Page 9 of Craving Francesca

“It’s kind of perfect, right?” Lou asked, looking around the room.

The house wasn’t big, but itwasperfect for us. There were two decent-sized bedrooms with bathrooms attached, a half bath for guests, a kitchen that flowed into the large living room, and the coolest part of the whole space—a fully enclosed sun porch along the back of the house. In the winter, the porch would be freezing, but in the summer, it was going to be fucking awesome.

“It’s not bad,” I joked.

Lou rolled her eyes. She knew how much I loved our new place. “We’re lucky it’s mostly just cosmetic stuff that we need to fix.

“Slap on a little paint, and we’ll be ready to move,” I added.

“And new carpets,” she reminded me as we started painting again. “When are those getting installed?”

“Day after tomorrow.” I carefully lifted the roller and started on the wall. “You’re sure you can cover half? I can pay for it now, and you can pay me back if you need to.”

“I told you I have the cash.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you draining your savings.”

“But it’s okay for you to drain yours?” Lou asked dryly, working on the other side of the wall.

“This won’t drain my savings,” I huffed. I’d made sure of that. I’d been lucky enough to find a great job right out of college, and I lived simply. We’d split Myla’s mortgage three ways, I bought most of the things I owned secondhand, and I rarely splurged unless there was a music festival or trip that I couldn’t stand to miss. My only large purchase had been my Tahoe, but I considered that a necessity. I’d been in an accident in a small car, and I wasn’t ever going through that again. If someone crashed into me, I was going to come out the winner, assuming it wasn’t a big rig.

Well, unless I was on a motorcycle. But since I wasn’t using one as my daily driver, I considered riding on the back of one an acceptable risk.

“This is going to look good,” Lou said, taking a few steps back to look the room over. We’d picked a greenish gray color that was going to look fantastic when the light came through the windows. Between that and the new carpet, the updates Tommy had already done before he’d offered to rent the place to us, and the furniture we’d accumulated over the past couple of years, the house was going to look great.

“I’m thinking a painting over the fireplace,” I said dreamily, framing the space with my fingers. “A close-up of my face. What do you think?”

“I think you’re delusional,” Lou replied with a laugh. “Shit, I was supposed to call that guy—the one who checks out fireplaces.”

“You haven’t called him yet?” I asked in surprise. She was usually on top of things.

“Work has been crazy, and you know how things have been with my grandpa’s stuff,” she said, shaking her head. “I haven’t had time. I’ll call him at lunch tomorrow.”

“You know we’re going to want to utilize that fireplace,” I reminded her, nearly groaning as I lifted my arms above my head to reach near the ceiling. This was the last room to finish, and it had been a lot of late nights painting. My shoulders and arms were so sore.

“I can’t wait. A fire going in the fireplace, a cozy blanket, and a book? Heaven.”

“You’re so weird.”

“You know, you can stop pretending that you don’t read. You know that I know you read.”

“Not as much as you.”

“Work at it, and you’ll be at my level eventually,” she replied primly.

“At least you’re a quiet roommate,” I mused.

“Exactly. I could have a really noisy hobby. You’re lucky.”

“I’m well aware.”

We painted in silence for a while. Iwaslucky. Lou and Myla had noticed me when we were just kids and decided I was one of them. It hadn’t made any sense then, and it still didn’t now. Lou was genuinely sweet, quiet, calm, and rarely had a bad thing to say about anyone. Myla was outgoing, a little wild, kind, and thoughtful, even though she tried to downplay it. They were both girly. They were soft. They saw the best in people. They were both extremely loyal.

I was a tomboy. I held grudges for years. I didn’t like most people. My rough edges weren’t hiding a candy center—I didn’t have a candy center.

I had no illusions when it came to my best friends. I didn’t deserve them. We didn’t even really fit. But they’d chosen me, and I’d chosen them back, and that was that. There wasn’t anything on earth that would separate us now.

The next two days passed in a flurry of work and meeting with the carpet installers—by Friday night I was fucking exhausted as I packed up my bag to head home from the office. I couldn’t wait to see the house finally finished. Lou had called me that morning and said it looked incredible.

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