She tucked the card into her purse, patting it. Her mom would have done something like that.
The driver pulled in front of a tired-looking old warehouse on the outskirts of town. “This is the address,” he announced. “You sure this is right?”
“Oh? Well, I’m not quite sure. I’ve never seen it before.”
The hulk of a man twisted in his seat. “Want me to go check it out for you first?”
“No. I’ll go.” She opened the car door. “Could you wait a minute, though? I’ll need help with my luggage.” She stepped out onto the dirt and gravel parking area.
She looked at the number on the building. It was the right address. She held the key in her hand. Hoping for the best, she walked to the door, which thankfully looked new.
If the apartment was too bad, she’d find a house somewhere nearby to rent instead. That would be a waste of good money, though. She wouldn’t be here that long. Just a matter of weeks, and the chance of a lifetime.Keep your eye on the prize.What was a few weeks in less than desirable conditions when her dream home would be in reach when she got back to Chicago?
Gravel crunched under the tires of a tan compact car as it sped through the lot and slid to a stop by the town car. A slight woman hopped out, wearing an oversize forest-green sweater with a cornucopia appliquéd across the front.
“Welcome!” The woman raced to her side. “You must be Ms. Larkin. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Lilene. Oh, I see you got the card.”
“Lilene? Yes. Nice to meet you. Yes. I got it. That was so thoughtful. Thank you.”
“We wanted you to feel welcome.” She grabbed the key from Vanessa’s hands. “Glad I caught ya. This key can be a little tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing.” She pushed it into the keyhole, then tippy-toed as she lifted the handle, and then twisted the doorknob. Lilene gave the door a little kick with her black all-weather boot and the door swung open. “If you don’t do that little lift before you turn, you’ll never get in.”
“Thank you. I’ll remember that.” Vanessa took the key. At first glance, or maybe it was her energy, Lilene had appearedto be about her age. Now Vanessa could see she was probably older. The old-style haircut didn’t help either.
Lilene hit a panel of switches just inside the door. “It’s dusty down here, but we didn’t get much notice about you coming. We’ll get this cleaned up this week. I promise the apartment upstairs is sparkling clean. I took care of that myself.”
“Okay.” Vanessa followed her to the stairs that led to a second story overlooking the warehouse floor. “This is part of Porter’s?”
“Mm-hmm. Haven’t used it in a long time. We found the warehouse behind the retail shop to be much more convenient, but then found a way to consolidate into the one building. Plus, there’s a good parking lot at the other space. In the winter you can get stuck over here.”
Great.
“We won’t let you get stuck.”
“I’m not driving, so I should be fine.”
“Oh, you won’t have a car?” Her lips puckered.
“I’ll just Uber over.”
Lilene shook her head.
“Or taxi.”
Lilene paled. “I guess I could set up something with Jimmy. He’s our only taxi driver, but he works another job during the day. Oh, but we do have a bicycle you can use.” She gestured to a seafoam-green Schwinn with a basket on the front of it.
“The only bike I’ve ridden lately is the stationary one in the gym. Let’s come up with a schedule for Jimmy, or you could pick me up.”
“I could. Yes!” Lilene exclaimed. “I’d be happy to drive you around. I’m here to do whatever you need. We could do coffeein the mornings together. I’ll be your personal assistant while you’re in town. How long will that be, by the way?”
That was a peculiar question. “Well, I guess we’ll see how things go.”
“We installed a new code on the apartment door for you.” She stood to the side and demonstrated. “Just push 0729 and enter.”
“That’ll be easy enough to remember. That’s my birthday.” Vanessa laughed at the coincidence.
Lilene’s eyes widened. “Oh, I know. I did that on purpose. I looked you up on Facebook. I wanted it to be super-duper easy for you.”
“Thank you.”I think.
