“But, that doesn’t mean you get to play match-maker. Okay?”
“Okay, but-”
“No buts!”
“I was just going to ask if you find her attractive,” I said, putting out the bait.
“I don’t like discussing that with you.”
“Do you find me attractive?” I’ll start with small bait.
“You know I do. If you asked me right now to-”
“Then what’s wrong with telling me if you find her attractive?”
“You can be relentless, you know that? Yes, Leese-I had a huge crush on her in middle school. When we moved, I…”
“What?”
“Never mind,” he snapped.
“You know I’m going to bother you until- Ryan, pull over!” I said as I motioned to a gas station coming up.
“Why?”
“I’ve-I’ve got to get to a bathroom-now!”
He whipped the car swiftly off the roadway and into the station, as I grabbed my purse and ran around to the ladies room.
I had been expecting this, but I was trying to mentally will that it wouldn’t happen, now that it had, I was caught off guard.
I came back to the car ten minutes later; I didn’t have myself together. I didn’t realize how hard it was going to hit me and I couldn’t stop crying.
Ryan’s face was pale as he watched me clutching my abdomen. “Leese,” he said softly, “are you okay?”
I handed him Candace’s paper and just asked that he drive there, I wasn’t ready to talk. He made it to the historic district and located where the developer had a section of homes remodeled. We found the office as I dried my tears and tried to open the door to the car.
“Tell me what’s wrong, please,” Ryan pleaded, gripping my arm and preventing me from leaving.
“I’ll tell you, but I can’t do it now or I’ll never make it through talking with these people and, as much as I like Naomi, Andy, and Ty, I don’t want to stay at their house any longer than necessary.”
“All right, but you promise to tell me before the day is over, okay?”
“I will,” I stated as I took a ragged breath and opened the car door.
There were about fifteen houses left to choose from and it only took a glance for me to decide which one I wanted to see. It was a two bedroom, two and a half bath stone house with a 1,700 square foot open floor plan. It came with all new appliances, including a washer and dryer and was available for immediate occupancy. The sales woman drove with us the block and a half to unlock it so we could go inside and look around. It was clean and crisp with new hardwood floors and fresh dry wall. The kitchen was a rich cranberry with deep mossy green granite counter tops. The bedrooms were each designed to be suites with their own bathroom. The bathrooms were a little smaller than I liked, but they were new and private. The half bath was situated just off the living room so company didn’t have to traipse through the house to get to it.
“It’s only two blocks to one of the area’s best little sidewalk bistros and there is a farmer’s market just a little further down from there every Saturday morning,” the woman explained.
“It’s perfect. We’ll take it.” But then I rethought my statement, “Wait-I’m so sorry,” I said, touching Ryan’s arm and getting his attention as he was looking around the room smiling, “I didn’t even ask if you like it.”
“Leese, do you see the smile on my face? Yes, of course I like it. We’ll take it,” he said, slipping his arm around my shoulder and facing the sales woman.
“I-I haven’t given you the price yet,” she stated. It must have surprised her that I never asked that question. “It’s fifteen-hundred per month; that includes everything except gas and electric. We require a minimum of a six- month lease and I’ll need a first, last and a security of a thousand dollars.”
“Okay,” I said quickly doing the math in my head. “That’s four thousand, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Can we start moving in today?” I continued.
“Well, yes, but-”
“Leese, can I talk with you, privately for a minute?” Ryan asked, looking at the sales woman who quickly took the hint.
“I’ll wait outside so you two can discuss it; it is a big decision.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, he gripped my shoulders and pointed out the obvious, “What if you put all this money into this and-and Micah finds us? Shouldn’t we give it a few days, before we slam several more thousand out of your purse? I mean at the rate you’re burning through that cash, you might be broke pretty soon.”
“First of all, I agree, I’d prefer to give it several more days, or even a week or two before we know for sure if we can stay here, but I can’t spend another couple nights like last night. Secondly, I have access to my account, I’d just have to have you fly me to another state to make a withdrawal, and you know as well as I do that I can’t burn through
“Whoa, baby girl, does that mean what it sounds like?” he asked with a smile tugging at the edge of his lips.
His grip on my shoulders was changing and I could tell he was getting ready to pull me against him. I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “I didn’t ask you to make love to me. I’m just saying I want this whole ‘Ryan and Leese’s place’ kind of thing.”
“How about we celebrate finding this place with a kiss?” his voice dropping into a husky range.
I could tell the idea of ‘our place’ was a definite turn on for him and he was getting ready to step over a line as the distance between us began to erase. I turned my face without a moment to spare, but he eagerly went for my cheek and then his mouth was moving toward my ear and neck. His hot breath became as soothing as a caress on my skin. He was kissing my neck as he tucked me against his chest. I was caving in without thought, my arms starting to slide around to his back, when reality slapped me hard.
“Stop it!” I snapped, pushing him away. “This isn’t what I was… Don’t do that again!” I couldn’t help the fresh tears that rose to the surface.
“I’m sorry, Leese, you just feel so damn good to me. I didn’t mean to-”
“You are sleeping in the other bedroom when we move in.” My trembling hands moved to wipe away the tears.
He sighed, “I’m sorry, really I am.”
I turned and walked out to where she was waiting for us, “Let’s get this done because I want to be in here by tonight.”
“I’ve never seen anyone move in that quickly,” she laughed. “It might take you-”
“I’ll be in by tonight,” I stated firmly.
When we sat down to complete the lease she tried unsuccessfully to get our driver’s licenses, “I can’t accept checks or charge cards without-”
I pulled out twenty thousand dollars and laid it on the table, “Would twelve months rent in advance make this a little easier?”
She sat there with her mouth open.
“The name is Smith,” I said pointing to the line for our names. “Ryan and Michelle Smith. I’d really like to hurry this up because I’ve got a lot of shopping to get done if we’re moving in by tonight.”
She filled in the names as I instructed and we signed the lease and left with the keys to our new home. I asked to use her telephone book before we left, copying down the addresses to three different furniture stores. We stopped at the first store and went inside. As mad as I was over what he’d done, I was excited to let the shopping trip begin.
“First question, how do you expect to get furniture delivered today and secondly, who is Michelle?”
“Later, Ryan, just follow me,” I headed straight back to customer service. “Hello, I want to purchase a complete houseful of furniture this morning, but I want it delivered by five or six o’clock tonight, can your store handle that or do I need to shop somewhere else?”
