Page 65 of The Only Purple House in Town

“True enough. I’ll take these downstairs and leave them by the front door. They’ll be picked up at 10 a.m. tomorrow.”

“That’s perfect. I’ll add an hour to tomorrow’s time sheet since you’ll be waiting for the mail carrier.”

“That doesn’t really count as work, though.”

She folded her arms, brooking no disagreement on this point. “It absolutely does! That’s time you could be devoting to your art.”

Rowan appeared to consider arguing anyway, but they ended up yielding. “Okay. When you put it that way… Anyhow, it makes me happy that I can pitch in. I want to be useful to the Iris Collective.”

She burst out laughing. “Is that what Mira calls us? I prefer Violet Gables.” She took a moment to explain the name.

“That’s so cute. It makes me want to draw the house evenmore. I’m looking for my next web comic idea, wonder if people would be interested in reading about us…” Looking pensive, Rowan loaded the packages in the hamper Iris used for transporting her creations and wandered downstairs.

“I’d read it,” Iris said to nobody in particular.

Then she got back to work.

Eli’s phone pinged, signaling a new message. There were also several emails waiting for his attention, including an invitation to a Zoom meeting—to further discuss the huge proposal that Liz had been enthusing over for the past few weeks. He still had mixed feelings. While he might not be rich the way some app developers were, he also enjoyed the freedom he currently had in deciding how a project would go.

If he signed on, agreeing to work for someone else, even as a contractor, they could control more than he felt comfortable with. Which was why he’d agreed to attend the video conference but had yet to sign anything despite the seductive figures being tossed around as enticement.

Liz: Why aren’t you more excited about this? This is life-changing! But instead of getting on board, you’re fiddling around in Illinois. How long are you planning to stay anyway?

Eli: That’s a good question. I admire your perspicacity greatly, have I said that?

Liz: And that’s not an answer.

Eli: No idea. I’m…figuring some things out.

Liz: I…see.

Eli: Why? You don’t usually ask personal questions.

Liz: And you don’t usually move in with a gaggle of strangers. You’re not acting like yourself, and it worries me. You might blow this whole deal.

Eli could have writtentouché, but instead, he snapped his phone shut. A while back, he’d spent a small fortune on a cutting-edge smart flip phone, and there really was something ineffably satisfying about closing it. He didn’t get that mental boost with a regular smartphone, no matter how emphatically he tapped the screen or closed an app.

It was a good thing nobody had noticed how pricey his tech was, as it would give away the fact that he could afford to make other housing arrangements.

Iris will besohurt.

If he’d learned anything, it was that she prized honesty, and she thought everyone in the house had laid all their cards on the table. No secrets. No lies.

Which made Eli feel terrible. But he wouldn’t focus on that. Other matters required his attention. As the weather turned colder, Henry Dale had run out of house projects that could be tackled by two people with a can-do attitude. Which meant he was crankier than usual, likely stemming from the fact that he felt useless. It made him even crabbier when Mira spent all of fifteen minutes keeping her promise to update the paint in the second-floor hallway. Now Henry Dale probably thought his own existence was pointless, as it would’ve taken him several days and been messy and costly besides.

Normally, Eli wouldn’t care about any of this. They weren’t his people, right? He was alone in the world, soaring above it all. Untouchable and—

Nah. Not anymore.

An hour after the text chat with Liz, he was conspiring with Mira and Rowan to find Henry Dale a project. They were both in his room, away from any chance of being overheard by Henry Dale. He filled them in on his suspicions regarding Henry Dale’s bad attitude and then said, “Any ideas?”

“Is that why he’s in a mood?” Mira asked. “He seemed okay with my magic in the beginning, but now…”

Rowan nodded thoughtfully. “It makes sense. I was feeling kind of meh—like a charity project—until Iris hired me for her shop.”

With a pensive frown, Mira paced a bit. “Hmm. I see why you wanted us to collaborate because I can’t come up with anything off the top of my head.”

“It has to be something we actually need,” Eli cautioned. “Or he’llknow.”

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