Catastrophe Queen

“And now with the baby and things, they’re looking for a bigger house with more of a yard because they plan on having another after this one.” She brushed some hair from her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. “Jonathan’s away in Vancouver on business, and Charlotte’s incredibly ill with sickness, so I said I’d come in and see what you’ve got.”

“What are they looking for?” I asked, walking around behind the desk and resting my hand on Mal’s shoulder as she pulled up the listings file.

“Ideally four bedrooms, preferably a study for when Jonathan works from home, and a decent sized yard.”

“Preference on bathrooms?”

“Two, but they’ll go one and a half bath if the house is right.”

I knew they would. Charlotte wasn’t nearly as fussy as her mother. “What’s their budget?”

She gave me a ballpark number, and by the time I’d opened my mouth, Mallory already had the printer running.

For someone who’d smashed two mugs emptying the dishwasher this morning, her ability to do her job always astounded me.

“Six houses,” Mal said, rolling over to the printer and almost crushing my toes in the process.

All right, so she was still rough around the edges. But it’d make a change for her to hurt me instead of herself.

As a side note, she was now banned from cleaning up any messes she’d made if the mess had sharp edges. The Band-Aid on her right hand wasn’t from a paper cut.

“Now, one is a three-bed place, but I think that’s only because there are two offices,” she said, putting the houses down in front of Cynthia. “It’s been on the market a while, but you could probably convert one back to a bedroom if you remove the shelves. Two others are four beds, and these three are five-beds, all within the price range. This one—” She pulled the bottom sheet out. “—is actually out of the budget, but only ever so slightly. We sell a lot of houses from these guys since they flip them, and they usually price a little high so they can come down.”

“Ooh, I do like that one,” Cynthia said. “I think they’re low-balling on their budget, but these all look lovely. I’ll take them to Charlotte and see what she thinks. I may have to do the first viewings if that’s okay.”

“Just give me a call, and I’ll sort it.” Mallory smiled.

Cynthia beamed at her then looked at me. “She’s going to take your job if you’re not careful, Cameron, darling.”

I sighed and leaned against Mal’s chair. “I know. I keep telling her to actually do the training, but she won’t listen to me.”

“I won’t do it because I already know what’ll happen. I’ll get my license, take someone on a viewing, and trip up the stairs or something.” She shook her head. “Nope. I’m happy here, half-assing it, where I can’t really hurt myself.”

Cynthia laughed. “That is wise, darling. Besides, the two of you make a good team.”

I looked down at Mal and smiled. “We do.”

“I hear you’re finally moving in together.”

Mal nodded. “I pretty much live there already, but I still have some stuff at my parents’ house. I’m getting the rest of it this weekend.”

It was a tough spot for her. Just as she’d saved enough money to get out of her parents and get an apartment, I’d told her it was ridiculous, and she should just move in with me. She’d said it was too early, but just as she was coming around to the idea, her Grandpa had a stroke.

He and Grace were still living with their parents, and when her grandfather was really ill, Mallory had come to the decision that she couldn’t leave and let her mom take all the responsibility for caring for him.

Slowly, over the past six months, she’d spent more and more time at my place, effectively splitting her time between the two houses. Her stuff was in disarray—and so was my bathroom, thanks to her fucking hair products and girly shit.

Now, her grandpa was better and as ornery as ever, and she finally felt like she could leave.

It’d been a long and frustrating process for us all, but none other than her. There’d been a point where we’d all thought we’d lose him, but he was too damn stubborn to go. That hadn’t meant that the decision to move out had been easy for her.

She’d gone from running out of the place to insisting on staying.

I think she was finally ready, and I was prepared to buy some storage for all the fruity-smelling body washes that were in my shower.

“I’m very happy for you,” Cynthia said, tucking the property sheets into her purse. “You’ll have to have a little housewarming to celebrate, darlings.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Cynthia.” I smiled as she finished her coffee and stood, gathering her hat and her gloves. “You let us know as soon as you’re ready to take a look at some houses. We can probably get Charlotte in on a video call so she can be there, too.”