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“My father will probably insist I buy wherever we end up. The Dùbhghlas don’t rent.” He says in a deep tone that’s almost a perfect imitation of his father’s. He shrugs against my back. “This place has good bones. It needs a little remodeling, but I’d be happy living here. With the other floors rented, it’s a good investment, and with tenants on the other floors, we’d have some of the safety we’d be losing by leaving the dorms.”
“You’re serious? You’ve thought about this?”
He nods. “I looked at it online last night after Charlie mentioned the viewings. This is definitely the better of the two and the landlord’s open to selling. There’s not much else for sale in town. Nothing with three bedrooms and a yard this size.”
I saw him fiddling with his phone last night, but I thought he was answering one of the many texts he’s gotten from his friends since he ditched them to spend yesterday with us.
I turn to look at Charlie and Gabe, who are discussing the placement of a foosball table. “What do you lads think?”
Gabe nods. “I like it. Not even a ten-minute walk to class.”
Charlie moves to stand beside me at the window. “What do you think, bean?”
“I like it. I just didn’t realize we were making such a permanent decision today.”
Darwin squeezes me gently. “Nothing’s set in stone, Teddy. If we don’t want to stay after next semester, I’d just rent it out.”
I shift until I can look up at him without straining my neck. “But if we liked living here, it could be ... home?”
“Is that what you want?”
Around a sudden thickness in my throat and stinging in my eyes, I nod.
Chapter26
A Place To Put A Pillow
Charlie pushes in to hug me. “Didn’t realize, bean. I shoulda thought. Of course, you want something permanent after breaking ties with your family.”
Gabe joins our cuddle, wrapping an arm around Darwin and kissing my forehead. “Our first home, Teddy. We’ll get that houseboat someday, don’t worry. But this is a good place for the next few years, don’t you think? It’s a blank canvas. We could decorate it any way you like.”
“I’m not fussy,” I say. “I’d just like a place I know we can stay.”
Somewhere I could put a few of Auntie Jill’s cushions and know they wouldn’t be tossed out to make way for cream carpeting and modular couches. Somewhere there wouldn’t be flowers in the fireplace.
Darwin feathers a kiss over Gabe’s. “I’m going to make an offer.”
“Make sure the gazebo’s included,” I say as he moves away.
He waves back over his head as he walks down the hall to find the agent. I think that gesture means,I’ve got it. I don’t know Darwin well enough yet to be sure.
So, obviously, we should be buying a house together.
“Are you okay with this, Chaz?” I ask, looking up at him.
He hasn’t said much, other than about the foosball table. Unlike the rest of us, Charlie has a home hewantsto go back to.
“More than,” he says. “If Madavar and surfing don’t work out, I like the idea of having a place we can spend the summer, too. I’m not big on moving around so much.”
His certainty helps settle me.
“We could still visit your parents,” I say to reassure him.
“Tedz, with you bein’ able to Earth-Walk us all now, that’s not a concern anymore. We’ll pop back and visit your crew and my family sometime soon, when things settle down.”
Gabe snorts. “Do you honestly think things are ever going to settle down with the Teddyclysm around?”
“Hey!”
