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“Are you asking me out, Thea?”
“I’m discussing options,” she countered.
“Well, now that you mention it, a burger sounds pretty good.”
“So, you might be at the diner tonight? Say around six?”
“I’ll be there.”
“And where are you sleeping?”
Wherever Thea was sleeping, but I didn’t lead with that. “It’s a long drive back to my place.”
“Yeah, and the roads are pretty treacherous this time of year, what with the black ice.”
I bit back a laugh. It hadn’t snowed in two weeks and the ground was well below freezing. “Yeah, I certainly don’t want to risk it on the back roads.”
“You could just stay with me tonight.”
“That’s awful magnanimous of you,” I laughed.
She sighed exasperatedly. “I have a spare room.”
“Didn’t I turn that room into a closet recently?” I asked.
The “one day” paint job turned into a weekend-long project. Instead of just painting the room like we planned, Thea decided to gut the closet instead.
“Right. I forgot about that. Well, the couch then.”
I stayed silent.
“Or I’ll make some space for you.”
“I’ll see you at six, Thea.”
“See you soon.”
CHAPTER22
Thea
I exhaled a puff of air,temporarily moving an errant strand of hair out of my face. There was nothing to do with it. A thrift store would never look “showroom ready” no matter how much I mopped, swept, and dusted. Other than straightening the shelves and tidying the back rooms to look as presentable as possible, I could only cross my fingers and hope the buyers could see the potential.
The bell rang over the door and I picked my way out of the crowded aisles to the front of the store. Warren entered with a couple I guessed to be around my age, the woman wearing a red linen dress and a designer jacket and the man in a tailored suit. Not at all who I expected.
Not that I thought Willy Wonka would come through the door, but I expected someone whimsical and maybe a little older. Instead, the couple who walked through the door could have walked out of a J. Crew catalog. Hard to believe they had graduated college, let alone had a few hundred thousand lying around to start a small business.
“Thea.” Warren pressed his palm to his tie and wrapped me in a hug with his other hand. “Thanks for letting us look at your place. This is Mr. and Mrs. Carter.”
“Addison and David,” Addison corrected, stepping forward to shake my hand. “This is a beautiful spot you have here.”
“Thanks,” I smiled, biting my lip and looking around the place. “The space has a lot of potential.”
“Warren said you weren’t really looking to sell,” David said brusquely, his eyes inventorying every square inch of the space and barely setting on me.
“I inherited the antique store from my grandmother when she passed.”
“I’m so sorry,” Addison said as David asked, “How long ago was that?”
