LITMIR.BIZ

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far side of the grass. “And I asked where I could rent someplace around here. The lady that waited on me said to talk to you, said you have a place.”

      I turn around, squinting up at my house. I do have a place, but it’s not exactly public knowledge. That will teach me to think I can air out one side of my house in this town and not have everybody and their sister know it right away.

      “I do,” I say slowly. “It’s sort of a throwback, though. Everything was installed in the seventies.”

      “Is it clean?” he asks, his brows hunching.

      “Well, yes.”

      “Yes,” Sarah mimics, looking proud of herself.

      He doesn’t react, just bounces her on his hip again.

      “Does it have two bedrooms?” he asks.

      I bite my lip before replying. “It has three. Do you… do you want to see it?”

      He narrows his gaze for a second, maybe trying to decide on my trustworthiness. “Sure.”

      I turn and lead them up the steps to the second entrance, built to mirror the first. It’s not as grand as the original, the door plain old solid wood whereas mine is leaded glass. The two entrances are separated by a wall, so that each has its own private half of the porch.

      “I’ll be right back,” I say to Charlie, who just jogs Sarah on his hip. “I have to get the keys from my place.”

      I run down the steps and up to my door. The keys are on a hook just inside, hung above my neatly arranged rows of coats on their hooks and rain boots on the floor.

      I grab them and make my way back to Charlie and Sarah. I hold up the keys as evidence that I was successful, but he doesn’t even blink.

      “So, uh… are you moving here with your… partner?” I ask as I unlock the door, swinging it open wide.

      “Par-nuh,” Sarah repeats. I smile at her.

      “That’s right, I said partner,” I coo at her.

      I’m pretty sure he’s straight, but you know what they say about assumptions. We move inside, taking in the open layout of the living area.

      “No,” Charlie says, in a forbidding tone that doesn’t beg for any follow up questions. “Just me and Sarah.”

      “Ah,” I nod, cringing internally.

      I’m noticing that Charlie doesn’t feel a need to fill the long pauses between his words with idle chatter. Not like me; I feel more anxious by the second when there is just silence.

      With that and the look of his boots, I guess that he’s former military. My dad was in the military, when I was a little girl. He carried himself in a similar way, his eyes always constantly moving.

      “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you moving to Pacific Pines for?” I say.

      “I want to be closer to family,” he replies. He jostles Sarah on his hip, his attention moving toward the kitchen.

      I follow him as he makes his way through the first floor. “And what do you do for a living?”

      He opens up one of the green cabinets, and finds it empty.

      “I work for myself,” he says. “Money isn’t an issue.”

      My brows rise. “Oh?”

      “Down,” Sarah says, tugging on Charlie’s shirt. “Down.”

      He glances around, then sets her down. “Do you mind watching her for a second so I can look at the bedrooms?”

      I look at Sarah, who walks over to the kitchen cabinets and begins opening and closing one of the lower ones. “Sure, no problem.”

      He vanishes toward the rest of the house. I figure he’s capable of finding the stairs on his own. Sarah is not convinced, though.

      “Dad’s gone!” she says to me, her expression one of perfect surprise.

      Time to distract her. I move over to her and bend down, pointing to the cabinet.

      “That’s a cabinet.”

      “Cab-nee,” she says.

      “Cabinet,” I repeat.

      I hear Charlie’s boots on the stairs, and then I hear him walking around.

      She looks at me, her expression solemn. “Cab-ney.”

      “Mmmhm,” I murmur. Sarah turns and looks around.

      “Where?” she squawks. “Dad gone?”

      “Hey, did you see this?” I redirect her attention by pulling open a drawer. “Look.”

      Her face grows curious. “Wha?”

      I close the drawer, then open it again. She comes over and places her tiny hand over mine, pushing it until the drawer closes. Then she looks up at me.

      “It work,” she says, serious as death.

      “Yes, it does.” I pull the drawer open again, and she watches me with solemn eyes.

      I hear Charlie thundering down the stairs, and a few seconds later he reappears in the kitchen.

      “Da!” Sarah squeals, throwing her arms up. “Hold!”

      Charlie scoops her up. She looks utterly delighted. There is something about the way her tiny fist clutches at his hoodie that makes my throat thick with an emotion I cannot name.

      “I like it,” he says to me. “I’d prefer not to be on a lease. I’ll pay more if I have to. Assuming that you’ll have us, that is.”

      “Well, I wasn’t planning on letting this place out so soon… so I don’t have a lease yet anyway,” I say with a shrug. “How’s… eight hundred a month sound?”

      He doesn’t react, just shrugs back. “Alright. First and last month’s rent as deposit?”

      My eyes widen. That’s a lot of money. Then again, he did say that it was no issue. “Sure.”

      “Can I move in right now?” he asks.

      “Now,” Sarah repeats, then cracks up laughing. It’s hard not to grin.

      “Yeah, sure. You have a lot of stuff?” I ask.

      “No,” he says. “We probably have less than six bags each, and that’s about it.”

      “Really?” I ask, surprised.

      “Really,” he says, reaching for his wallet. He skillfully manages to pull a wad of cash from his wallet while Sarah finds the cord of his hoodie and pulls it. He counts it, then hands some of it over. “Here you go. That should be about sixteen hundred.”

      He pushes the money into my hands. “Great. Here are the keys. Want me to watch Sarah while you move your bags inside?”

      “Nah,” he says. “We’ll be just fine.”

      “Alright,” I say with a shrug. “I’ll see you guys around. Bye, Sarah.”

      Sarah says a string of nonsense words, but I take it as goodbye. I walk back around the house to my ladder, scrunching my face at it.

      Somehow, it seems a lot less interesting than it did an hour ago. I move the ladder over and climb up it again. If I climb to the very top and get on my tiptoes, I can just see Charlie and Sarah, going back and forth across the green grass, presumably to whatever vehicle he has.

      Charlie is basically a giant question mark to me, albeit a handsome one. Still, I can’t say that I’m not glad to have some eye candy…

      And Sarah is friggin precious,

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