The house’s fancy Victorian furniture was a far cry from the comfy old couch and the pair of recliners in Dani’s old apartment. The parlor’s stiff settee and Eastlake chairs had been designed for a time when young ladies sat with their feet together and their backs straight. The three young women lasted less than five minutes perched on the uncomfortable furniture before sprawling on the brightly colored Persian rug covering the hardwood floor.
“So what brings you to see me instead of studying for finals?” Dani asked.
Ivy squirmed, then spilled the beans about the previous evening’s party and the girls’ looming eviction from their apartment building.
When Ivy stopped to draw in a breath, Starr said, “Which resulted in the fams freaking out and all getting together today at lunch to hold an ‘intervention’ with us.” Her air quotes were exaggerated. “They told us no more apartments.”
“But then I had an awesomely brilliant idea.” Ivy flung out her arms. “You don’t want to run this place as a B and B, but you need some way to pay the expenses of such a monster house. So you should let us live here.”
“No.” Dani shook her head vigorously at the girls as they lounged on various throw pillows they’d grabbed from the furniture and scattered on the floor.
“You can’t just say no,” Ivy whined. “Why not?”
“Yes and no are completely adequate answers to most requests.” Dani stared at the weak light filtering through the grimy panes of the fan-shaped transom above the front casements. She really needed to get those washed. Refocusing, she added, “I’m not becoming your landlord.”
“Just listen,” Ivy pleaded. “If you don’t agree to this, we have nowhere to live during finals and our parents will make us live in the dorm for summer school.” Then, with disgust dripping from her voice, she added, “The only one with space doesn’t have air-conditioning, and the cafeteria food is repulsive.”
“Yeah.” Tippi Epstein, the tiny brunette on Ivy’s right, slumped. “All our parents are real hardcore about no more living on our own.”
Three pairs of sad eyes gazed up imploringly at Dani, but she hardened her heart. “As well they should be.” She crossed her arms. It took more than a sorrowful expression and some begging to change her mind. “What in the world were you thinking?”
“It was all Kylie’s fault.” Starr Fleming tossed her head, causing the beads woven into her multiple braids to click together. “When she moved in with us, we told her no booze, drugs, or guys.”
“When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.” Dani wrinkled her nose. She sounded like an old woman. “Clearly, Kylie didn’t listen, and now you all have to pay the price.”
“But—” A gust of wind blew through the house, slamming the parlor door closed, and the girls jumped.
Spring had finally tiptoed into Normalton, and the temperature was a pleasant sixty-eight. It was a little cool for open windows, but Dani had been dying to air out her new home. The mansion had been sitting closed up and empty for more than six months, and the mustiness was killing her sinuses.
“But nothing.” Dani shook her head. “Underage drinking. Weed. And naked guys chasing half-dressed girls down the hallway.”
“Most of them were over twenty-one,” Starr argued like the lawyer she hoped to become.
“And the guys had hats strapped over their junk.” Ivy giggled.
“Besides, we weren’t even home,” Tippi added as a closing argument. “That is, not until near the very end.”
“As soon as you walked in and saw what was happening, you should have left.” Dani ignored their excuses. “You’re lucky the apartment manager didn’t call 911.”
“That uptight, old bag only agreed not to contact the cops because Uncle Spence talked her out of it.” Ivy’s disapproval hummed like a swarm of bumblebees. “You should have seen her hitting on him.”
“Yeah.” Tippi frowned. “She was licking her lips like she couldn’t wait to take a big bite of his a—”
“I get the picture.” Dani’s voice held a sharp edge.
“It’s a good thing Ivy’s uncle is head of campus security.” Starr’s dark-brown eyes sparkled. “Not to mention attractive, in a mature-man kind of way.”
“I’m sure Mr. Drake was thrilled to step in.” Dani pictured the poor old guy summoned from his bed at three in the morning.
“Spence was cool,” Tippi said, then added, “Well, until he called our parents, that is, and got them so worked up they wanted to move us into a dorm.”
Ivy elbowed her friend. “But then, once they heard my awesome idea, our parents all agreed that we could live here with you.”
“Why would your parents agree to that?” Dani asked. Although she wasn’t ready to admit it quite yet, Ivy had a good point. The upkeep on the mansion was beyond Dani’s means, and she hated the idea of operating a B and B where people were continually checking in and out.
Ivy scooted over and laid her head on Dani’s leg, crooning, “They said if you agreed to keep an eye on us, then it wou—”
“Whoa.” Dani jerked away, causing Ivy’s head to bounce off the settee’s cushion. “I can’t take that kind of responsibility.”
“All you have to do is enforce the ‘no booze, drugs, or guys upstairs’ rule,” Tippi wheedled. “And we are totally cool with that.”
“We know you could use the money for your new business,” Starr coaxed. “We could even pitch in as grunt labor when you needed us.”
Starr was right. Dani could definitely use the cash. After turning down several offers for various HR positions, she had finally admitted to herself that she really didn’t want to go back to doing that kind of work. And when she’d seen the mansion’s restaurant-quality kitchen and found out that it had been remodeled specifically to pass all the inspections and gain the needed permits to prepare and serve food, it had almost seemed like a sign from above that she was meant to cook
