I softened it a little. “I’m grateful. To both of y’all. I am. But we stay together. Y’all can help. You can come around as often as you want. But Simone sleeps in this house. Tre wakes up in this house. Zion comes home to this house. We are not splitting up.”
I looked between them both and made myself sound more certain than I felt.
“We’ll be fine. I’ll figure out the rest.”
I decided that day that my grief was a private thing. It did not belong in this room to be tangled with my siblings’ grief. So I took my grief, fear and stress, walked it over to the darkest corner of my mind, and set it down.
I have not gone back for it since.
6/
you need to not settle
alyssa
I trailed behind the realtor,my heels clicking softly against the polished hardwood as she led me through the condo. The place was beautiful. Too beautiful, to be honest. Open floor plan, tall windows spilling afternoon light across the room, granite counters in the kitchen that gleamed like they’d been waiting on a magazine shoot. It was more space than Micah and I needed. More space than I thought I deserved to be considering, really.
“Three bedrooms, two and a half baths,” said Cheryl, the realtor Julian had referred me to. “Perfect for you as a working mother. Lots of professionals live in this building.”
I nodded politely, already forming the words to talk myself out of it. “It’s beautiful, but it is too much for me. It’s just my son and I. We really only need two bedrooms.”
That’s when I heard a deep voice behind me. “You’ll want the third bedroom.”
I spun around, startled, and nearly bumped into Julian Wade himself, standing there in a perfectly tailored suit, looking like the building had been expecting him.
“What are you doing here?” My voice came out ruder than I meant. “I mean… I’m surprised to see you here.”
“I have the penthouse. Ten floors up.” One corner of his mouth tugged upward. “Cheryl mentioned she’d be showing you this unit today. Figured I'd check in and see how your hunt's going.”
Of course. Just casually showing up. Who does that? “You just happened to be around? Don’t you have work?” Once again, my internal thoughts found their way out before checking with me first.
“It's close to WadeHouse. I have time.” He glanced around the space with an appraising eye. “This is a good building. Secure. Doorman. Management that maintains things.”
I crossed my arms. “I thought you lived in Simone and Raschad’s neighborhood?”
“I do. That's home.” He paused. “The penthouse is... convenience.”
That pause. I caught it. “Convenience,” I repeated, letting my smirk show. “Or you mean recreation?”
For a split second, something flickered across his face, surprise at my bluntness, or maybe amusement. Then his expression smoothed back to neutral. He didn't respond, just held my stare with that almost-smile.
Another crack in the CEO armor.I thought. Getting him to break that controlled mask was starting to become my favorite new hobby.
“So… we'd be neighbors,” I said. “Sort of.”
“Sort of,” he agreed.
I crossed my arms again, giving him a look. “I don’t need a three-bedroom. Two is plenty for Micah and me.”
“You’re a lawyer,” he said simply, like the math was obvious. “You’ll want a home office. Somewhere separate from where you lay your head. Somewhere you can close the door.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he’d already turned to Cheryl. “Hasn’t this one been sitting empty for months?”
I squinted at him.Was he seriously negotiating on my behalf?
Cheryl blinked, caught between his steady gaze and her notes. “Uh… yes. That’s right. The owner’s flexible. Though he wants three months upfront, first, last, and security deposit.”
My stomach dropped a little. Three months upfront was a chunk of change. “I like it,” I admitted reluctantly, running my hand along the smooth countertop. “It's just more than I?—“
