Page 21 of Broken Chains

I grinned and shrugged. "It was a first for me," I admitted.

"Okay, well, I have little humility left, so I'm going to just come out and ask a big favor of you."

"Okay?" I was curious about what she could possibly want from me, but I also knew there was absolutely nothing I wouldn't do for her.

"Well, see, I sort of bought a house."

"A house?"

"Yeah, a house. Anyway, while I'm here I have to swing by and sign some paperwork. They said to bring a witness," she said, biting her lower lip. "Would you come with me?"

Somehow I knew she was lying, but I didn't care why because that meant I got a little more time to spend with her.

"I can do that," I said, and she visibly relaxed.

"Great! Thank you so much," she said.

We headed for the checkout.

"A house? You really bought a house?"

"Sort of," she said.

"A sort of house?"

She sighed. "I'm buying a money pit, okay? It needs a ton of work, but I figured with Kenneth heading into summer break, and Tim if he wants to join him, it was a good time to go for it. It'll keep them out of trouble this summer, and I get the house of my dreams, finally."

"You've been planning this long?" I asked.

She blushed again and nodded. "Pretty much my entire life," she confessed.

We stopped talking long enough to check out. I walked her to her car and loaded her groceries for her.

"Thanks," she said. "So you want to just follow me, or hop in?"

I looked at her small economy car and decided that things could turn comical if I tried to get in it. That was one of the pros for the minivan, as much as I hated to admit it.

"Do you have anything that needs to be kept cold?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, I knew I had other errands still to run."

"Well then, how about I drive?" I offered.

She perked up and smiled. "Okay."

We walked the short distance to the van in silence. "You were scared you wouldn't fit in my car, huh?"

"Terrified," I admitted as we both cracked up.

I helped her with her door as she got in the van and then ran around to jump into the driver's seat. She gave easy directions, but if she'd just given me the name of the place to begin with, I could have spared her that.

When we walked inside, the receptionist smiled politely but I could see her eyeballing me and knew she was wondering what exactly a guy like me was doing with a girl like Peyton. Truth was, I hadn't a clue either.

"Did Mr. Johnson leave the documents he needed to have signed?" Peyton asked.

"Yes, Ms. Collier. They are just in his office, follow me," she said. We walked into the office where a folder was laid out on the desk. "He'll be out for a bit, I'm afraid."

"It's fine. He said as long as we both signed he could file without issue."

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