“No worries. But, speaking of Brielle, any ideas as to why she doesn’t seem to like me very much?”
“Don’t worry about Bri. She’s just really overprotective when it comes to Max. She’ll come around.”
“I hope. The closer Max and I get, the more she seems to dislike me.”
The waitress sat our plates in front of us and asked if we needed anything else. The food looked great and smelled even better. She dropped the check off on the end of our table and dashed off to wait on someone else.
“Bri’s just a lot to handle sometimes.” Sam picked up a french fry and popped it in her mouth. “She wants to rent a house together, but I don’t think I want to do that.”
“Did you ever find anything?” I asked, spearing some lettuce with my fork.
“Nope. It’s hard finding something that doesn’t cost a fortune.”
I took a deep breath and considered that I should talk to Max before I said what I was thinking. After mulling it over for a whole two seconds, I decided to go for it. It was a very nice olive branch, not to mention that it would help me out financially. “Since I’m living with Max now, I don’t need my house. Would you want to rent it?”
Sam’s eyes grew wide and a smile formed to match. “Really? If you could work with my budget—damn, how I despise that word!—I’d love to.”
“It’s a good sized place with three bedrooms and two baths. There’s a pool out back, too.”
“It’ll be perfect,” she squealed, her eyes lighting up. “The downstairs bedroom will be a perfect workout room!”
I paused and tilted my head to the side. “How did you know there was a bedroom downstairs?”
She laughed and looked down at her place, swallowing. “Oh, Max must have mentioned it at some point. Most homes have one downstairs in the newer homes. It’s just a trademark of the tract house.”
That was true, so I let it slide.
“I’ll have my stuff out of there this weekend and then you can have at it.”
She sat her fork down and smiled. “Thank you so much, Kari,” she gushed. “This is so sweet of you.”
It made me feel good to have made her so happy. Maybe Max was right—maybe she wasn’t bad.
“My insurance just adjusted a little, so I’ll double check the exact amount and shoot you a text later.”
She nodded, pulling her phone from her pocket. “That would be fantastic.” She looked at the screen and giggled. “I just got a text from the guy I went out with last night.”
“How’d it go?” I asked, feeling a sense of camaraderie with her.
“Good, I think. He wants to see me again tomorrow night. He’s really, really good looking and super sweet. He seems a little hung up on an ex, though, so I don’t know if it’ll work out. But I intend on enjoying it while I can, if you know what I mean.”
I laughed, getting exactly what she meant. “You never know when the right one will just waltz into your life.”
“That’s true. You never know who is going to walk in that door.”
KARI
It had been a long and busy week, but I had managed. Max had been working a lot at Alexander Industries. I missed him but loved that he took his job so seriously. He felt such a responsibility to Cane and the company. Losing the job because of Dan’s error had really thrown him; he was determined to get another one right away. His absence gave me plenty of time to clear out most of my personal belongings from my house. I left my furniture for Sam to use since I really had no place else to put it.
When I told Max about my offer to Samantha to rent it, he was thrilled. His shy smile and dimple made up for any reservations I had. She was happy to pay the rent I asked and made plans to move in as soon as I had my stuff out. I still wasn’t her biggest fan, but she was growing on me. And if she was important to Max, then I would try to forge some sort of friendship, however lukewarm it might be.
I had just gotten home from an overnight shift at the hospital. I sat my bag down and looked around the living room. My things were sprinkled through the room, mixed with Max’s. On the mantle above the fireplace hung a painting of an abstract building. Max said he bought it at an art exhibit right after he graduated from college. Beneath it sat a framed picture of his grandparents and a clay sculpture Max had picked up in Mexico. Mixed in with his things were a picture of Jada and me, a few coconut-scented candles wrapped with a turquoise ribbon that I loved, and a tall vase filled with fake orchids that looked absolutely real.
Seeing our things coexisting like that, mixing and melding together, made a warmth erupt through my core despite being scared as hell.
Am I doing the right thing? This feels right, it looks right, but am I setting myself up for an inevitable heartbreak?
I shook my head.
Of course I am.
But Max would never leave me like ‘he’ did. He’s the antithesis of him. Just take it a day at a time. I still have my house and I can always go back there. This isn’t permanent.