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"We, uh, I, uh, I don't think I could… how much are the rooms in this building?"
"Depends on the size. I think most are somewhere between two and three," he said.
"Thousand?" I asked.
He nodded.
"Dollars a month?" I continued.
He smiled and nodded again.
"Yeah, no. I was looking at a bedroom for rent. I thought there was some kind of special room in this building. I imagined it to be like some Anne Frank hideaway room for homeless people. It's like I've got all these loose clues. One of the songs mentions someone named Birdy."
"Birdy is Rita," he said.
"What?"
"Birdy is what we call her. The grandkids."
"Birdy is Rita?"
"That's what I said," he agreed. "How'd you know we call her that?"
"It says, I was hiding away in the walls of Birdy's building."
"What says that?" Isaac asked, looking at me with a comically confused expression.
"The song. Micah Lacey."
"Oh, that's right, you were asking about Micah."
He was so cool and aloof that it almost felt like he was hiding something.
"Yeah," I said, shaking my head. "I came to Seattle in the middle of January, on an idea that your grandmother was some amazing woman who I…" I hesitated, not even knowing what I wanted to say. "I don't know what I wanted to get out of this whole situation when I came. I don't know what I thought of your grandma. I got pieces of her through Micah's music, and I just felt like I wanted to meet her. I know that sounds weird. It sounds weird to me, even coming out of my own mouth."
"So, you picked up different things in the lyrics of Micah's songs and they led you here to my grandmother's restaurant?" He looked at me like he was putting things together.
"Yes, I saw him in concert and I spoke to him briefly in person. He said some things about her that weren't in the lyrics of a song."
"Like what?"
"Like she stopped and helped him when he was homeless—that she took him in."
Isaac shrugged. "My grandma volunteers with the church," he said. "She's always helping somebody. And she probably let him stay in one of the apartments. Like I said, she owns the whole building."
I stared at him and took in a deep breath. "Well, so, the story of your grandma maybe wasn't nearly as intriguing as I thought. But I'm still sitting here, thinking about asking you for this job."
He grinned. "Why is that?"
I let out a sigh. "I don't know. Maybe just because. Is it okay to do something just because? I don't know anyone in Seattle. I didn't plan on moving here. But for some reason, I still might."
"Well, I guess you could always come back and talk to me again once you decide."
"No, no, I'm talking to you about a job first, and then that'll make me decide if I'm going to stay or not."
Isaac laughed at that. I loved his personality. I could already tell that we would get along great just by the playful but straight-faced demeanor that we used with each other.
"The job would be replacing Misty," he said. "We need someone working full-time. Your schedule will vary a little each week, but I can work with you some. That's what Misty was doing. I'd love to get someone in here full-time, but if you only feel comfortable part-time, we could probably still work with you."
