The corners of his eyes droop as he licks his lips and lies on the floor, placing his big head on his crisscrossed paws and boring his sad eyes into mine. A picture of misery and desperation.
I groan. “That’s so not fair.”
He lets out a tiny whine, and my heart officially breaks.
“Fine, you can come with me.”
His ears instantly perk as he jumps up.
I let out a soft chuckle, shaking my head. “You’re a good actor. I see what you did in there.” I direct a pointed finger at him, mentally reprimanding myself for being so sapless.
I sit at the breakfast table, waiting for his majesty to finish his food, and continue to ogle my surroundings. There’s so much art. So many beautiful wood carvings. The molding on the cabinets and along the walls is superb. It’s detailed and pristine, like the bed. The table I’m sitting at is perfect too. It’s so smooth, and yet it’s clearly made by hand. So much love’s poured into the carving under the lacquer that I lean in to look closer.
It must have cost a fortune, this level of handiwork. It’s amazing. I need to ask Mark where he got all of this because I want a chair from the same place. I’ve always dreamed of a wooden rocking chair, an old-fashioned one from a childhood fairytale. One I can curl up on, with a book and a cozy blanket during long Maine winter nights. My room at my parents’ place was too small, and my mom was a bit of a control freak about what types of furniture came into the house. I didn’t want to interfere with her design.
Well, Jake was still there too. But Jake is a guy; I’m sure he’d be happy to live in their basement till he’s forty. I wanted my own kitchen and my own yard. My own dishes and my own mistakes. The only thing I’ve gotten from that list so far is the latter.
Ghost nudges my hand, letting me know he’s finished and it’s time to go.
“Are you sure you want to come with me? It’s wet everywhere over there.” I give him one last chance to save himself, but he runs toward the door, wagging his fluffy tail. I shrug and follow him. “Alrighty. Suit yourself.”
I check the lock to make sure it can close if I click it before exiting. I make sure to do so, understanding that Ghost is staying with me until his dad is back. I don’t like dogs. I’ve never had them, and here I am, a babysitter to this enormous-ass monster of a dog with intelligent eyes and a slight ball-licking habit he should kick. Josie won’t believe me.
I silently remind myself to call her. She’s been bombarding me with messages about my move since the moment I’d made the decision. With everything going on, I’ve been only giving her halfhearted responses. She doesn’t deserve that.
When I open the door to my house, the humid air hits me like a wall, and I almost fall back.Probably should have cleaned up yesterday, I think with a wince. Ghost trots past me to the living room and jumps on the couch, making brief eye contact with me before licking his jewels again. I roll my eyes. Typical male.
The kitchen is in the same state of disarray as I left it. There’s about one inch of water covering the floor. For what feels like the tenth time, I find myself expressing immense gratitude to the engineers of this beautiful little home for making the thresholds as high as they are.
I change into shorts and a tank top and bring out more towels to mop the water. But before I can, I need to figure out who will help fix this mess to make the place livable again.
I fetch my phone from my room, wincing when I see a string of unanswered messages from Josie, and dial Kayla.
“Hey, Alicia!”Her voice cheerfully greets me after two rings.
“Hey, Kay. I was wondering if you could help me.” I chuckle sheepishly.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Before I ask, can you promise it will stay between you and me? Justin can’t know. Please?”
There’s a heavy pause on the other end.“All right. Shoot.”
I sigh. “Do you know of a plumber who can help me with something on short notice?”
Another pause.“A plumber? You just moved in. What happened?”
“A small hiccup with the sink.” I’m not technically lying. The break is one inch in depth.
“If it’s small, Justin or Jake can fix it.”
“I can’t ask them. You know why.”
She lets out a loud exhale. “I know. All right, let me see if I can find someone. I’ll call you later once I know something.”
“And a contractor too.”
“Alicia…”Her voice starts to remind me of my third-grade teacher, who caught me throwing balls of paper at the boy I had a crush on.“What’s happening?”
