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Her eyebrows rose with interest, and she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Oaklynn, hmm? Yes. I like it. I like it a lot.” Sitting on the armrest of the wraparound couch, she crossed her legs and kept eye contact as she smiled. “So what can I do for you today, Ms. Oaklynn?”
I nearly bounced on my toes with excitement as I clasped my hands together and answered, “Well, I’m hoping it’s something I can actually do foryou. Like…” Biting my lip with an influx of hope, I added, “Take that spare room you have available off your hands…maybe.”
Thalia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You want to move in with me?”
“I mean…” I wobbled my head in indecision and then grinned beseechingly. “Possibly. Hopefully. If everything works out okay. I can already tell Ilovethe place.” I swept out my arms to encompass all the glorious perfection surrounding us. “But I’m fairly certain there’s no way I can actually afford the rent.”
With a shrug, Thalia made a, “Meh,” sound in the back of her throat to disagree with me before she said, “How does four hundred a month strike you?”
My jaw damn near dropped to the floor. “No way?” I blurted.
Thalia grinned back and started to nod slowly. “Way…” she countered.
“Wow,” I breathed before shaking my head to clear it back into focus. “There’s a catch, though, right? There’s got to be a catch. Like awful plumbing or horrible smells from a nearby sewer plant.” As Thalia started to shake her head, I kept going. “Loud noises of planes flying overhead or nearby train tracks, or…”
When I took a breath, Thalia answered, “The plumbing’s great. And there’s no sewer treatment plant, airport,ortrain tracks nearby. Though, I guess, sometimes…” She leaned forward as if she was fixin’ to confess a grave secret before she added, “Late at night…”
“Yeah?” I encouraged with a wince before biting my lip to brace for the worst.
Then she smiled. “I play music at full blast so I can sing and dance around the apartment in nothing but a shirt and undies.” She shrugged unapologetically. “What can I say; I’m a free spirit.”
I laughed because I’d been known to do the same thing a time or two in my life.
Thalia might be a free spirit, but she seemed like a kindred one, and I wanted to live here more than I thought was humanly possible.
“I think I can handle that,” I said.
“Though I have a feeling you’d rarely see me,” she added with a thoughtful frown. “So you probably wouldn’t be graced with the pleasure of my midnight serenadesallthat often, if ever. I’ll be gone a lot, so I’d really like someone trustworthy that could act as a caretaker of sorts to watch the old place for me when I’m not around.”
And… That’s when I started to drool.
Not only was the place way too affordable,andin spectacular condition, but it’d basically be allmine?
“That’s me,” I volunteered. “I’m as trustworthy and responsible as they come. And clean too. You can always count on me to leave stuff better than when I found it.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. But do you already have furniture? I’m not sure where we’d put it if you did. The room comes fully furnished with a private bath; it probably can’t accommodate a lot ofextras. And I don’t do pets.”
I’d brought a total of three suitcases to Westport with me—sans animals—and no furniture at all. So hearing that it was already furnished was a dream come true.
Plus, having my own bath…
“Okay, who do I need to sell my soul to in order to stay here?” I begged as I lifted my hand, not even playing.
Thalia laughed and popped perkily to her feet. “I’ll tell you what. If you help me paint this here wall—because I know next to nothing about painting—and we get to know each other enough to bond by the time it’s done, the room’s yours.”
“Sold,” I cried, lifting a fisted hand into the air triumphantly.
I wassogoing to get this place.
* * *
“So I’ve been staringat this paint can for, like, the past hour,” Thalia explained as she led me over to the plastic-covered section of the floor. “And I still have no idea how to even open it.”
“Have you tried a…paint can opener perhaps?” I asked, amused by her cluelessness.
She glanced back, blinking blankly. “A what?”
With a laugh, I motioned toward the white plastic sack lying next to the cans. “Let’s see if there’s one in here, shall we?”
