Page 63 of You'll Love it Here

Followed by Jane’s voice as she retorts, “Aren’t you tired of being wrong?”

“Guess I’m used to it,” Carmen mumbles.

Shit.

Why must there always be conflict between those two? I follow the sound of their voices through the musty-ass hall toward the laundry room. Did Jane straight-up accuse Carmen of being the panty thief?

I lightly step my way farther down. The rec room’s light is on, which is weird, because other than when Jane and I hide out for panty stings, nobody ever hangs in there. When I reach the threshold, I stop midstride, gaping. It’s almost impossible to take in at once.

There stands Carmen in a white old-man tank top, sporting a limp tool belt with old leather work gloves sagging in his pockets. Jane’s in a bright pink sweatsuit, holding a clipboard. All the old furniture—even the broken treadmill—have been cleaned out, and it looks like the floor has been vacuumed... or leaf blown, considering how much debris there was. They must’ve been at this for hours.

“Hey, Mona.” Jane nods at me like this is all very normal. She directs her attention to Carmen. “Here, why don’t we let Mona decide? Carmen thinks we can have people throw darts in this room. I told him that’s actually fucking twisted.”

“It’s a very common thing for a rec room.” Carmen wipes the sweat off his brow, exasperation sealed onto his face.

“It’s a communal space. Why don’t we just get some fucking axes to throw at one another at this point?”

“What’s going on here?” I try to keep my voice light.

“Doesn’t it look amazing?” Jane grins brightly. “I was going to ask you first, but I was down here making the plans and Carmen volunteered to take some of the junk for his next dump run and it all kind of happened.”

Carmen puffs out his chest proudly. “Reckon we can throw a little shindig here by the weekend at this rate. One with darts—a very normal communal activity everyone loves.”

Jane seems to suppress the urge to roll her eyes, but holds a polite smile.

And shit. It comes back to me. Last night, while Jane and I were lurking for the Panty Thief, she suggested this place wouldn’t be such a piece of shit if we simply cleared out the junk and set it up a bit better. I told her she had a point.

I didn’t expect her to roll with it.

But holy shit—this isso muchwork already.

Carmen pipes in, “If it’s not going to be darts, how about I try and get ourselves a foosball table?”

Jane rubs her chin. “Hmm, might be too big, but let’s think about it. For now, why don’t we just get it clean?”

Carmen nods and heads out of the room with a pep in his step that makes his work gloves bounce against his hips.

“He’s actually a really nice guy,” Jane mutters. “Definitely not our perp. We should formally add him to the force.”

I nod noncommittally at this. “I can’t believe how much you’vedone.” I try not to look too concerned as Jane places the clipboard on the pool table.

Jane’s smile is full of pride. “Do you think Irene would be okay if we added a coat of paint to these walls?”

I think about the impending sale. I can’t exactly have people working down here while people are viewing the place. “Hmm, I’m not sure. Doesn’t seem like there’s much ventilation down here to be painting.”

“Good point.” She nods. “I’ll have Carmen pick up some masks if we go that route. Does a light green seem nice? Something bright, since there’s no windows?”

Carmen returns, awkwardly carrying a giant red bucket heaping with soapy water that’s splashing everywhere. “Figure with the three of us, we could get the baseboards clean within the hour,” he mutters.

“Great!” Jane grabs a giant yellow sponge from the bucket and squeezes most of the water out. “We were just discussing that we’ll need masks when we paint.”

“Noted.” Carmen grins, putting down the bucket to join Jane, who’s kneeling to scrub the baseboards.

“Hey, guys.” Freaking Norm appears at the top of the stairs. He’s in a clean grey shirt and navy pants. “I looked through my cards and I have tons of extras. And my mom’s gin boards. I don’t know if those are the kind of games you meant?”

Carmen and Jane both nod at him like it’s not weird he just came here and said those words. “That’s so great of you. Thanks, Norm.” Jane smiles. “We’re going to paint the room before we set up the new game rack, so hold on to that for now.”

Norm’s face goes red. “No... no problem.” He smiles just a little bit and speaks more confidently this time. “I’ll bring them by when you’re ready.” He disappears down the hall.