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Once I’d absolutely demolished as much pizza, fried pickles, and topped it off with a whoopie pie, I was ready for a soak in the tub and then bed in the van.

“I got you some Epsom salts,” Kai said when I said I was going to grab a change of clothes from the van.

“Oh, thank you,” I said. I was still unsure of how to act around her. She loved my sister, that much was obvious to anyone, but I felt uncomfortable sometimes at how much I used her washer and dryer and ate her food. She’d told me that I was welcome, but it was hard getting used to someone being so damn nice to me.

My job had been competitive, and I’d gotten into that cutthroat mindset. Sure, I’d had friends outside of work, but then I’d mostly stopped hanging out with them in favor of trying to get ahead and network and improve my resume. And now all of that was for nothing because I’d lost my job anyway.

Kai smiled at me and I leaned forward and hugged her. The move startled both of us, but she hugged me back and the awkwardness vanished.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” she said. “I know how much Sterling missed you.”

“I missed her too,” I admitted.

* * *

Lacey had another sandwich for me the next day. Turkey again, but it was just as good as the one from the day before.

Her mood seemed even more gloomy than before, and I wondered if she had more family stuff after we’d parted ways.

“I know we don’t know each other,” I said, as we pulled very creepy figurines from a cabinet in the dining room, “but if you wanted to vent about your family stuff, you can.”

Lacey froze as she held a ceramic child with the most disturbing expression I’d ever seen. I reached for it and she finally handed it to me. I shuddered and made sure it faced away from me. These things were absolutely going to haunt my dreams.

“Oh,” she said, looking at her hands and then wiping them on her shorts. “I don’t want to burden you with all that shit. Sorry.”

“It’s fine if you don’t, but I wanted to leave that door open. Just in case,” I said, reaching for another figurine. She gazed at me for a moment and then grabbed another creepy child, cringing at it as she handed it to me.

Our eyes met for a second and I thought she was going to say something, but she just nodded and that was that.

* * *

During one of our breaks, I went to look up the figurines online and found that they were collectibles that might be worth something, so I told Lacey that she might want to hold onto them.

“I don’t care what we do with them as long as I don’t have to make eye contact with them anymore,” she said.

I snorted. “What you can do is just list the whole collection as is and someone will have to buy the lot. Easier than trying to list them all individually. I can set them up and take photos for the listing if you want.”

Lacey shook her head. “I think that’s going above and beyond the scope of this job. I’ll deal with them.” She sighed. “I’ll deal with them just like I deal with everything else.” The last part was muttered under her breath.

Reading between the lines, the death of her grandfather wasn’t the only thing she had going on, even though that was more than enough to handle.

“I’m here to help you deal with the house,” I blurted out. Where the hell had that come from?

Lacey stared at me for a second. “I guess you are.”

I couldn’t fight back a blush, so I turned away from her, hoping she didn’t see it.

Chapter Five

On Thursday we finished the downstairs and I had to fight my body not to do a celebratory dance.

“It’s like a blank canvas now,” I said as we did a walk-through and I talked to Lacey about my vision for the space. We still had the upstairs, but I wanted to bask in this victory.

“We’re going to need to paint, obviously, that’s the first thing. The floors are gorgeous, so they just need to be cleaned.” Lacey followed behind me, nodding and letting me keep going. The major thing would be furniture and other items like art and accents to fill up the space and give a homier vibe. Curtains, pillows, fake plants, etc. I was going to work with the aesthetic of the pieces we already had instead of trying to completely change everything. A modern look wasn’t going to work and would just seem completely out of place. Instead, I was going to lean into warm colors and rich woods, keeping the patterns soft and minimal. Warmth was the main idea I wanted to convey. Warmth and safety and comfort with a touch of coastal charm.

“Do you want me to pick up the paint?” I asked.

Lacey shook her head as we left for the day. “No, I can handle that part.”