Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“Can you text me her number?”
“Rita’s?” David asked between bites.
“No, the woman who’s cleaning her house, smartass.”
“It’s a man, actually, or at least the company is run by a man. It’s called Spit Shine Clean.”
“Okay. Text me his number. Once I get unpacked, I’ll call him for an estimate.”
David groaned. “I forgot about the unpacking.”
“I should’ve made you work before giving you chicken. Hell, I should have made myself work before ordering the chicken.”
After dinner, I made coffee while David cleared off space on the kitchen bar so we could eat dessert there. The coffee pot was one of the few things I’d made sure to pack where I could find it. It was a true essential, since my aunt and uncle had only drunk tea. David and I each drank a cup with our beloved Cheerwine cake, one of Sparky’s specialties.
“Should we start in here?” David asked.
I looked around the kitchen at the unlabeled boxes and sighed. “We might as well but just unpack the basics. Hopefully I won’t be here too long.”
David frowned. “I hate to mention it, but have you looked into how easy it will be to sell a house this size?”
I had. The statistics depressed me. “Can I just keep my head in the sand about that for a bit longer?”
“I suppose, but you’re going to need to unpack more than a coffee maker and a few outfits.”
“I know I’m not going to be able to sell it right away but…” I sighed. “Fine, we’ll unpack more of my things, but I really hope getting rid of the house won’t take ages.”
“Or…” David’s voice trailed off.
“Or what?”
“You could stay here.”
I had no intention of letting him know I’d been thinking the same thing. “What the hell would I do with a house this big?”
He shrugged. “Throw awesome parties?”
“Right, us poetry scholars are known for our wild evenings. I might even hire nubile young students to read Byron aloud. That would stir up the crowd.”
David grinned. “It would be nice having you close.”
“Yes, I get that, but this house…”
“Is gorgeous. And you always loved it, even though you hated how you were treated here. It’s been in your family for a long time. Your grandparents lived here and—”
“My great-grandparents before them. Yes, I know.” David was right. I loved the house. When I was very young, it had belonged to my grandmother. The few memories I had of that time were happy ones. My aunt and uncle only moved in after she’d died. “But I don’t want the house.”
“Are you sure?” David asked.
I looked up at the high ceiling and then out the window across the back lawn. No, I wasn’t sure. I’d always loved the backyard, and the neighborhood was awesome. But I didn’t want to be surrounded by memories of my life here, and I didn’t need all this space.
Connor
My phone rang as I headed out the door early Monday morning. I wanted to ignore it, but it could be a client. I glanced at the screen. I didn’t recognize the number, but it was being forwarded from my business line. Did I answer it and risk being late for the client I already had, or ignore it and risk losing a new client?
“This is Connor with Spit Shine Clean, how may I help you?”
“Hi, my name is Jeremy Parks. I got your number from Rita Harkland.”
A potential client. I was glad I’d answered. “Great. Were you interested in having your house cleaned?”
“Yes, I… Actually, it’s a house I inherited,” the man said.
“Okay. Is this a one-time clean? Will you be selling it? We can make it look beautiful for prospective buyers.”
“Probably. Things are up in the air right now. I need to get it ready to be on the market, but it might take a while for it to sell so I might need multiple cleans. I… Sorry, I’m just a bit frazzled.”
How did this guy make frazzled sound adorable? And why had I even noticed? I didn’t do adorable. “No problem. Why don’t we set up a time for an estimate, and then we can talk about further scheduling?”
“Sure. That sounds good. My week’s really open. I’m on sabbatical right now.”
Sabbatical? That was like a paid vacation, right? What kind of job gave those? “Okay. Just so I have an idea, how large is the home you’d like cleaned? Are you, or anyone else, living there?”
“It’s thirty-five-hundred square feet, and I’m living in it.”
“Okay. How many bedrooms and baths?”
“Five bedrooms, four and a half baths.”
It sounded like Jeremy had inherited quite a nice house. “All right, and the address?”
“Eighty-nine Austria Avenue. It’s in West Asheville.”
“I know the street. It’s not too far from my place.” Was he talking about the big green house, the one I always admired when I jogged by? I’d love to see the inside.