Page 5 of A Clutch for Hutch
Hoover was winding his way through the crowd toward me with our drinks when the scent hit my nose. Faint but important.
And my rabbit’s.Mate.
I stood up and looked around, seeking a direction, but it was no stronger anywhere. They weren’t here. Not now. But they had been. Animals had brought my brother his mate. What were the odds of me also finding mine here?
I couldn’t guess, but unless Fate had a cruel sense of humor, they would be back. I’d be here every night until he returned. Even if it meant extending my time away from home. One mate per person, if you were lucky, and I wasn’t going to miss mine.
Chapter Five
Hutch
“Give me the tour already, Boss.” Burns rolled his eyes. I loved seeing this side of Burns.
I’d been worried when I left, but he swore to me he felt comfortable with the Johnsons and from everything he said, they were treating him well.
“Not your boss anymore, Burns. Just Hutch.” I told him that every time we talked on the phone. I had a feeling I’d be sixty, and he’d still be calling me boss.
“Nah, you’re always going to be Boss. Now, hurry up. Give the tour already. I don’t have all day.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have all day? It’s Saturday,” I teased.
“Fine. I do have all day, but I want to see.”
I flipped my camera so he could watch the house as I walked around.
“This is the kitchen. It’s pretty retro—mid-century modern.” It was my favorite room in the house, even though it wasn’t one I used to its fullest capacity. Still, it reminded me of an old sitcom I used to watch with my grandmother, and I loved it.
“How did you get a stove that color?”That colorbeing teal.
I chuckled. “Because I have money, Burns. I bought it.”
“You don’t even cook.”
“No, but I can-ish.” An emphasis on theish. “Enough of that. Let’s go to the next room.”
I took him on the tour of the original building and then walked into the first addition. It was seamless in that you didn’t have to go up and down any steps, and there were no weird doorways to go through, but also each addition had its own personality. The beginning was very mid-century modern, butthe next one? It was all knotty pine. They apparently had a phase where they thought knotty pine was the coolest thing ever.
“I’m turning this one into my office. Gonna build out some bookshelves along this wall.” I wasn’t sure of the original purpose of the space. It had no closets, so probably not a bedroom.
“Office? Are you starting another company?”
“I don’t know, but it felt like I needed an office, and I have so many rooms here, this felt like the right one for that.”
We went from bedroom and bathroom to bedroom and bathroom through the rest of the house, including the back, which opened up into a large screened-in porch. I wouldn’t even call it a porch, more of a patio. But the Realtor had called it a porch, so there was that.
From there, I walked the perimeter and told him about Animals and my dragon, and he told me about how things were going at work and how much the new bosses were doing right by everyone.
“So, you think you’re gonna stick around?”
“Maybe, Boss. The work is fine, but you know how it is. It gets lonely. Being in the city—you’re around so many people all the time, you’d think it wouldn’t be, but it is.”
Burns was a bear, and he’d grown up in a den surrounded by other bears. Coming into the city had been a mini rebellion after college, and then he just kind of stuck to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went back to his den. Living in the mountains and fishing was all he ever did when he had vacations. And between the bonuses that I gave him and the bonuses he received during the merger, he didn’t have to work.
“What’s that in the corner of the view?” He leaned in close to his phone, as if that would help.
“Oh, let me show you. I’m still working on it.” The only project I’d done from the ground up. “A greenhouse.”
“A greenhouse? You’re telling me you like cooking now and you’re going to grow ingredients?”
