the salesman’s benefit; she was about to negotiate the price of the property down rather considerably and he intended to help. ‘Not to mention the ancient electrical wiring and the archaic fuse box … there’s no earth leakage breaker, let alone any circuit breakers.’
    ‘None of these rooms will make a decent rehearsal space.’ Rhea placed hands on hips and turned circles. ‘There may not be much demand to teach dance out here, but I do need somewhere to do my choreography and to keep my technique up to scratch.’
    ‘I suppose there’s plenty of room to extend.’ Phillip pointed out the obvious and Rhea screwed up her nose — despite the fact that she loved renovating.
    Steven tried not to cringe as the couple discussed ripping out walls and adding rooms. ‘Well, Mr and Mrs Garrett, the reserve price is negotiable,’ he proffered, hoping to hold the buyers’ interest.
    Rhea chuckled at this, as if that fact was plainly obvious. ‘How long, did you say, has this place been on the market?’
    Steven looked a little hesitant to reply. ‘About seventy years.’
    ‘Seventy years!’ Both Rhea and Phillip responded at once.
    ‘We’ve had a lot of drought out here,’ he explained. ‘The land is not good for farming.’ His spirits then seemed to lift somewhat. ‘But it does provide the perfect location for someone experimenting with a new form of solar energy retrieval and storage.’
    Rhea looked at Phillip, annoyed that he’d let the cat out of the bag.
    ‘Well, I had to clear my development plans with council, hon,’ he defended. ‘I guess word gets around quick here.’
    Steven nodded to agree that it did.
    ‘Well, something like two-thirds of Australia is land that is not good for farming.’ Rhea attempted to salvage the situation.
    ‘But here in Berrensborough, we have barren land that is relatively close to civilisation.’ The young real estate agent knew this was vital to the success of the project.
    ‘That is hardly something to be proud of,’ Rhea said scornfully, thinking that agriculture had probably done the damage in the first place.
    ‘Of course,’ Steven wanted to save face, ‘which is why having people like yourselves use this land for other purposes would be of great benefit to our community.’
    Phillip could tell Rhea liked the salesman’s retort, as she now had a more pleasant demeanour.
    ‘Well, then,’ Phillip rubbed his hands together, eager to buy the place, ‘let us see if we can strike a deal that will be mutually beneficial to all.’
    2. Making a Move
     
    The Garretts managed to acquire the property for a very good price indeed — they were amazed how cheap the land was to buy. The house was in such a state of disrepair that it hardly figured in the negotiations. This left a huge surplus for Rhea to renovate with, and she wasted no time in having plans drawn up and submitted to council. She was pleased to have her own project to work on, as Phillip’s construction of a prototype was going to keep him amused on a full-time basis for at least the next six months.
    The weather was a little hard to adjust to at first: hot, hot days and cool, cool nights, but the old fireplaces still worked well and the thick, stone walls kept the house pleasant enough during the midday hours. A swimming pool was to be the last addition to the house, once the renovations were done, and Rhea was counting the months.
    Whilst they waited for council approval to extend, Rhea kept herself amused with renovating the interior of the existing house, and with every day that passed the place became a little more livable and comfortable. She and Phillip were very pleased with their new acquisition; the place had such a tranquil