Page 5 of Embracing Easy

“I know, but we can FaceTime.”

I hear her moving around, probably after one of her kids. “You’ve got an answer for everything.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s going to be fine. You’ll see,” I promise her as I pull up to the curb in front of my rental. “What the hell?” Sitting in the driveway of my new home is a big green dumpster with what looks like old carpet sticking out of the top. “I think I’m here, Mara. I gotta go.”

“Okay, honey. Call me later this week so I know you got settled into your new place.”

My eyes sweep across the lawn to the house next door. “You know I will. Bye, girl.”

“Bye.” Mara ends the call.

The second I cut the motor, the sound I’ve been waiting to hear wraps around me like a blanket. My eyes close as the sound of the ocean brings with it the first rays of hope in weeks.

This is my fresh start.

Opening my eyes, I climb out of my car, nudging the door closed behind me. Excitement surges through me as I round the hood of my car.

As I approach the blue bungalow, my excitement quickly dissipates, and my lips turn down. This place is a shithole. It looks nothing like the photos I was shown online.

An uneasy feeling starts to creep in. I remember the guy I spoke to saying the place was move-in ready. The carpet sticking out of the big green bin in the driveway says something else.

Shit.

I’ve already paid the deposit and first and last month’s rent. Hell, I barely have two nickels to rub together.

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” I whisper to myself. It’s pointless to get worked up until I know for sure what I’m dealing with. For all I know, they haven’t had a chance to haul the container away. That’s just as plausible as something awful.

“You just need to get the key and find out for yourself,” I say the words out loud. “White two-story with a red door and blue shutters.” I look at the house to the left and then to the right.“Shit. They’re both white two stories with red doors and blue shutters.”

I look back to the house on the right with the motorcycle under the carport, then to the one with the cute garden gnomes—and my eyes widen. “Are those penis-shaped mushrooms?” They sure as hell are.

A laugh bursts free before I can stop it, and, embarrassingly, I snort loudly, the sound echoing off the surrounding houses.

Is that the neighbor I’m supposed to grab the key from? I shake my head, continuing to giggle.

Lord help me, I really want to meet whoever lives there. I can already tell they’re my kind of people. I’m just about to move that way when a light at the other house comes on, reminding me of the hour.

Moving in that direction, I decide that’s probably the better place to start.

No need in waking up anyone I don’t have to.

Chapter Three

Easy

I just start to rub shampoo into my hair when I hear my doorbell camera’s notification go off on my phone. “You’ve got to be fucking shitting me.” Growling, I quickly rinse the suds from my head and twist the knobs on the shower.

Whoever thinks showing up after midnight is a good time for stopping by has a goddamn death wish. I’m worn the hell out from fighting with twenty-year-old carpet.

The sound of someone knocking kicks me into high gear. “Someone better be fucking dying,” I mumble, positive I still have shampoo in my hair as I reach out and grab the towel off the counter.

I move quickly, wrapping the towel around my waist when the knocking becomes more persistent.

“I’m coming!” I yell.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I flip the deadbolt when I get to the door and yank it open, ready to give whoever’s on the other side a piece of my mind. “Jesus, what the fu?—”

Every ounce of hostility I just felt vanishes like a thief in the night when I come face to face with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.

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