“This is the guest room,” she said, taking him further down the hall. Furnished with a queen-size bed, dresser, nightstands and a small work desk, he figured the room for being as big as the whole living area in his apartment.
And wondered who usually visited the room. “How often is it occupied?” he asked. If he was going to be sharing a hallway—and presumably he was, as she was supposed to lead him to the suite she had available—he should know with whom and how often.
“What?” She glanced over her shoulder at him, saving him from having to work diligently to keep his gaze off the backside outlined so attractively in those tight pants.
“The guest room. How often is it occupied?”
“Oh, never,” she said. “At least not in all the years Wood and I have been here.”
Never.
A room that size, all decked out, and it wasn’t used?
So why have it?
He kept the question to himself. Barely.
As she pointed out the guest bathroom—presumably to go with the guest bedroom across the hall—a quote from an old movie came to him. A favorite of his father’s about building a baseball diamond for a team. The line that stuck with him... “If you build it, they will come”...or some close rendition thereof.
Maybe Elaina didn’t want to be as alone as she was.
But then, if that was the case, why was she? People flocked to her, as far as he could see at work. And he knew she hung out with some of them after hours sometimes. He’d just never been invited to accompany them.
“And here’s your suite,” she said, then quickly added, “if you choose to take it.”
The room was easily as big as his current living space and bedroom combined, minus the walls that held furniture. He could easily fit his bedroom set along two of the walls. His recliner and an end table would fit in the corner with plenty of room to spare. The entertainment center would need to go into storage; his dressers would take up the remaining free wall space. Half of the third wall was taken up by the double doors leading into an equally large bathroom, with a separate jetted tub and tiled walk-in shower.
The walk-in closet was big for his needs, too. “This whole suite looks freshly painted,” he said, telling himself not to like it so much he’d like to own one just like it.
He’d have his house. Sooner than expected, now that he had a child coming.
Just had to take things one step at a time. Figure out the career move, first. And thinking of which... “I talked to administration today and the ED position is still open and still mine if I want it.”
“Are you going to take it?”
“I think so, yes.” What was there to figure out? He was kidding himself if he thought he was actually going to consider going anywhere but Marie Cove. Not while his child was growing up there.
He couldn’t tell whether his answer pleased her or not, or even whether she’d had any reaction at all. She’d turned to the wall with drapes that went almost to the ceiling, pulled the cord. The sun was setting, and gave him a view of the gorgeous, naturally landscaped backyard with a shed way in the back.
“Are you using that shed?”
“No. It was Wood’s. He continued to use it for a while, coming here to do what woodworking he did, but he finally got one built to the side of the house he and Cassie now own together.”
Their relationship was a little complicated for him. Wood, her ex-husband, had continued to use the shed at his old house with Elaina, his ex-wife—even after he’d married Cassie? There were so many questions there.
He asked none of them. “So I could use the shed to store the rest of my things? Just while I’m staying here?” He could buy shelves...
“Of course.”
Another problem solved.
None of these things, his job, his living arrangements, storage, were major issues. He and the woman he was standing with were bringing their child into the world. They were going to be parenting together.
And he knew so little about her.
And she, him.
“Does Wood know I’ll be occupying his suite?” They had to start somewhere.