Page 100 of All I Ask
“You thought of it all, huh?”
“I did.” He beams with pride.
“You know you don’t own the house, so we’re kind of trespassing.”
Derek smirks with his brow raised. “Yeof little faith, I talked to the previous owner, who has accepted my offer, and he told me I would be doing him a favor by looking after the house while he’s in Florida.”
“You got the house?”
“He accepted the offer this morning.”
I knew he would—Derek always gets what he wants—but I did hope just a little bit that he didn’t. Which makes me a terrible person. Derek has endured a tragic loss and he needs stability. I’m being stupid, but I decide to give myself two seconds to be stupid and then let it go.
One.
Two.
And I’m done. “I’m really happy for you. Have you seen the inside yet?”
“I thought maybe we could do that together.”
“I can’t believe you bought the house without going in.”
He shrugs. “I’m a rebel.”
“Or an idiot, but sure.”
“I’m going to pretend you think I’m fabulous.”
“Whatever you need to make you feel better.”
Derek takes my hand, kisses the top, and grins. “I just need this.”
I start to smile and then I look away, feeling the heat on my cheeks. He makes me smile, even when I don’t want to.
He unlocks the door, extending his arms so I can go first, and I stop. Oh. My. God.
I can’t turn my eyes to look at him, but I feel him beside me, doing the same thing, taking it all in. What in the hell did we just walk into? There are no words to describe the scene I’m looking at.
This house…is…
“Wow,” Derek says.
“Yeah, wow.”
“I guess…” Hetrails off, looking to the right, and my eyes follow.
“The owners were…” I can’t even speak because my head can’t comprehend what I’m looking at.
This beautiful, picturesque house that I dreamed of each night since I’ve seen it, is filled to the brim with dolls. There has to be thousands of them. They line the staircase going up, and the wall as if they’re the baseboards. Dolls are on shelves, on top of cabinets, and…they’re everywhere.
I can’t look in one place because my eyes are overwhelmed.
“Does Everly like dolls?” I ask, trying to contain my laughter. “Because…I’m pretty sure you’ll never find them all.”
Derek’s gaze meets mine and he bursts out laughing. “This is some scary shit.”
“No wonder he took your bid!”
