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Raine
I don’t think the most professional future coworker I’ll ever have would use emojis.
I set my book on the floor and read the message again, a million different replies flooding my mind all at once.
Most professional coworker. Most professional coworker. Most professional coworker. Most professional coworker.
Maybe if I say it enough times, I can keep Ollie from being right.
Six
The next day, I lead Raine upstairs to show her the flat. As soon as we step inside, Sebastian leaps from the window overlooking the street and rubs up against her legs. It makes me wonder if someone has switched out my cat for another, because this is a cat who darts beneath my bed as soon as he hears I have company. A cat who loves exactly one person—me—and tolerates two others—my nieces, Josie and Jacqueline.
Raine mutters to herself and pulls a toy baguette from one of the shopping bags in her arms.
“Nina took me to the store this morning, and I justhadto get this for him,” she says. “I looked for a bagel one, but they only had baguettes and cinnamon rolls, so I went with the most bagel-like option.”
“Why is the baguette the more bagel-like option?” I ask. “Cinnamon rolls have the more bagel-like shape.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
I am, but I want to see where she’ll go with this.
“It’s all about the flavor, and a bagel tastes more like a baguettethan a cinnamon roll.” She rips off the price tag and sets the toy before Sebastian.
“All right, you win,” I say.
Sebastian rubs his face against the toy baguette. “Look at that,” she says. “Seems you and Sebastian both have a love of carbs.”
“I’m starting to worry he’s going to like you better than me.”
“It’s my natural charm.” She grins, then clumsily takes off her boots without untying them and leaves them in a heap by the door. She doesn’t wait for me to give her some grand tour. Just swans into the living room as if she’s been here a thousand times.
I have to agree. The girl is charming.
I follow her into the living room, nearly bumping into her when she halts beside the couch and turns to face me. “Hold on,” she says, and I take a step back. She looks at Sebastian on the floor, then scans the room. “I can’t possibly stay here.”
I look around the flat. The place is nice, especially this late in the morning. Natural light floods in through two large windows. Squares of sunlight scatter across the wood flooring. The decor isn’t half-bad either. I think, anyway. I’ve brought in as much color as I can. The first piece of furniture I bought was a canary-yellow couch. Mum about killed me when I tried to get it up the stairs by myself. But I was so mixed up about coming home, about running the pub, about living up here in this flat, that I didn’t know who or how to ask for help. In the end, Mum called Ed, one of the regulars, and he helped me get it up here. I was grateful to him for the help, but even more grateful he didn’t try to talk to me. He helped me out a lot those first few months I was running the pub without Ollie. But then he had to go and start dating Mum, and while I like the man, I don’t want to like him and make sure he knows it. Childish, I know.
It didn’t matter how much I changed things in the flat, though, because I hate the place on principle. If I didn’t, I’d never move out so some girl could take it over for a few months.
“Why can’t you stay here?” I ask.
“Youlive here,” Raine says. “When you said I could use the place above the pub, I didn’t realize you meantyourplace. It is your place, right?”
“I won’t be living here while you’re living here, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“But where areyougoing to live?”
“I’ll stay with Ollie and Nina. I’ve been meaning to spend more time with my nieces anyway.”
Raine chews her lip and looks over the living room again. “You can’t let me stay here for free, and I couldn’t possibly afford to rent a place this nice.”
“Ollie and I don’t owe anything on the building,” I say. “There’s no need to charge you rent.”
She hums to herself for a moment. “You have to let me paysomething.”
“If you must pay something, you can throw some money at the utilities.”
