Page 27 of The Marriage Negotiation

"Only if its poison ivy."

Patrick's chuckle made me smile. I liked getting that response from him. He wasn't uptight and rigid like our parents or his brother. He was a little more laid back and tended to take things in stride.

He also knew how to laugh and to me that meant everything. I don't think I could go through life without at least one good moment of humor in a day. I'd be bored silly.

"This is it." Patrick stopped in front of one of the doors on the tenth floor and pulled out a key. He shot me a quick look. "Ready?"

I nodded.

Patrick unlocked the door and pushed it open. My jaw hit the floor before I even stepped over the threshold. There were a lot of clean lines in the place, but the architecture wasn't what I had been expecting for this modern building.

Crown molding went along every line of the ceiling, the doors, and archways. Just inside the doorway was a small entry that was all white marble, but beyond that was a whole lot of dark wood flooring.

I couldn't keep my eyes from widening as I walked through the place. The entry was grand enough, but the rest of the place was truly breathtaking. Whoever designed it knew what they were doing. They had brought old world charm to a modern space.

"Do you like it?" Patrick asked. "We can change anything you don't like."

"I love it."

Patrick released a breath. "Good."

"You said three bedrooms?"

"Yes, there is one here." He pointed to a door near the front entry. "And two more bedrooms towards the back." He walked over and opened the door he had indicated. "I was thinking this would make a good office and library for us."

I stepped inside and was once again amazed. A row of dark wood bookshelves went all along one wall. There were two sets of glass doors leading out to a balcony beyond, separated by a marble fireplace.

"Is that real or gas?"

"Its gas, but it gives off heat, which is good. New York winters can be brutal."

So I'd heard. Having lived all of my life in California, I actually couldn't wait for the first snowfall.

"The balcony goes all the way around to the bedrooms. I bought this place specifically because they face east so they get the morning sunlight."

I glanced at Patrick. "Not a sunset fan?"

"I like sunsets as much as the next guy, but after working in a hospital for so many years, I've kind of gotten used to being an early bird. I like to have my coffee out on the balcony so I can watch the day start."

"We'll need a good coffee machine."

"We have one," Patrick replied. "It's in one of the boxes in the van. That was one of the things I refused to part with."

Sounded like a good plan to me.

"We'll need to buy furniture for every room. We just have to decide what we want to do with the extra bedroom."

"I vote gym."

"The building comes with a gym, remember?"

"Oh." I frowned as I tried to think of another use for that space. "I'd say guest room, but I can't think of any guests we could have over."

"Why don't we just use it for storage right now until we can decide what we want to use it for?" Patrick asked. "I don't want to buy a bunch of furniture for a room and then have to change it later."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Patrick gestured with his head. "Want to see the kitchen?"

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