She lowered her hands. “You haven’t loved since. . .”
“No.” I turned away, went back to the guns, and cleared my throat. “Which one do you want? You have time but pick something by tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“I want to teach you how to shoot it.”
A sweetness hit her voice. “You’re really nice. I can’t thank you enough.”
I checked my watch. “We probably should get back. I’ll show you this house’s upstairs later.”
She got to my side as I headed out of the basement. “What’s upstairs?”
“The house.”
“Oh. I was just wondering why you wanted to show me.”
“I figured you could live here.”
She stopped. “What?”
“It’s a three bedroom. I don’t know, if that’s enough for the kids and you. It needs some repairs, painting. I don’t have the wi-fi in or—”
“Wait.” She shook her head. “I. . .don’t know. We’ve just met.”
“How much does one really know their landlord?”
That look came again. The one where she was in deep thought, mulling over all the options and alternatives.
“I have to think about this.” She looked at me. “What would the rent be?”
“I don’t know yet.” I shrugged. “I have to go through the place first. See what needs to be fixed. Like I said, the kitchen was renovated for a restaurant. There’s about four stoves in there and a massive fridge. We would have to figure this out. It would take time.”
She looked up as if she could see through the ceiling. “This is a good opportunity, but I really have to take my time and think about.”
“Don’t worry about that. Mother Nature is going to give you all the time you need.”
She looked back at me. “That’s true. The snow.”
“The snow.”
We walked out of there.
I locked up and guided her back down the hill.
Silence passed between us.
I knew it was a lot for her to digest. In reality, I never had any intentions of renting the house. Kevin and even Mabel had told me I could make could money off a rental. I hadn’t liked the idea of having people on my property. With the investments and my savings, I didn’t need the money.
Even now, I wasn’t sure how Ebony and her kids would do here.
The good thing was that the house resided around fifty feet behind my home. A hill and even several trees lay between the house and mine. We both would have some privacy and distance.
I would need to put a road leading to her place. Have somebody plough it or something. Maybe get her a mailbox. Do I have to give the address to the post office?
Lots of details would come with this new venture, if she said yes. And in that moment, I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to agree or not. I just didn’t want her to have to run with those kids anymore.
I thought of my mom.
That’s why you never ran? It would’ve been too hard?
Sadness came over me.
We headed away.
Luckily, my house appeared, before anymore sad thoughts came.
The kids stood outside, dressed in coats and sneakers. And in the oldest girls arms was my shotgun.
There’s the team.
I grinned.
Ebony frowned and hurried to them. “Kia, what are you doing?”
Kia lowered the shotgun. “We didn’t know where you were? We thought he might’ve taken you somewhere or maybe. . .Daddy.”
My temper flared, but I made sure not to show it.
You have your own kids scared, Wyatt? Does that make you fill like a big man?
Ebony rushed to Kia and took the shot gun. “No. Everything is fine. Yoshiro was just showing me the property.”
Jalen turned my way. “Why?”
Ebony kept the shotgun at her side. “Why what, Jalen?”
“Why was he showing you the property?”
“It’s a long story. We’ll talk about it later.”
Jalen watched me.
I nodded at him in approval.
That’s right. Watch out for her. Moms are to be protected.
I looked at the rest of the kids. “Is everybody hungry? There are bagels on the table. Did you get them?”
“No,” Jalen said. “We didn’t know, if we could.”
“Get whatever you want. Check the pantry too. There’s tons of food in here.”
The kids looked to Ebony.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Let’s get some breakfast.”
Their faces brightened.
I found I liked to see them smile.
They all piled into the house, and I remained outside. I needed a minute to think about all that had occurred this morning. In a few hours, she had shared her tragedies with me. And for the first time in five years, I’d told her more information about me than I’d ever confessed to anyone.
Did it scare her that I’d killed? She didn’t look it. But then she’d lived with that maniac for so long. Surely, she’s married to a killer.
I turned around and gazed at the sky, following flakes as they fell.
In a matter of hours, I’d not only told Ebony about my life, but. . .I’d showed her my guns and created a rental property out of the forgotten house on the hill. If someone had told me that I would do this last week, I would’ve laughed at them.