Page 15 of Wishing for Love

They climbed the carpeted stairs and turned into a loft area. It was fairly big and had a couch, chair and TV already in there. There was a small galley kitchen against the wall with a thin fridge, sink, microwave and tiny oven. That she hadn’t been expecting. The oven looked new and seemed to be an afterthought added to the end of the counters.

“Did you just buy the oven?” she asked.

“I did,” he said. “There was room for it and I thought it was the least I could do, but the downstairs kitchen will be available too.”

“It’s a nice feature,” Crystal said. If she was off work the last thing she’d want to do is go into their house. “Everything is nice. It all looks new.”

“The furniture isn’t,” he said. “As we said earlier, I’m the oldest of nine kids. I’m the only one in Georgia so I’ve got this place for guests. The couch pulls out for another bed too.”

“But your siblings won’t be getting this space now,” she said.

“No. They don’t visit all that much anyway. Guess it was meant that Maryn talked me into this house when I thought it was too big. But she was the expert.”

“Elsie’s mother was in real estate?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “She was involved in a car accident on the way to a showing. Someone ran a red light and hit her in the driver’s door. She appeared fine and was taken to the hospital via ambulance because she said her head hurt. Then she lost consciousness and didn’t wake up again.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “That had to be hard to watch and wait.”

“It was almost a week. When all the swelling was down there was no brain activity. Might be the hardest decision of my life.”

Shit. He must have had to make that call. The fact that he was Elsie’s guardian led her to believe there was literally no family in the picture at all.

“Which is doubly as hard.”

“Yeah,” he said. He seemed to almost shake his head and moved toward the door at the back of the living area. “This is the bedroom, next to it is the bath.”

She popped her head in. There was a queen-sized bed, which was a lot bigger than her twin. He moved in and opened the closet door which was plenty of space. There was even a dresserin there for her. She didn’t even think she had enough clothes to fit in the space.

She looked in the bathroom and all she could think of was it’d be the first time in her life she’d have a bathroom all to herself and she didn’t care that it only had a shower stall, single vanity and toilet. It was more than enough for her.

“This is perfect,” she said. “Wonderful. It really is.”

“If you’ve got furniture, we can move this stuff out.”

“No,” she said. “I really don’t. Just a bed and dresser and they are second hand. I’ve got roommates. I don’t have a lot. I don’t think I’d even bring anything other than my clothing and other possessions. I mean, if you still want to offer me the job.”

“Are you kidding me?” he said. “It’s yours. I might beg you to take it if you don’t want it now. Which is stupid because you could ask for more money and I’d give it to you.”

He was smiling and though she wouldn’t do that, she’d bet he’d pay it.

“Then I can pack up and move my things in this weekend. When I give my notice tomorrow, I’ll just drive to my job from here on Monday and then can start on Tuesday. This weekend will help us get schedules squared away and work out all those kinds of things.”

“Perfect,” he said. “You’ll have time to yourself while Elsie is in school. If you want to make any decor changes here, please do. I haven’t painted or anything, but I don’t have a problem if you want to.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Anything that will make you comfortable,” he said. “I’m all for it.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling. “This is like a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to start.”

“Trust me,” he said. “You have no idea how much you’re helping me out...more like saving me.”

“Well, I guess that is a first for me. My family might say I was the one that always needs saving.” The look on his face said maybe she shouldn’t have voiced that. “That came out wrong. I’m not in trouble or anything. I was the airhead of the family that couldn’t seem to stick to a structure.”

“As I’m learning, having things all lined up and planned out in life doesn’t work either.”

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