over her skin. “Which reminds me. I have to get out there and apartment-hunt.”
She polished off the remainder of her coffee. “Thanks for breakfast.”
“You want some help?” he asked.
“I’m sure you have better things to do. Maybe some research to finish?” The last thing Crystal wanted was to become the visitor from hell. There was nothing worse than a sleepover guest who didn’t know when the night was over. She needed to give Larry space.
“That’s the thing about astrophysics research,” he said.
She waited.
“I can’t solve all the mysteries of the universe, I’ll die long before my work is ever finished.”
She leaned forward. “Then you better get started.”
He grinned. “I got started when I was fifteen years old. And I’m really not all that much closer to any answers.”
“Well, there’s the ion propulsion engine thingee.”
“Thingee?”
She nodded. “I believe that’s the technical term.”
“We’re still working out the bugs on that. Aiming for 2010, actually. I think I can afford to take a day off.”
“And you want to spend it looking at low-rent apartments in Charlotte?”
His eyes went flirty as he stared into hers. “Yeah.”
“You’re crazy.”
He finished his own coffee, rising to his feet. “Statistically speaking, genius and insanity are very closely linked.”
She stood with him. “Good to know.”
“You want me to drive?”
Crystal really wasn’t thrilled with the idea of taking Larry along. The kinds of apartments she could afford were going to be depressing and embarrassing. She was thinking about a one-bedroom basement, or maybe a third-floor walkup bachelor-something to keep expenses down while she looked for a new job.
“I don’t want to take you away from anything important,” she tried.
His expression sobered. “If you don’t want me to come.”
“It’s not that,” she lied.
His lips thinned and his eyes turned guarded. “I guess I misinterpreted-”
“Oh, hell,” she spat out. Beating around the bush was getting her into even more trouble. “It’s not you, okay? It’s that I’m not going to be able to afford anything nice.”
He looked relieved. “Then we’ll find you something ugly.”
She headed inside the house, muttering under her breath. “While you book the Emperor Suite at the Castle on the Hill.”
“You might as well see how the other half lives,” he told her easily, following behind. “Maybe it’ll inspire you to work harder.”
“I’m a writer,” she countered. “We’re supposed to be starving in some damp, little garret in Paris.”
“Is that what we’re looking for?” he asked. “A garret? I don’t know if we have any garrets in Charlotte.”
BY THREE O’CLOCK, THEY HADN’T found a damp garret or anything else that was suitable. Crystal didn’t mind small, and she didn’t mind worn; she did mind dirty, and she couldn’t tolerate dangerous. It was also tough to find any place that would take Rufus.
“Had enough?” asked Larry as he slammed the driver’s door and wrapped his hands around the steering wheel, staring in disgust at the plain, cinderblock building with bars on the ground-floor windows and graffiti across the service entrance.
Crystal clenched her fists around her hair, shaking her head and making a sound of disgust deep in her throat. “I just want something plain and simple and clean. Is that too much to ask?”
He turned to look at her, expression serious. “You might have to think about using Simon’s money.”
She immediately shook her head.
“You’d starve on the streets over a principle?”
“I’m not going to starve in the streets.” She was going to find an apartment and a job, and she was going to live like a normal person.
“You can always rent a room from me.”
“No, I can’t.”
“It’d be cheap.”
She shot him a stare. “You know I can’t do that.”
He gave a nod to the group of teenage boys lounging on the front steps of the building. “Well, you can’t stay here.”
She didn’t disagree with that. But there was a lot of real estate between social housing and Larry’s place. “We don’t even know where our relationship is going,” she elaborated.
His grip tightened, so did his voice. “You’re right. We don’t.”
She’d offended him, now. She never should have brought him along. “Can you take me back to my car?”
He turned his head. “You’re giving up?”
“There’s something else I want to do this afternoon.”
He waited, but didn’t ask for an explanation.
“It’s for the kids,” she admitted.
He waited some more, silently, patiently, while she remembered she could trust him and count on him. He’d proved as much the night at Myrtle Pond.
“Sunday night was unsettling,” she told him. “Amber’s drinking too much, and she’s got stars in her eyes over Zane. She might even tell him about the money. I want to pick up a cell phone for Jennifer. You know, program my number into it, just in case.”
“Auntie Crystal, on call, day or night?”
“Something like that.”
Larry reached for the ignition. “It’s a good idea. Can we pick up the kids?”
“Why?”
“You’ll want to show her how to use it, charge it. She might even want to pick it out. If it’s a cool phone, she’s more likely to keep it with her.”
Crystal nodded. That was definitely a good idea. “How do you think of these things?”
Larry smiled. “I raised a son, remember?”
Of course he had. She’d never been introduced to Steve, but she knew him by reputation. By all accounts, he was a fine man.
She dialed her sister and caught her on a coffee break.
“Are the kids going to day care after school today?” she asked Amber.
“Of course,” said Amber, her tone telling Crystal she was still upset about the night before.
Crystal tried not to sigh in frustration. “I was thinking about picking them up and, I don’t know, maybe going out for ice cream or doing a little shopping.”
“You are?” Amber’s voice perked up. “Would you mind keeping them for dinner?”
A date with Zane, no doubt.
“I don’t mind at all,” said Crystal. “What time do you want me to drop them off tonight?”
“Can I call you later?”
“Sure.” Good thing the kids had spare pajamas at Crystal’s place.
“Thanks, Crystal. You’re the best.”
Yeah, yeah. She was the best for the next twelve hours anyway.
“Talk to you tonight then. Don’t forget to call the day care.”
“I won’t. Bye.”
“Bye.” Crystal pushed the off button. “I’m keeping them over dinner.”
Larry flipped on his turn signal and turned onto the main road. “Zane again?”
“I’m sure.” She slipped the phone back into her purse. “The day care’s on Governor Road, just past the plaza.” She stared out the window for a minute, letting the stately oaks flash by her vision. “I can’t decide if I’m being a
