Page 42 of Beside the Rolling Waves
“Okay.”
She listed a few more things off. He agreed, but then he said, “Are we gonna stay here?”
She looked up at him. Her eyes wide. She didn’t have anywhere else to stay.
“I’ll have to go through Rita’s things. She didn’t go over anything with me. But the rental info is in there somewhere, I’m sure. I… I don’t know if she was current or not.”
“How would you feel about buying a place in Raspberry Ridge?”
“Um… For you?”
“For you and the babies. I… I wouldn’t stay there.”
She stared at him. He was offering to buy a house for her and the babies. Or just a place for them to stay.
“What would be the agreement? I can stay as long as I’m taking care of the babies?”
“It would be your house. You would stay there with the babies. I would help as much as I can, be there all day, but… I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to live there.”
“No. It’s not a good idea for us to live together. I agree completely. I guess I just figured until we figure this out, we were probably going to have to spend some nights together, but we wouldn’t be sleeping or anything.”
“Right.” He closed his lips and didn’t look super happy, but he didn’t say anything else.
“So you have a problem with that?” she asked. That was what they were supposed to be doing—talking about stuff, not getting angry, pushing their lips together, and looking away.
“No. I don’t. You’re right. And I guess I was just thinking I wasn’t sure whether you would get upset if I told you that I already had a real estate agent on it, and they found a house with stables and forty acres just a little north of Raspberry Ridge. It’s not right on the lake, and there are no lake views, but it’s within walking distance of town. So, we could walk down our lane and walk into town. But if you’re looking for something with a lake view?—”
“I was living in an unfinished one-room apartment above the stable. I’m not picky about whether or not I get a lake view.” She didn’t really want to admit where she’d been, but the idea that she would be picky about whether or not she had a lake view was absolutely ridiculous. “But we don’t need a stable. We don’t need forty acres. I… I cannot allow you to buy me a house. But I will however allow you to provide a place for the babies and me to stay…for I don’t know how long. I guess I need a little bit of time to figure things out.”
She’d already talked to Vera about how she probably wouldn’t be able to clean her house for a bit, but hopefully they could work things out. It felt like she’d been trying to do that for a while, and every time she got close, they started talking about something that didn’t matter. Or something that mattered too much and she couldn’t focus on the day-to-day living.
“All right then. I would really like for you to look at it, but I’ve been assured that it’s in pristine condition and move-in ready.”
“I’m not sure where you’re talking about, but it might be the house that was just built. People came in, built it, and I think the husband’s company transferred him to Oklahoma or something.And they had to put it up for sale.” She didn’t always get the gossip around town, but there had been some chatter about that. She’d been especially interested in it because the woman had seemed to be a horse lover. But she had Arabians, and Becky had not really been interested in them. Although she loved watching them. They were beautiful horses.
“It sounds like it might be the same place. My realtor said something about that.”
“All right.”
She supposed she needed to stop worrying about the future and just take it day by day. So he was going to buy a place. She was allowed to stay there. That was the best she could do for right now.
“If I hurry, I might be able to get back before the babies wake up. Are you okay if I go?”
He nodded, not looking particularly pleased, but she thought that was more because he felt like they still had things to talk about and they didn’t have everything hashed out that he wanted to.
She knew the feeling, and maybe she was running away, just a little.
She grabbed her coat, her purse, and her keys and hurried out the door.
The one nice thing about Rita’s place in the suburbs of Chicago was that it wasn’t far to the nearest store, and she was able to get everything in less than half an hour.
She really wanted to buy a whole pile of baby equipment, but her car wouldn’t be able to hold everything she needed plus what she wanted. Not to mention, Rita’s apartment was too small anyway. For now, the babies could sleep in their car seats. But they were going to need cribs or bassinets or something.
She also made a quick stop to grab some lunch and pick up a few groceries. In all, she was gone for forty-five minutes. Thatwas unheard of in Raspberry Ridge. It took almost that long to just get to a grocery store.
Still, she would rather have the drive than live in the city. Although, she wasn’t going to complain about convenience.
When she unlocked the door to Rita’s apartment, Rodney was standing on the other side.
