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I covered the speaker. “Warren has an offer on the shop.”
“Sorry, am I interrupting something?” Warren asked, voice tinged with interest.
“No. It’s just Ben.”
Ben pressed his head to the other side of the phone, listening in on the conversation.
“Oh,” Warren exhaled, his disappointment palpable. “Anyway, it’s a full offer, all cash, closing in two weeks.”
“Two weeks?”
“I know. It’s tight, but I already called the landlord on the back of Main. The last tenant is already out and he’ll give you the rest of this month and next free if you move in now.”
“You saw all the stuff in the thrift store, Warren. I need at least a month.”
Even a month seemed like too little time. I hadn’t touched the back storeroom since I inherited the place from my grandmother. It’d take weeks to go through it all. Maybe months.
“I know a couple of liquidators, if you’re interested. You could auction off the contents.”
I looked at Ben for guidance. He shrugged.
“Helpful,” I mouthed before making the split-second decision. “That might be best. When could you have someone come by and look at it all?”
“Monday?” Warren guessed. “I’ll make some calls and get back to you. Does that mean we’re accepting the contract?”
I took a deep breath, my stomach tumbling. “Yes!”
“Fantastic!” Warren enthused. “I’ll need you to come in and sign Monday but I’ll let them know you plan to accept. Congratulations!”
I hung up, not sharing Warren’s celebratory mood.
“You okay?” Ben asked, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close.
“Yeah,” I said as a sense of disquiet washed over me. “It just feels weird.”
He nodded, dropping his head against mine. “Of course it does. It’s a huge change.”
“In a year already full of change,” I groaned, flopping back onto the bed. “There’s just so much stuff.”
“There’s not that much,” he argued.
“You haven’t seen the backroom. Or that weird storage room that used to be a bathroom. Or the crawl space.”
“Wait.” He laid down next to me, running his palm over my waist. “There’s a crawl space?”
“It used to be the central fireplace. Grandma walled it off and shoved a bunch of boxes in there. I barely remembered the room either, and then I sold a case of old vinyl records and uncovered the door. Honestly, I was afraid there might be a colony of bats hiding in there. I didn’t want to poke around too much so I blocked the entrance with a dresser and pretended I hadn’t seen it.”
“Well, a secret hidden room, potentially filled with bats? I’m in.”
I sighed. “You don’t mean that.”
He tightened his grip on my waist, rubbing his nose over my cheek. “I do. Let’s get dressed and head over there now.”
“I need a truck.”
“Great news,” he chuckled. “I happen to have a truck in your driveway.”
“Ugh, why are you always so helpful? Don’t you want to stay in bed for the rest of the day?”
