I stood in the doorway, watching for Simon’s car. They were due any minute. Caroline had texted me when they hit the edge of town, and as I bounced from foot to foot I realized I was anxious. Anxious for them to get there, anxious for them to see my new house. It was a good feeling, welcoming someone into your home. And even though it had only been my home for a few days, with lots of work to be done, I was eager to show it off a bit.
Walking the length of the front porch and back again, I saw a twinkle of headlights down at the bottom of the driveway. And soon, an old Range Rover was parked in front of the house, with four of the best-looking people I’d ever seen spilling out onto the crushed gravel. Seriously, it was like watching the opening credits on a TV series.
A couple I guessed to be Mimi and Ryan came from the backseat. She was shorter than I was, and I was used to being the shortest in most rooms. Tiny and petite, she had flawless golden skin and shiny black hair. She held hands with Ryan, who was tall and lean with curly blond hair. It was longish, pushed behind his ears, and green eyes danced behind horn-rim glasses. It did not escape my attention that when Mimi dashed in front of him, he clearly checked out her ass.
That right there said a lot about this couple. Even if you missed the enormous sparkly ring on her left hand.
And climbing out of the front of the Range Rover was one of my favorite people on the planet, Simon Parker. Dark hair, chiseled jaw, he was the kind of handsome everyone agreed on. No matter your type, no matter your preference, Simon had that generally agreed upon kind of good looks. And charm. A charm I was immune to romantically speaking, and always had been. But even though we had only ever been good friends, I could still appreciate a gorgeous guy. And speaking of gorgeous, his girlfriend was tall and slim and blond and stunning. The kind of girl you wanted to dislike on sight, but then she opened her mouth and she won you over. Funny, a girl’s girl, she could hold her own with Handsome over there, and that was something most women couldn’t do. Points for that in my book.
“Hey, Parker.”
“Hey, Franklin,” he said, catching me into a close hug. I patted his backside and winked at Caroline over his shoulder. I saw Mimi shoot her a glance, and Caroline just waved her off. More points. She knew she had nothing to worry about.
“Quite the spread you’ve got here, Viv,” he said, setting me down and taking in the view.
“Speaking of spread, what’s up, homeboy?” I laughed, patting his stomach. He smoothed his T-shirt over his still very flat tummy.
“It’s my girl. She bakes me pie. All the time.” He winked at Caroline, and she blushed.
“I hear you, there’s a pizza in this town that’s as good as Tony’s back home. I’ve been eating it way too much,” I said, pulling up my own shirt and smacking my still-flat tummy. “Want to run tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure, that’d be great. I brought my bike too. There’s supposed to be some great trails near here. Have you had a chance to check any of them out?”
“Nah, don’t have my bike out here yet, I need to—Christ, where are my manners?” I asked, turning around as Simon and I were halfway up the steps. Caroline, Ryan, and Mimi were standing in a semicircle in the driveway, grinning up at our retreat toward the house. I ran back down the steps, reaching out to hug Caroline.
“Girl, I’m a terrible host. How the hell are you?”
“Great, now that I’m here. I’m dying to see this house! And of course, you know, you too.” She smiled, swatting me on the butt as she caught up to Simon.
“And you must be Mimi and Ryan, nice to meet you!” I said, shaking both their hands. Ryan started to say something, but Mimi was nearly bursting out of her skin.
“I heard a rumor that when you inherited this house, it was filled with all kinds of things! Things and stuff and very unorganized, is that right?” she asked, dancing from one foot to the other.
“Um, well, yeah, that’s true. I’ve gotten some of the bedrooms upstairs started but there’s still junk everywhere and—”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she chanted, pumping her fist in the air and skipping up the steps, almost plowing Caroline over in her haste to get inside the house.
“She on the crack?” I asked her fiancé, who laughed out loud.
“She’s a professional organizer. Your house will be like crack to her.”
“Then she’s going to need rehab after this,” I warned, leading him and the rest of his friends inside. Where Mimi had already gone. Where she was turning circles, cheeks already pink with excitement over the stacks and piles crying out for attention. And someone with a tool belt full of labels and black Sharpies.
Once inside, I had this sudden sense of . . . unease? Shame? I saw the house the way I did that first day, so full of clutter and crap. And now that there were people in it, my default reaction was almost embarrassment, like I was the one who had done this. I could only imagine how Aunt Maude had felt, if she was overwhelmed with all this stuff and had no clue where to start.