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Luna jumped in surprise at his presence being so close. Her delicate eyebrows pressed together. “I’m sorry?”
There was no way she couldn’t hear him. It wasn’t as though the cheap windows were sound-proof. “You can’t do that.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the shade.
“Oh, don’t worry. I already did the one in the living room. They’re actually quite easy to put in.” She pointed to the living room window and sure enough there was a woven shade there as well.
“Oh wow! I love the color of her wall. Can I do that, Sam?” Zabe asked, peering into the apartment beside him.
Sparkling windows be damned. Sam flipped his hat around before pressing his own face to the glass, using a hand to block the glare from the sun. The dining room wall was peacock blue with a large modern framed artwork of yellow and white ombré hung in the center of the wall. The beige cracked linoleum was missing because there appeared to be grayish wood or laminate flooring going from the dining room through the kitchen.
“Excuse me,” Luna said with a hand on her hip. “Do you normally invade your tenants’ privacy by peering through their windows?”
“Are you kidding me right now? We need to talk. Come to the door.”
“Why?”
Sam’s agitation grew. “Because I don’t want to be shouting through the window!”
“Then stop shouting!” Her own irritation sparked from her eyes.
What right did she have in being annoyed? He didn’t care how pretty she was, she’d crossed a line. “Are you going to let me in or not?”
“How about not. According to California law, you have to give me at least twenty-four hours’ notice before entering the premises and I don’t remember getting any notice.”
“Oh, now you’re going to be a stickler for rules? Here’s your own news flash. According to the lease, you can’t make these types of renovations to the apartment.”
“It actually doesn’t say that.” She sat on the stepladder with her arms crossed like a queen on her throne and he was the fumbling subject before her. How did this even happen? He was the landlord here, not her.
“Do I need to get the lease for you?” His jaw worked overtime grinding his molars together because he had enough on his plate without dealing with a spoiled brat who was probably used to getting away with things.
“Fine. Go ahead. I’ll be waiting right here to witness your humiliation. I’m sure it won’t be the first time.”
He didn’t like how confident she appeared. His gut told him this wasn’t good at all.
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t even know why this is suddenly an issue. We had a whole conversation about this during the walk-through. Are you telling me you don’t remember agreeing to this? Or do you make agreements only to back out later?”
“What fu—” He glanced at Zabe who was enthralled with the whole conversation. The only thing missing was a bowl of popcorn in her hands. “What agreement?”
“I asked you if I would be allowed to make improvements to the place as long as I covered the costs. You said okay. I even crossed out the section on the lease and we initialed it and you never said anything. Why did you agree if it’s a problem?”
“I—” All the blood drained from Sam’s face. His father was going to kill him. He’d screwed up once again. “Can you please come to the door so we can discuss this before you do anything else?”
She smiled but it was more dangerous than friendly, like a cat who happened across a mouse. “Oh I’m just getting started, buddy.” And the shade slammed shut.
“Well, damn,” Zabe said.
The understatement of the year.
Chapter Eight
“You’re putting meon,” Mia said as they strolled through the furniture section of St. Vincent’s Thrift Store.
“Nope. And then I closed the shade on him. I’m kinda sad I had to miss the expression on his face.” When she thought about it, lying in bed at night, she couldn’t help but laugh because she found the whole situation amusing in the best possible way. One point for her, zero for Sam. It served him right.
“I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to do something like that.” Yeah, because Mia didn’t have to. She had a dimple and a golden way with words. “You’re not afraid he’s going to evict you?”
Sure, she was worried. Her courage didn’t stick around forever. Her gutsy guts only made an appearance in the first place because he wasn’t being fair going back on his word, and it made her angry. It wasn’t as though Luna was being sneaky—except for the part where she wasn’t giving him a list of all of her planned renovations for the place. She’d been completely up-front about the apartment from the beginning. His agreement with her plans had been the one thing that appealed to her about moving into Schnell Ridge Apartments. For him to act as if she’d tricked him was completely offensive.
The fact that the man was now pleading ignorance, as if the whole conversation had taken place in a dream, was a complete mystery. If Sam lacked the imagination on what a creative person could do with a blank canvas, that was on him.
