Page 6 of A Place to Call Home
“I don’t really care,” Rob said.
“ButI’mhappy,” Bianca declared from the couch. “And I expect you to call me first thing Saturday to tell me how it went.”
“Rob,” Craig muttered.
“Yes?”
“You should have dropped me.”
Chapter Three
“The second bedroom is a little smaller than the last one we looked at earlier this week, but it’s bigger than the first condo.”
Craig turned slowly, looking at the living room again. He liked this place. It had the amenities he wanted. Close to the beach. The backyard even had a basketball hoop. “This is in my price range?”
She’d already assured him of that, but maybe he’d misheard.
“Ten thousand below your budget.”
“So what’s wrong with it?” He didn’t for a moment believe that Ada was showing him a dump in disguise. “Built over a cemetery? Pipes made out of old gum wrappers?”
“They skipped the paint and just covered the walls in pure lead.”
“Ah.” He nodded slowly. “Perfect.”
“Good schools in this area, too.”
She’d thought of everything. “You are really good at this. I’d expected to settle for something ‘good enough.’”
“I don’t do ‘good enough.’” Her tone held enough laughter to take out any arrogance. “I also don’t do ‘impossible.’ An agent I work with has the task right now of finding a 5-bed, 5-bath beachfront for under a million.”
“Has he tried cutting out the middleman and just searching for a time machine?”
“Exactly.”
Craig was finding that he had a weakness for confident, focused women.
He looked around one more time. “Jack would love all of this.”
Her smile was soft, empathetic. “His room was your first, biggest concern. That told me you’d be happiest where he’d be happiest. So that’s what I looked for.”
“I think you found it.”
“Don’t rush yourself,” she answered. “This is a big decision. It’s better to be right than fast.”
She locked up, and they walked back to their cars. They’d met up at the condominium complex. He almost left things at that. He almost got in his car and drove off. Almost.
“This will probably end in humiliation and awkwardness, but—” His courage deserted him faster than cockroaches fleeing light. Still, he pushed on. “Jack is at his mom’s, and, since I thought this would take a lot longer than it did, I have the rest of the evening to kill. Do you— would you be interested—” He wasn’t usually so bad at this sort of thing. For some reason, Ada made him nervous. “Do you want to go get some coffee or something?”
Pathetic but to the point.
She didn’t answer right away. Was that a good sign, or not? “Would this be a date?”
“Doesn’t have to be.” He’d kind of prefer that it wasn’t, actually. “Just hanging out, having some coffee.” Had his voice shaken? It was like he was a teenager again.
“Pier View Coffee’s not too far from here,” she said.
That was a yes, wasn’t it? He wished she sounded more confident. “Okay.”
