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; “I will.” I promise, as she leaves. I toss a frozen breakfast sandwich in the microwave because I don’t cook unless I have to. Frozen food wasn’t awesome but it’s cheaper than eating out. While I wait for it I make my own espresso. My morning ritual done I sit and worry about the call to Ivor.
I wonder if there were ways I could have prevented getting to this point. Maybe if I had saved better, and not traveled as much as I had. While I had stayed away from the high-priced hotels when I traveled, sticking to the bed and breakfasts, I usually dropped three to five hundred every weekend I went away. Counting them up, my tally is at four a year over the last five years, and I shrug. I don’t regret it. What’s done is done.
I call Ivor and get his voicemail. As succinctly as possible, I leave a message about me leaving and Robin wanting to stay and if it can be done.
Finished with breakfast I go into my room, surprised at how bare it looks. I check the website and find nothing as far as messages I want to read. The only messages I’ve received are four with the subject line of fat ass in everyone one of them. Looking down at my body in just the camisole and panties I wore around the apartment I know I’m no size two. My last suit bought was a size fourteen, but the suits I’ve worn lately have been sixteen. Losing my job had me stress-snacking.
While my size alone should keep me off the website, I know a man is out there who will appreciate my curves. I know, because I’ve encountered them before. Men who told me my D cup breasts were what they wanted. Men who told me my ass made them hard. While yes, there is also a curve to my tummy and my thighs, there is someone out there who will appreciate me as I am. I just hope they aren’t weirdos and they answer before I run out of money.
My phone rings, it’s Ivor. “Anne, what you ask it’s not a small favor.” Ivor has been in Boston for over sixteen years he told me once. He’s never lost his Russian accent. I’m pretty sure he never will.
“I understand, Ivor, but I have to ask. It’s not her fault I’m leaving. Think about it, Ivor. She’s been a good tenant these last five years.”
He’s quiet. “That’s true, you two pay on time, always. No complaining from tenants or my guys at front desk. It’s just, Anne, the place is worth twice what you two pay. Your rent is twenty-five hundred. I could rent tomorrow and have forty-five hundred or five thousand by end of day. I keep price low for Frank, now you leave. Frank, he tell me I don’t owe him no more.”
Shit, he’s already asked Frank. Which, if you owed Frank was the smart thing to do. I know what Robin makes down to the penny and what she has in her savings, so I negotiate.
“Thirty-six hundred a month, she can pay that on her own for the next two months if she has to. She’s a smart, responsible, and quiet tenant. Wouldn’t you rather have her than some coked out trader asshole? Yes, she’ll need a new roommate to help with rent, but do you think she’s going to pick a crap roommate? No, she’s going to pick someone like herself or me.
“We’re the only tenants beside Ms. Mayer, who isn’t leaving until she’s dead, you haven’t had to evict or who has come and gone leaving a mess you have to clean up. Remember, you couldn’t rent out an apartment for three months it was so messed up, when those three sorority chicks rented it? Our place is spotless, you’d only have to paint before putting it up for rent. Come on, Ivor, the tenant you know in Robin, or someone who cares more about the address than the home they made?”
Ivor’s quiet for a long time. Then he says it like it hurts him. “Thirty-eight hundred.”
I don’t hesitate. “Agreed. Thank you, Ivor.”
He sighs, “I have to file eviction on that couple that moved in with the baby just five months ago. Business isn’t easy.”
“Depends on who you do business with, Ivor. I don’t think I’ll be talking to you again before I go. Thanks, for everything.”
“Goodbye, and good luck.”
Checking the clock I figure the poor schmuck getting the root canal is probably in recovery. I call Robin who answers on the first ring. “What did Ivor say?”
“Thirty-eight hundred a month. Don’t squeak, it’s doable. He says the place should be going for at least a thousand more. Yes, it’s a change from fourteen hundred a month, (I knew it was more valuable than what Frank was being charged. I just didn’t know how much. She didn’t know rent was only twenty-five hundred, sue me. I have an addiction to massages which is where the extra money went) let the new roommate offset it. They’ll be expecting to pay more than nineteen hundred.
“Just, as a part of a promise to Ivor, no troublemakers. Find someone boring who won’t cause any problems. It’s what got him to say yes, us being quiet, boring, and how we pay our rent on time.”
“You’re right, Ivor’s right. The place is worth much more than thirty-eight hundred. It’s just a shock to the system, rent going up five hundred bucks from one month to the next. Then again it hasn’t gone up once since I moved in, like it normally would have anywhere else I would have lived.
“I’m also making much more than when I first moved in. You’re right I could offset the difference with the next roommate but you know me, I’m not good at keeping a lie going. Thanks for talking to Ivor. I wouldn’t have been able to get him to agree.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself, this was business, and when it comes to business—stick with the facts. The fact is you are an awesome renter any landlord would love to have. I’d better let you go. I have more packing to do, and I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“Okay, see you tonight. I’m so making you spaghetti and meatballs and tiramisu for dinner tonight. Don’t snack close to dinner.”
I promise I won’t.
The flight was smooth from Boston to Chicago. I look around the Airbnb I’ve rented for the next two weeks, and hope I haven’t made a mistake. Not the condo, I’m on the twelfth floor in a nice-looking place on North Clark street. It’s an okay condo, if a little empty. It’s a one bedroom with only a bed in the bedroom and a small lonely looking couch, no other furniture in the whole place. I wonder if I’ve made a mistake picking Chicago. I’ve only received one positive response, and from the email alone the guy was clearly a weirdo.
The problem was I had run out of time in Boston. Robin had found a new roommate who could pay the rent. I needed to leave. Although my checking account is a little fuller from Robin buying pretty much all the furniture in the condo from me, I’m well aware it won’t last long in the city.
As I take in the view of the city, I’ve seen better views. It will do, for now.
Chapter Three
Checking my watch, again. I see it’s a full half hour later than the time the evening was supposed to begin. A woman late, I’m used to, but not on the first date and not a half hour. I look to see the driver, Eric, is not ruffled in the least. He’s reading a book. He might be used to waiting, I’m not.
