Page 10 of A Perfect Match
“You’re not, though I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise.Listen, I have something that needs to be discussed now.”It should have been discussed yesterday, as a matter of fact.“There are some changes you need to be aware of.”
She frowns, and the door opens slightly, revealing the cotton-candy pink towel she’s clutching around her chest.I know what’s under that towel.My fingers curl involuntarily as I try not to stare.
“Oh, great.”
“I don’t know how say this.”My palms are actually sweating and I cross my arms, bolstering myself for the fall out.“There’s no lease on this apartment here and I need it.”
She blinks, nothing registering on her face.“What?”
“I own this apartment now.”
“But I live here,” she says slowly.
“It’s getting renovated along with the space downstairs.It will become my primary residence.You have to move out.”
She blinks a few more times.I feel like I just punched her in the face with this information, so I’m letting her take some time to absorb the blow.
“You can’t kick me out,” she starts.
“I’m not kicking you out.At least not yet.”I offer the paper.“This is a formal written notice just so you know the eviction process will begin if you don’t vacate within two weeks.”
“Eviction process?”Her chest is flushing, along with her cheeks.She stares up at me with what I can only call a gaze full of loathing before she snatches the paper out of my hands.“And I’m sorry, did you say I have two weeks to find a new place to live and pack and…No.You have to be kidding me.You can’t just kick somebody out of their house.I’ve been living here forthree years—”
“Without a lease,” I remind her.
“It was part of the arrangement,” she hisses.
“Unless it’s on paper, it’s not an arrangement, it’s a favor.”
Her face falls, and that look turns into something more sinister.Something tells me I better start looking over my shoulder at night.“That is so fucking rude.”
A little dose of reality can sting.Maybe this will be her lesson in gettingeverythingon paper moving forward.“Listen.I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news here, but whatever arrangement you had with the previous owner is null and void now.I’m the new owner, and this apartment is going to be renovated for me to occupy.They’re starting downstairs first, but I can’t knock them too far off schedule.”
“Whatever happened to thirty days?”she demands.
“You can take thirty days if you want,” I tell her, “but the construction crew is starting before that.”
I’m the automatic jerk in this situation—I know it.But I need to treat this like the business situation it is, even if it hurts.I can’t really think of anything else to add that won’t make her hate me more, so I tear myself away from her cotton-candy deliciousness and thump down the staircase.Before I reach the ground, I hear her exasperated sigh of frustration, followed by the door slamming shut.
Well, that could not have possibly gone worse.
But I’m not sure there was a positive outcome for her in that scenario anyway.
My mind is on fire as I head around to the front of the building.My side of the building doesn’t have a back entrance—yet—which is another thing Piper is absolutely going to hate once the construction crew starts bringing things up to code.Our sides of the building are going to have to meet in the back room, which means what is now her territory is officially going to become ours.
Can’t wait for her to learn that little tidbit.But that’s definitely for another day, because we need to let the smoke clear from the bomb I just dropped on her.
The camera crew is just arriving as I unlock the front door.Pat bounds up to me a moment later, looking too fresh for this hour.He’s probably used to the insane schedule of reality TV shows.I’m used to the restaurant grind, which features late nights and not so many six a.m.wakeups, unless we sold out the night before.But the next month will be balls to the wall, especially with a full production and construction crew on site.
“Morning, Kru.Ready to get this party started?”
“As ready as a casserole at a family function.”It’s not my best food joke, but I’m a little distracted today.We step inside, the musty smell hitting me.It’s almost hard to imagine what this place will look like after the refresh, but I can’t wait.
“That reminds me, we need to make sure we get some of your one-liners today,” Pat says.“You know so many food jokes, is that part of going to chef school?”
“Wasn’t part of the curriculum,” I say.“I’ve got food jokes for days though.I had a joke about pizza, but it was a little cheesy.”
Pat snorts, pulling out his phone.“So let’s make sure I’m up to speed on the schedule…”
