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“I am not even sure she likes me that way,” I say and get cut off by his laughter.
“You can’t be serious, Kruze. Listen, get out of your head. You are letting your emotions cloud your mind, probably making you overlook obvious signs. I have complete faith that you will realize she is attracted to you, too, and that you will find a way to have her and not interfere in your professional relationship. I really want to meet the woman who has my big brother discombobulated.
By the way, I am sorry for just telling you that I am moving in with Mom and Dad. I should have asked, but I won't be moving in after all. I was able to secure my own housing.”
“You don’t have to do that, Legend,” I say, wanting to build on the olive branch he extended today.
“Yes, I do, but I will be by the house every day to help with Dad, and I also want to contribute to his medical care,” he offers.
“I have all of that under control.”
“You have moved, bought two homes, and uprooted your life. He is both of our Dad, and it is the least I can do.”
This is the first time my brother and I are talking and relating like brothers, and I really like it. “Alright, I have an account for his expenses; you can just deposit into that account,”
“Sounds good,” he says as he checks his watch. “I have an appointment to get to. How about we meet for lunch or something?”
“I’d like that,” I reply, actually meaning it.
“Good, I’ll text you to set it up. Later,” he says, practically running out of the door. I wonder what my brother has gotten himself into. Going from moving in, to having his own place to live in a matter of weeks is a bit concerning, but I’ll think about this at a later time. Right now I have to figure the situation with Trinitee out.
Six Weeks Later
Trinitee
Construction is going well on both properties, and we are getting ready to start phase three of the project, his parents’ house. His parents moved into the first property a week or so ago, and the work on the penthouse is close to being complete. Once they strip and refinish the floors, I will be going in and decorating the entire space.
Since his parents moved, I have barely seen Kruze, but we are meeting today to do some shopping. This is his space, so it’s all about him and his style and desires. I felt it was better if we went to an actual showroom so that I could get a real feel for what he wanted this space to look like.
I opted for pants and flats today since I knew we were going to be doing a lot of walking, but I miss my skirt and heels. Driving up, I see Kruze standing outside of the store, assumably waiting for me. Pulling into the space directly in front of him and parking, I reach for my bag before reaching to open my door, but Kruze gets there first. Opening the door, he offers his hand to help me out of the car.
“Trinitee.”
“Thank you, Kruze. I chose this store because it has décor for every room, and the majority of the things here are unique. I don’t feel like you could really let your style and personality shine in your other home because you had to consider your parents and brother, but this is your space, so I want you to pick anything that calls to you, okay?”
“Yes. Anything that I like and calls out to me?”
“Yes.”
“Including you?” he asks, causing me to trip over my feet.
“I’m, I’m sorry?” I stutter out.
“I mean, are you going to be picking things out, too,” he says, looking down at me with such a serious expression. I am ninety-nine percent sure I took the comment wrong, but that gleam in his eyes has me questioning myself.
“Um, yes, of course, and I will need your honest opinion.”
“You got it,” he says as I walk past through the door he is holding open. The warehouse-style store is massive and broken up by room, so we headed to the foyer section. They provide a tablet that you use to scan the code. At the end of your shopping trip, you’re able to upload the specs of your space and see your selections in 4-D. It’s an amazing tool that is fairly new to the interior design world, but it’s already one of the most sought-after tools out there, and apparently, this new company has several other innovations that are supposed to be groundbreaking as well. The company LegendBorne is one to be on the lookout for.
I grab my own tablet and Kruze and I begin scanning. Since we are doing all rooms in his penthouse, we are going to do room by room. Kruze is better at interior design than I would have thought. He surprised me with some of the things that he chose. And before I know it, we are on the last room, his bedroom.
“How did you get into interior design?”
“Barbie™,”I reply.
“I got a mansion for Christmas and a decorating allowance, and that sparked my love for decorating. I sat down with theSears™, K. B™, and Toys R Us™catalogs and picked out all the furniture I wanted in my mansion. I quickly realized that even with my generous budget, it wasn’t enough to get everything I wanted, forcing me to think outside the box and even build some stuff myself.
As I got older, the projects got bigger, and my parents fostered my obsession. They let me decorate my room however I liked. Eventually, I began decorating the rooms in the house until I did every room. When I got to high school, I learned if you had enough credits, you could go to a vocational school for part of your school day, and luckily for me, they had interior design. I completed that program top of my class, granting me a scholarship and grants to college. I got an internship with a real estate company and learned how to stage properties for sale, both commercial and residential. Eventually, I got a job staging a warehouse in downtown Chicago. I did such a good job that the buyer wanted to meet me, and that led me to meet the receptionist, who recommended me for a job for a guy who’s very well off and the rest, as they say, is history,”
