Page 38 of Wrong Number, Right Unicorn

“Don’t wanna. Tell them I’m sick.”

“Are you?” I felt his brow, but it was cool.

He rolled over, his eyes still closed. “No, just tired.” He sighed. “But I can’t get a raincheck for canceling, and I can’t afford it.”

He heaved himself out of bed and got dressed when I reminded him he’d forgotten something.

“I’ll shower when I get there and after the session.” Grabbing his gym bag, he blew me a kiss and left.

One of us was always in the car, driving to and from the other’s place. I could eliminate the to-ing and fro-ing by selling my house and buying a home together. Somewhere close to Grams’s.

But finding time was a problem. I was working on a new project at work and staying in the office late. Errol leaving early gave me the opportunity to go into work before anyone else arrived and catch up on emails.

That left little time for us to be together, let alone to make huge life decisions.

“Hey, Errol, I’m home!” I yelled as I dumped my computer bag near the door and toed off my shoes.

My mate was usually in the kitchen or slouching on the sofa but tonight he was in bed, and not dozing on top of the covers. He was in bed, the quilt pulled up to his chin, the room in darkness.

I knelt beside the bed and kissed him, not wanting to wake him up. But he stirred.

“Davien?” He didn’t have my shifter sight, so I turned on a lamp.

“Long day?”

“Oh yeah.” He yawned and drew me in for another kiss. “I don’t start until seven tomorrow, so yippee!”

He sat up, saying he hadn’t eaten, so I ordered in and we ate our dinner in bed.

“What do you think about us looking for a place that’s close to Grams and not far from your work?”

“Sounds great, but homes in the streets near her place come on the market rarely.”

While I’d be buying the house, using the money from the sale of my current home, it would be our place.

“You’re exhausted, so even if we can’t find anything, how about we move in with Grams while we find something?” My mate would suffer burnout if we didn’t make some changes in our lives.

Errol licked ketchup off his lips. “You’d do that?”

“Why not?” Not everyone would move in with their mate’s grandmother, but life got in the way and presented solutions, and it was up to us to grab hold of them.

I pulled up a realty site that was based in the area where Grams lived and scrolled through the listings. We wanted something that was live-in ready. If it needed a lick of paint or the garden was a mess, we could do that ourselves, but neither of us had the energy to renovate a kitchen or bathroom.

I shuddered at the cost and the disruption to our lives if we chose that option.

“This is a similar era to Grams’s place.” The price was within my budget, based on what I thought I’d get for my current house.

But as we flicked through the pics, we both said, “Oh no!” It was dark, dusty, and needed a heap of work to bring it into the twenty-first century.

“It used to have an outdoor toilet when it was built, just like Grams’s did.”

I pointed out when I was a kid, we also had to traipse outside to use the toilet, and Errol’s face registered horror.

“Don’t worry.” I gave his hand a squeeze. “There will only be indoor plumbing in your future, unless we go camping, and then you’d be behind a bush.”

“Let’s skip camping and stay with your folks instead.”

“Agreed.”

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