Page 46 of One Small Spark (Love in Sunshine #4)

THIRTY-TWO

WREN

“This place is so stinking cute!” I’ve walked through the one-bedroom apartment over Lucy’s garage three times already, and I can’t stop staring at everything.

The huge front windows that overlook the tree-lined neighborhood.

The shiny checkerboard tile in the kitchen.

The sloped ceilings just like in Shepherd’s bedroom.

Oof. I’d better not think about that last one too much right now if I want to behave like a somewhat normal person.

But the addition is comfortable and snug.

It’s probably ten minutes from the bakery and fifteen from Mom’s house.

Even longer to Shepherd’s, but there was never much hope of cutting down that commute.

Best of all, it’s one block from a park with a big play structure perfect for Wren Wednesdays with August.

“The house and everything is really my aunt’s, but she passed it over to me while she goes out living that RV life.

She’s in Arizona right now. I think.” Lucy, for the record is also super cute.

She’s roughly my age, petite and curvy, with golden-brown hair and dimples in her cheeks when she smiles. Which she does a lot.

Daniel has mentioned RVing to Mom a few times. I’m not even going to think about what it would be like if those two ran off to travel Route 66 one day. Hmm…but then, I would be in charge of the pie side of the bakery. Might not be so bad, after all. Retire, you lovesick fools.

“What are utilities usually like?” I had to pull up a website with questions to ask potential landlords. I’ve already asked her about trash, parking, and pets, and I’m running out of ideas.

She gives me a few numbers, and I nod along like it’s neck day at the gym and I have to get in every rep.

The rent is super reasonable for such a nice place.

Not as cheap as Tess’s family discount on her duplex, but nowhere close to what it could go for.

I keep wandering through the rooms, trying to find a catch, but I haven’t spotted a flaw yet.

Shepherd stands off to the side, watching me flit from room to room, a happy smirk in place on his mouth.

It’s probably stuck there permanently after last night. Mine probably is, too.

“Olive and I have barbecues out back in the summer,” Lucy says. “Sometimes we do s’mores around the fire pit in the winter, but not as much. Olive’s my roommate, I probably should have said that. You don’t have to join in, but it’s nice to feel like we can be friends. No pressure.”

She looks hopeful, though, like maybe she needs this as much as I do. I wasn’t looking for a new place to live to expand my social circle, but…I like the sound of that. Lucy seems like she’d be fun to know. And I could use more friends in my life.

Am I…growing? How disgusting.

“I’d like that,” I say anyway.

She grins, making her dimples pop. Attempts at socializing would be a bad sign from any other landlord, but it’s different when it’s a woman my age with just one apartment to rent. I assume. If it turns out it’s just a way for her to sell me essential oils, I’ll bail .

“You should know my brothers come around a lot, but they’re completely harmless. And of course, they won’t bother you up here. I’ll warn Nathan that you have a boyfriend, and all will be well.” She shoots Shepherd a reassuring look that has the opposite effect.

“Do I need to be worried about Nathan?” He seems to be regretting helping me find this apartment in the first place. And also might hunt the guy down to have a little conversation of his own.

A jealous Shepherd is a hot Shepherd. Really, all versions of him are.

“Flirting is his default communication style, but I’ll tell him to knock it off.” Lucy gives me a stout nod. “She’ll be fine.”

“I prefer broody guys anyway, so it would never work out.” He seems pacified by my addition. Lucy just giggles.

“What else would be helpful to know?” she asks.

“One of our neighbors runs a plow service so the streets always get cleared even though we’re not covered by the town.

We have a pretty competitive holiday lights competition every winter.

Last year the Cohens won with their spectacular Hanukkah display.

They had a giant inflatable dreidel and everything.

So, if you have ideas for what we can do to try to top that this year, I’ll be open to them. ”

“It sounds like a great neighborhood.” Which is a comfort, since I’m weirdly missing my old one and I haven’t even left yet.

“Everybody’s really nice. What else? I teach high school English. I keep pretty normal hours during the school year, but in summer, anything goes. If you text me and I don’t answer, I’m probably at a good spot in my romance book and can’t be distracted from my writing.”

“You write romances?”

Lucy pales, her eyes widening comically. “I meant to say reading. Obviously, I don’t write them. That would be so weird, right?”

“I think it’d be super cool. I love romances.”

She relaxes, and her smile reappears. “Then we’ll have plenty to talk about. If you decide to move in, I mean. Obviously, it’s all up to you. I’ll give you guys some time to talk about it, and you can come knock on the back door at the main house when you’re ready.”

“Thank you.” I watch her slowly disappear down the open stairwell on one side of the living room until I hear the door to the rental open and close.

“Is it strange that the stairs are inside the apartment?” I ask Shepherd. It’s the only oddity I’ve found.

“It’s probably so they can’t ice up in the winter.”

“Oh. That’s smart.” I make my way over to him, peeking around the room again as if I’ll spot a family of mice I missed earlier, having a tea party on the vinyl wood-look floor. “Do you see any red flags?”

“Just Nathan.”

Aww. My man’s gone so surly.

My mouth twists as I fight my smile. I sneak closer and run my hands up his chest, delighting in the soft flannel fabric over his perfectly touchable pecs. “Are you jealous now?”

He loops his arms around me, reeling me in. “I’ve always been jealous over you.”

“That is disturbingly adorable.”

“Can you see yourself living here?”

I turn to glance around at the living space and kitchen, leading to the bathroom and bedroom in the back.

It’s only about six hundred square feet, but it would all be mine.

I could watch whatever movies I wanted to.

Go to bed when I choose without being asked why I was up so late the next morning.

Decorate, cook, and live however I want .

Beautiful, chaotic anarchy. I want it.

“I can see it. The only trouble is telling my mom.”

She hasn’t forbidden me from getting my own place, but from all her dire warnings when Tess moved out over the summer, her disappointment was obvious.

She liked us all together, as close as possible for as long as possible.

I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but I can’t go on living in my childhood home forever.

“Do you want me to be with you when you tell her?”

“That’s sweet.” Of course he would offer. He might be the most supportive person I know. “I can do it. But thank you.”

I snuggle in closer, not quite kissing, but making my intentions extremely obvious. “I might ask for some help when I move, though. I’ll need to find a man with a big truck and rippling muscles.”

I tilt my chin up until our mouths are a breath apart. “Do you know anyone?”

He hugs me closer, one hand drifting into my hair to hold me in place. “Don’t tease.” He kisses me once, softly. “I’m here for you, whatever you need.”

“Are you sure? That’s a lot of stairs to climb.”

His eyes darken as he gazes down at me. “I can always be persuaded.”

I melt against him. “I’ve got that covered. You see, that’s a magical stairwell. There’s a legend that says anybody who carries boxes upstairs with pure intentions will fall in love?—”

He dances his fingers along my ribs before I can finish, nuzzling against me as I laugh.

I’ll consider him successfully persuaded.