He gave her a wink and watched as she pulled up the Bolton property. “Oh, this one is cute!”
“They wanted to restore the original structure instead of modernising it.”
“I like it.”
“I love the charm.”
She gave Renley a virtual tour of the house, relishing in his genuine interest and astonishment. Once it was finished, he leaned back and gave her a heart-fluttering grin. “You’re very talented.”
“Thank you.”
Then he pushed himself to stand and adjusted his hat again. “I’ll leave you to work your magic. Don’t work too hard.”
“I can’t promise that.”
He chuckled and turned but not without tossing over his shoulder, “Your cats might get lonely.”
She was still smiling when she locked up a few hours later.
Renley
Renley spent his entire gym time thinking of Eveline. Of course, he’d hoped to catch a glimpse of her when he dropped off his papers, but he didn’t want her to feel crowded. But then again, she’d initiated him staying. He liked to think she wouldn’t have done so if she didn’t want that time with him.
Walking into Shannon’s apartment, he was greeted by his best friend crooking a brow at him. “You’re in a good mood.”
“I am.”
“So, work is going well then?”
“Yep, just waiting for my first paycheck.”
“Are you still going to look at apartments tomorrow?”
Renley nodded, dropping his bag by the door. “Ready to get rid of me, huh?”
“Fucking leech.”
Although he knew his friend was teasing, the comment still stung. He offered to cook dinner and as they sat on the couch watching sports, his mind was entirely elsewhere. Eveline hadhim wrapped around her little finger. He was already trying to drum up any excuse to see her again.
He knew he could ask her out, and that she’d appreciate something as simple as coffee, but his pride made that rather complicated. He didn’t want to start dating until he was semi-stable.
After his shift the next day, he rushed home to shower and change before apartment hunting. With his check coming this week and the money from his night with Eveline he would be able to lay down a deposit. He wasn’t going to jump on the first place he saw, but he knew he needed to start getting his life together—and it started with getting off Shannon’s couch.
He didn’t need anything big—a studio or one bedroom was fine with him. He also caught himself looking for accessible apartments, just in case a certain person wanted to visit him.
Most of his evenings were spent looking for a place. It wasn’t an easy task, but he was determined and didn’t care too much about location as long as he had something to call his own again. When he was asked to work overtime that weekend, the dollar signs of overtime had him graciously accepting.
They worked all Saturday morning and when he heard Eveline’s gorgeous laugh seeping through the noise, he perked right up in spite of the exhaustion.
Miguel nudged him to follow and found Eveline setting bags from Chick-Fil-A on the unfinished kitchen counter. “The perks of working on weekends,” Miguel cheered, digging through the bags shamelessly.
“I believe your sandwich is in that one,” she said, handing the nosy man the right bag, and another to Renley. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I just got you a normal sandwich and fries.”
“Perfect, thank you.” He pulled up a stool and happily dug into his lunch.
“So, boss lady—how are the kittens?” Miguel garbled through a mouthful of food.
She let out a laugh and shook her head. “They’re fine, thanks for asking. How are your nieces?”
