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And then things would get awkward.
I’d lived with that specificdaydreamsince we were teenagers, which meant no matter how much his imagined response was or wasn’t founded in reality, it had become part of my own psychological dogma.
My phone rang and my oldest sister’s picture showed on the screen.
“Hey,” I answered as I headed into my temporary room.
“Hey. You guys screw on the couch yet?” Brooke’s tone was bright
I rolled my eyes, grabbing my laptop bag and setting it on the bed. “Nope. And not on the kitchen counter, or against the wall, or… did I miss anything?”
“Sounds like you’re missing out on a lot.” She meant the teasing in good fun. No one else knew how I felt about Tanner, and I was grateful she both understood and had never said anything to him.
“Tell me about it.” I paused. Having her try to helpfully explain the birds and bees to me when I was ten and she was twenty had scarred me enough I remembered the awkwardness almost two decades later. “On second thought, please don’t. Eww.”
She laughed. “Seriously though, what’s your schedule like this week?”
I pulled my computer out, and set it on the barely big enough nightstand. “Well… our hostess had to cancel her vacation, so I have to cancel the orgies.” I let out an exaggerated sigh. “But we’re staying here anyway. Otherwise, limited class schedule thanks to summer break, and not a clue besides that.”
“Do you want a job?”
I tempered my excitement.A jobmeant a chance to paint murals on someone’s wall, which I loved. But the details made all the difference. “Who?”
“Antique shop. You have artistic freedom as long as there’s no blood or genitalia.”
“Are they sure?” My work didn’t tend toward graphic, but a lot of people who saidartistic freedomdidn’t understand that meant mine, not theirs.
“They’re sure. I know the owner, and I promise he’ll love your work. And you.”
The hitch in her voice brought my hesitation back. Out of four older sisters and my parents, she was the only member of my family who still spoke to me. I’d beenshunnedwhen the rest of them realized I was bisexual. Brooke was not only okay with it, she was forever trying tohelpme get over Tanner. “Are you trying to set me up?”
“No.” She managed to pour a lot of offense into a single syllable. “You’ll take care of that on your own when the sparks fly between the two of you.”
I plugged my laptop in. “I doubt it, but I’ll take the job.”
“Awesome. I’ll send you his info, and let him know you can start… tomorrow morning?”
“Sounds perfect.” After I hung up with her, I finished unpacking enough to be comfortable for the next week, then grabbed my bag to head to the pool.
I changed, rinsed off in the shower, and found Tanner waiting by the water. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as I approached.
“You need to take a piss?” I asked when I was within hearing range.
He grinned. “Nope. But you’re going to wet yourself when you hear this. I talked to John this morning, and he’s selling the building.”
I stared blankly at Tanner, not sure what I was supposed to be excited about. It had been hard enough to find this place for us to rent for lessons. “Huzzah?”
“We’re going to buy it.”
Whoa. “What?”
“Not quite the response I expected.” Tanner’s smile dropped, but I knew him well enough to recognize the enthusiasm still raged strong. “This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for. Sure, it’s a little ahead of our schedule, but we’re so close to being able to nab the place.”
“Unless he’s asking a lot less than market value”—which I couldn’t imagine—“we can’t afford it.”
Now Tanner was frowning. “What’s with the negativity?”
Realism. But that wasn’t the point. “There are tiles missing in the locker rooms, and the HVAC needs some serious work. The rooms in the other building smell like chlorine.” This place was supposed to be a full-blown rec center, but John only focused on the pool. “He’s selling so he doesn’t have to pay to repair it.”
