Page 5 of Clean Out of Luck

Good grief, the woman is a menace to society. Letting strange men in here and thinking that spending time in a building will make you fall in love?

Nodding as politely as I can, I walk away from the strange encounter.

This building is not what I was picturing. I’ll even admitit’s actually not too bad. When Phoenix told me his sister had moved into a dilapidated old building, I got a little worried. But now, after seeing it, it’s not nearly as bad as the image he painted.

It’s a lot bigger than I imagined. And the fact that the front door is locked all the time makes me feel better about Scarlett living here. Now someone just needs to have a safety talk with that Gloria about not letting people in unless she knows them.

After I head outside, I make my way over to the parking garage, past a man walking a Boston Terrier. The dog looks at me and barks fiercely. Definitely scary enough to terrify a mouse or maybe even a squirrel.

I glance back over my shoulder and look at The Serendipity once more.

Scarlett has talked about living here for as long as I can remember. For the life of me, I can’t understand why she would want the basement apartment. I heard there were some updates happening under the new owner—including the possibility of a penthouse suite. It would make more sense for her to try to rent somewhere like that.

Scarlett can afford it just fine. She should stay somewhere nice. But Scarlett likes to keep all of us on our toes.

And so what does she do? She decides to rent the small one-bedroom basement apartment of an old building. It makes no sense.

When Phoenix left for that job in Boston, he asked me to keep an eye on his sister. And it wasn’t like ahey, keep an eye on my little sisoffhand comment. It was ayou are going to protect my sister with your lifetype of speech. I’ve always known Phoenix and Scarlett are close—obviously. He’s my best friend. But I never quite realized how seriously he takes his role as Scarlett’s protector.

And the worst part is the secret I’ve been keeping.

The part where I’ve realized that Scarlett is attractive. Yeah, that little secret. It’s not the kind of stuff you tell your best friend, the overprotective grizzly bear. I’m not quite sure how Phoenix would feel if I told him I’m tempted to date his sister. He might love the idea—or pull out a shovel to dig a hole for my body.

Unfortunately for me, Ididpromise Phoenix I’d keep an eye on her.

I tried to tell him no. We even argued about it before he left. But he had some convincing points. I guess he’ll make a decent assistant district attorney after all.

It should have been simple, but he’ll only be satisfied I’m following through if I check on her every day. I figured just keeping an eye on her social media would be enough. Like, akeep an eye on her if she has a flat tire and needs to call someone for helpkind of deal.

But no, according to Phoenix, this seems to be more of astick to my sister like glue to keep her out of troublesituation.

The problem is that I don’t know if I can survive so much time with her.

For one, she’s going to catch on. And if there’s one thing Scarlett doesn’t like, it’s being managed. I might be putting my life on the line if I show up at her apartment every day.

The second problem is that I might not like what I see if I hang around.

Phoenix’s big concern is the men she dates.

And what am I supposed to say if she goes on a date with someone I don’t like?

Yeah, next time I talk to Phoenix, I’ll tell him exactly what I think of his horrible plan.

Three days after visiting Scarlett at The Serendipity, I pull into the driveway after work in front of my Cape Cod-style home. The driveway is narrow and short, just big enough for one car.

My housemate Jack and I swap on who gets to park there and who has to park on the street. And by swapping, it’s more of a race to see who can get to the driveway first. On garbage day, we run the risk of losing a mirror if our cars are parked on the street.

My phone rings as I park my 4Runner in the driveway. I just finished running errands and picking up groceries at Spring Foods—an event I always dread. But at least it’s done. Jack says I’m an ingredient guy. I only buy things that have to be made into something. He’s not wrong.

I wonder if Scarlett is eating cereal for dinner. I also wonder what would happen if Phoenix knew how much I actually think about Scarlett. Forget a quick burial in the backyard—he’d probably drag out my murder for the fun of it.

Glancing down at my ringing phone, I laugh. Think of the devil, and he will call. “Hello. What do you want?” I say in greeting to Phoenix as I climb out of the car and walk up the sidewalk to the house.

“I’m just calling to see how it’s going.” In Phoenix’s language, this means, “I want something.” He’s not much of a shoot-the-breeze kind of guy. If he’s calling, it’s because he has a question or something important to tell me. It’s not because he wants to talk about the Boston weather, which is somehow always worse than Serendipity Springs. “Why do you think I want something?”

“Because you’ve texted me three times asking if I’ve seen your sister today.” I laugh as I unlock the front door and carry my two bags of groceries inside.

“She hasn’t answered my texts. What was I supposed todo?” I can hear a whirring sound in the background, and I wonder if he’s grinding coffee beans for his late afternoon cup. The guy is truly a coffee addict. He’d probably be disqualified from donating blood since his veins run with pure caffeine.

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