Page 93 of Hidden Nature
“Yeah. Home, college dorm, apartment, this. You?”
“Pretty much the same.”
“You don’t start small.”
“The house spoke to me.”
“Really. What did it say?”
“Help.”
She had a quick laugh, and one that sparkled in those amazing eyes.
“It’s been saying that for years. You’re the first one who listened. You’ll hear the same plea from my bathroom. It’s this way.”
The living area split off into two—they didn’t rate as wings—sections. She went to the left into what barely qualified as a hallway, then right.
He walked in as she stood in the doorway. The dog raced in to sniff, tried and failed to climb into the tub.
“Yeah, I hear it. It needs it. What crazed mind picked this flooring?”
“Can’t say, but I curse them daily. It goes. It all goes.”
“Good choice. Even somebody your size must barely fit in this shower.”
“You are correct. I want bigger. I don’t need the tub, so a nice-sized shower goes there, and what’s now the shower could be open shelves. I thought about a closet, but the room’s small, and open shelves would give some breathing room.”
Since he couldn’t argue with her choices, he nodded. “You know what you want.”
“I do.”
Tic wandered out.
“He’s housebroken—through too much trial and error to speak of—like ninety-five percent of the time. But—”
Sloan just shrugged. “If this is the five percent, you’ll clean it up. Listen, I’ve drawn up a plan if you want to take a look.”
He glanced back at her. Yeah, the uniform was a killer. He just couldn’t figure out why.
“Sure.”
She led the way into the kitchen, where the dog bounded back. With a ball of yarn in his mouth.
Sloan pried it free. “This is not yours.” Opening a cupboard, she took out a rawhide stick. “For when the family dog visits,” she explained, then pointed.
Tic sat.
“This is yours.”
He collapsed on the floor with it in ecstasy.
“It’ll keep him busy.” She gestured to the square oak table and its pair of chairs. “Have a seat. I’ll get my file.”
He saw she’d set up a small room off the kitchen as an office. Decent desk, ugly walls to go with an ugly light on a popcorn ceiling.
She opened a drawer in the desk, took out a file folder.
“I’ve decided on the fixtures, the tile, the flooring, and all that. That’s in here, too.”
