A house, maybe a dog or cat, and then kids.

It was time to get started.

“Good, now let’s go find us a house.”

“Whatchy’all think?” Jamie, their Realtor, asked with a big bright smile. She was very Southern and very happy. While Karson thought she was cool, Lacey seemed a little annoyed with her. “Isn’t it awesome!”

Everything was awesome to Mrs. Jamie Jones.

But even Karson thought the five-bedroom, six-bathroom, two-million dollar home was awesome. It was very elegant but had the Southern charm that came with Nashville. The rooms were huge, and Lacey loved one that had French doors and a patio attached. She’d said it would be her office, and Karson knew that this house was a top contender. She hadn’t said that about any of the billion other houses they had looked at. The living room was massive; the open floor plan led to the kitchen in an effortless way, and it was stunning. He could see them raising their kids and growing old here.

“It is beautiful,” Lacey said with a tight-lipped smile, then in a lower voice she whispered to Karson, “But the price is a little scary. Two point three million. That payment is gonna be huge.”

“Not really. It’s in a great neighborhood, it’s only twenty minutes to the arena—that’s fantastic—and it’s big. We can have massive parties, and also my captain lives on the next road over and loves it here.”

“Still the price is kind of up there,” she said, making a face.

“How much was your apartment? That had to be a good million?”

“No, it would have been seven hundred thousand, but I didn’t buy it, I rented.”

“Okay, so you lived there for how long?” he said, wanting to prove that she’d thrown money away. This was going to be an investment in their future. They could give this house to their kids when they were ready to travel the world.

“My dad paid the rent for the first two years, and I paid for the last two,” she said, looking up at him. “I couldn’t afford it until I paid my dad off, and since he knew where I would be, he paid for it.”

Karson hadn’t known that.

“Okay,” he said slowly and really didn’t understand that. She seemed to be well-off. “You have money though, right?”

“Okay, I’m gonna let y’all talk for a good little second. I’ll be back,” Jamie said, and without waiting for them to answer, she left them alone in the living room.

Lacey looked at him with a questioning gaze. “I mean, I have some. Right around thirty thousand saved, but that’s my emergency fund for the business. I haven’t built back up my personal savings yet.”

“This was really something we should have talked about before we came,” Karson said softly.

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “It’s just the price makes me nervous. Like, how much would the payments be?”

“Around nine thousand a month,” Jamie said, popping her head around the corner. She was obviously listening to them, and when Karson glanced at Lacey, he was sure she was having a heart attack. “Being a successful business owner and then an awesome hockey player, y’all can do that.”

Lacey’s face scrunched up as she took in a deep breath.

“Also, it’s vacant, so as long as everything is sound with your paperwork for the loan, y’all can close early.”

“I would buy it outright,” he said and both women gaped at him.

“What?” Lacey asked.

“Outright? Oh, then y’all could move in as soon as the paperwork is signed!” Jamie said with a little more pep in her voice.

“Hold on. Excuse us, please,” she said to Jamie.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, going back around the corner.

“She can still hear us,” Karson said with a grin.

“I don’t care,” she said, waving him off. “What do you mean, you want to buy it outright?”

“I don’t have debt. I don’t like it.”

Flabbergasted, she yelled, “Everyone has debt, Karson!”

“Not me, I am completely debt free.”

She could only blink as she shook her head. “That’s insane. So you have no debt? And two million dollars sitting around?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

“What about your car?”

“Bought it off the lot. Cash.”

“What? That is ridiculous to me. I am, like, sixty grand in debt!” she yelled, her chest falling and rising every second.

Karson reached out, taking her in his arms, hoping to calm some of her freak-out. They really should have discussed this before they came to buy a house. But like anything else, they acted first and thought later. Setting her with a grin, he said, “Not anymore. When we are done here, we’ll go to the bank and put you on my account, and then you pay your debt off. I don’t like debt.”

“Karson, no, that’s crazy,” she said with a shake of her head. “It’s okay to have debt.”

“No, it’s not. You are my wife, and we will be debt free. I don’t want anything left behind if something happens to us. We don’t want to be like other people who fight to stay afloat. We are both successful. I want to be smart about this.”

Her eyes searched his, and he loved how perplexed she looked. With a grin, he asked, “What?”

“How much do you have?”

“A lot,” he answered. “I’ve been saving for the last nine years.”