AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Iris was too busy enjoying her own tostada to say much, so she let the others carry the conversation. She wondered if Eli spoke Spanish. If his mom died when he was six, he might have lost the language and all ties to that side of his family. That struck her as sad.
Maybe I could help him get in touch…if he even wants that.
After dinner, Eli allowed himself to be shooed away from the sink by Henry Dale.
The old man had an unshakable work ethic, and as he put it, “If I ate your food without bestirring myself, then I wash up. Nonnegotiable.”
Mira stood, rubbing her stomach with a satisfied smile. “I think I’m going to like it here. You fed me, and now I’m not doing the dishes.”
“It’s your first day,” Eli said gently. “Get settled in.”
Iris added, “We already talked about it, and you have first pick for the bathroom since you have to be at work.”
“I always shower at five,” said Henry Dale.
Mira blinked. “Eh, I don’t need to be upthatearly. Seven will be fine.”
“We can talk about the rest later. But if you run into annoyances, let’s talk about them before they become resentments,” Iris said.
Eli smiled. That was just like her, really.
“Are you sure you make jewelry?” Mira joked.
“Oh? Why?” Iris asked.
Mira said, “Because you seem like you’d be an awesome therapist.”
Iris laughed. “Well, maybe I have the temperament for it, but I couldn’t get through all the schooling.”
Henry Dale glanced over his shoulder as he soaped up the plates. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. College isn’t for everyone. I never went.”
“I graduated with a degree in nonprofit management,” Mira said. “And I have the debt to prove it.”
As he put the last of the leftovers in the fridge, Eli realized everyone was looking at him. “Oh, my turn?”
“Unless you’d rather not.” Iris always tried to put him at ease, never pushing him.
“I majored in app development.” He didn’t say anythingabout debt, as he’d paid that off after he sold his senior project. Most of his classmates had gone to work for someone else, but he’d gotten lucky.
“So flipping houses is a side hustle?” Iris asked.
“Whoa, you flip housesanddevelop apps?” Mira looked so impressed that he didn’t have the heart to tell them that Gamma’s house was the first and only.
Unless you count this place.There wouldn’t be any flipping, however, unless Iris tapped out because of Susan’s nonsense. Theoretically, he supposed it was possible that she’d sell after he, Henry Dale, and Mira put the shine back in the old house. Now that Eli had some experience with renovations and updates, he might turn his attention to the Myrtle Beach cottage he owned. It was a sunshine-yellow haven two miles from the ocean, nothing special, but he’d gotten a great deal, and he might fix it up someday.
But the idea of doing that alone sent a spike of loneliness straight through his heart. He couldn’t tell anyone about his condo or the Myrtle Beach cottage—at least not without revealing the fact that he’d moved in under false pretenses. The idea of losing all the connections he’d formed made him break out in a cold sweat, clutching the edge of the table with desperate hands.
“Usually just the app thing,” Eli said, realizing they were all waiting for him to respond to Mira’s compliment.
“If you make a profit on the house you’re flipping, will you look for your next project?” Iris wanted to know.
Now was the time to tell her that he’d met her before.Go ahead, make it casual. Something like, “Hey, funny story, I finally remembered where I know you from, Iris…”
Instead, he only got out, “I don’t think so.”
“A pity,” Henry Dale said. “I’d have been willing to look at properties with you, give you an expert opinion on which places have the best bones.”
“That’s such a weird saying,” Mira noted.
