Page 74 of Fish Out of Water

“Sorry to hear that, ma’am.”

“Thank you. It’s a great loss. Jake, would you take Carson on a quick tour of the house? You can tell him what we’ve done to the place since you got here better than I can.”

“Sure.” Jake led Carson into the kitchen. The man hadn’t taken his shoes off when he got in, so the soles of his brogues tapped on the floor uncomfortably. “All the appliances are about a decade old, but they work great. I repainted almost every room in the house except for the bathroom and one of the bedrooms, including this kitchen.”

Carson nodded slowly. “Nice color,” he said. “Everyone likes yellow.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jake replied, “but it’s the same color it was before—just fresh.”

“Did you do the painting yourself?” Carson pressed a hand to the wall.

“Sure did.”

“I see.”

Jake glanced back through the kitchen entryway. Isabel was running a rag along the surfaces in the living room, as if Carson hadn’t already seen what little dust had gathered there in the days since she last cleaned. “Should we take a look at the bedrooms now?” he suggested.

“Just a minute,” Carson said.

He opened the fridge and looked inside. Jake was glad Isabel wasn’t in the room when he did that, or she would have had a fit. The only things worth judging were the containers half-filled with leftovers that sat haphazardly stacked on the middle shelfand a half-drunk bottle of water Jake had thrown in there weeks ago and forgotten about till now, but that was enough for Isabel. Carson opened the oven next, then the cabinets, and then he tapped his fingers on the countertop.

“Granite?”

“Yep.”

“Good choice.”

“I think it’s just what the house already had when they bought it.”

“It hasn’t been replaced?”

Jake shrugged. “I don’t think so. Why would it be? It’s not damaged.”

The grunt of acknowledgment that left Carson’s mouth made Jake’s chest tighten. He marched him back out of the kitchen, through the living room, and into the hallway to look at the bedrooms before Isabel could decide she wanted to tag along too. She didn’t need to deal with this man. No one deserved that, not even Robbie.

Jake cringed.Whydid Robbie have to pop up at every single waking minute? He was still supposed to be avoiding thoughts of him for both their own good, not that he’d ever managed that successfully.

“Is this the main bedroom?” Carson asked, pushing open Isabel’s bedroom door.

“Uh, yeah.” Jake stepped in front of the open doorway to partially block Carson’s view. “This is the biggest bedroom.”

“That’s nice enough. May I go in?”

“You’ll have to ask Isabel first—it’s her room.”

“Just show me the next one, then.”

Carson looked a little annoyed, but Jake tried to ignore that. He had to be used to people being reluctant to show off their private spaces by now, and if he wasn’t, then that was his problem.

They went to the other bedroom; the guest room that had become Jake’s. “This is where I’ve been staying,” Jake said. “It’s a little small, but it’s a nice room. It would make a great kid’s bedroom or office.”

“Mm.” Carson walked over to the window and pulled the curtains open. “A view of the backyard?”

“Better than a view of the neighbor’s house.” Jake chuckled.

“Indeed.”

Isabel must have finished her impromptu cleaning, because she appeared at the doorway, a hopeful smile on her face. “How’s it going?”