Page 65 of Unhurried Hearts

“What makes you think I can afford that?”

He points the neck of his beer in my direction. “I like how you didn’t correct me about moving in with Anna.”

I shrug. “Honestly, that’s the less nerve-wracking part of this idea. Being with Anna is so simple. What if she’s not into it?”

“Wow. I thought I heard a string quartet playing for a second there.”

“Shut up.” I punch him in the arm.

Iamoutgrowing the suite and privacy would be nice. After so long living in a one-bedroomplace I wouldn’t even know what to do with a whole damn house. Anna doesn’t even have walls around her bedroom. Even if she isn’t ready to move in together, I still want to do this with Isaac. It’s about time to start climbing the very steep West Isle property ladder.

“Shove over.” I take Isaac’s spot at the computer and begin scrolling through the pictures.

He’s not wrong, the place needs work. But an oceanfront property for this price is a steal and as I click through the images on the listing ideas roll in. Something bright and beachy with comfortable finishings. A bedroom overlooking the ocean.

I pull a notebook from my pocket and a pencil from behind my ear.

“Let’s talk numbers.”

Chapter twenty-nine

Anna

Itake my tenth cleansing breath since getting on the phone with the IT department while I wait to get a word in edgewise.

“Yes, but I alreadytriedthat with the last representative.”

I know there’s a bite to my tone, but I’m running out of patience trying to fix our point-of-sale machine that has been acting up all morning. Slipping out early to meet Chris for a short hike seems less and less likely as the machine makes an angry beep. I send him a quick text that I might not be able to make it.

“Nope. Like I said, that didn’t work—”

A green light flashes at the top of the machine and all of a sudden, the words on the screen look familiar. I slump back in Jenny’s desk chair, relief coursing through my tense muscles.

“It’s working! Thank you, thank you.”

I hang up, inform everyone that we’re back in business, and then I’m out the door and bounding up the stairs to my apartment.

Tanner opens the door to his suite mere seconds after I pass it, but I hold up a finger.

“Not today, Tanner.”

As I slip inside, toeing out of my heeled boots, my phone buzzes at the bottom of my purse.

It’s probably Chris making sure I’m still coming. A quick glance at the clock over the microwave tells me I’m running late. Digging around inside the bag, I press answer and switch it to speaker phone without looking and throw my top in the direction of the hamper.

“Hi, I know I’m late! I’m coming, I promise!”

“Hello, Anna.”

It’s as though something cold and wet slips down my spine at the sound of his smarmy voice. Hearing it in my own home is unsettling. It’s the closest thing to having him in my physical space and it makes me want to toss the phone right off the balcony.

“Thad?”

“Surely you can call me Dad after all these years.”

Never have, never will.

The t-shirt I pull over my head with shaking hands is backwards, but I don’t bother to fix it. Thad’s voice echoes off my wood flooring. “Listen, I want you to talk some sense into your mother.”

---