Keshonda laughed, looking at his expression. “I can see the wheels in your head turning. You’re in a good position, no matter what you decide. The first couple definitely plans to live in the house, promise you that. I suspect the second will rent the place. The third buyer I can’t get a read on because they’re using a proxy. That usually means vacation home or investment property, though.”
“What would you do?” he asked.
She tapped the third set of documents. “I’d take the highest offer. If I’m selling a house, I don’t care what happens to it after I move on.”
“Pragmatic.”
“But I can tell you have some qualms, so why don’t you call your grandmother?”
“Good idea. I feel like Gamma might want to put Ruben and Natalie in her house, but who knows? She might prefer the twenty-five grand.”
“That’s a dream vacation or two, like we were talking about at dinner.” With that, Keshonda packed her briefcase and headed toward the door. “Call me when you know what you want to do.”
Eli walked her out. “I will.”
There were so many cars parked here that it looked like they were throwing a wild party. Susan, the cranky neighbor, was probably on standby waiting to make a noise complaint. But things stayed chill, and Ethel left quietly an hour later. It was cute when Sally kissed her goodbye. Not that Eli was spying on them. He just happened to be collecting coffee cups to wash right then, a complete coincidence.
Sally danced upstairs humming “It Had to Be You,” and Eli went back to cleanup duty. He checked the time and realized it was early enough to call Gamma, who was two hours behind in Albuquerque. The phone rang twice, then she picked up.
“It’s my favorite little man! How are you?”
“Excellent. Listen, I called to tell you about multiple offers on the house…” He tried to be succinct in explaining the pros and cons of each.
When he was done, Gamma said, “The first offer. It’s not even a question. I don’t need the money that much, they offered first, and I adore the thought of giving newlyweds their first home.”
“I’ll text Keshonda and let her know. Everything good with you?”
“Fantastic. It’s early days yet, but I met someone special in my Bunko club. I’m cautiously optimistic, but she seems lovely.”
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Eli said.
“Maybe you can come for Christmas?” Gamma asked in a hopeful tone.
“Maybe.” Fact was, the house would likely be sold by then. He didn’t want to think about leaving. “I’ll let you know.”
“Love you, talk soon!”
Sighing, Eli got back to work, tucking his phone in the pocket of his sweats. He was almost done, dishes stacked in the drainer, pots and pans upended on the mat, when Iris came into the kitchen. She seemed…determined in a way he hadn’t seen before, and he’d thought he was an expert on all her expressions.
“Hungry?” he asked.
They’d eaten every last bite of the spaghetti and salad feast, which had visibly made the old man happy. Being needed seemed to be a key component of Henry Dale’s psyche. And on that note, Eli couldn’t wait to see how the desk-chair combo cabinet turned out.
“No.” She chewed at her lip and paced around the space, touching stuff here and there. What looked like restless hands made her grab a dish towel and start drying, all without making eye contact.
Okay, this is weird.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Not wrong. I’m just…really nervous. And I don’t know what to say or how to say it or if I should say this at all. I might ruin everything.”
Eli strode over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Maybe it’s family stuff? “Whatever’s happening, we can figure out a solution together.”
For some reason, that relaxed her. Iris smiled and took a breath. “I should’ve known you’d say that. Okay, here it is. I got upset when I found out you’d invited someone home because I thought it was a date. Lately, I’ve had…feelings for you. Romantic ones. And I was wondering if you feel the same at all. Is it just me?”
She peered up at him with hopeful gray eyes, as if she hadn’t just made all his dreams come true, just like he’d named her contact info when they first met. And if he just happened to be here, if everything was random chance, then maybe they could—no, I have to tell her. We can’t date under these circumstances.
But instead of the truth, he said, “I like you too.”
Just that. And she was so happy; she hugged him. He stood there frozen until his arms came up and he held her close, the way he’d thought he never would.
This is bad.
“You don’t know how much courage it took for me to speak up. I’m not a jealous person, but it hurt thinking about you with someone else.”
He had to say it because it was so unbelievable, something he never could’ve imagined. Dreams were dreams for a reason—they didn’t come true. Not like this.
“Because you want to be with me.”
“Exactly. I’m so relieved you feel the same. I can’t believe this worked! Violet Gables is the happiest place on earth, not Disneyland.”
“Careful, the Mouse will get you for that.”
Iris laughed, giddy and breathless. “We should probably lay down some ground rules. I don’t want our relationship to make the others uncomfortable.”
“Right, limiting the PDA.” He started to step back, but she held on.
“Just a few seconds more. Let me be greedy. I doubt anyone will come to the kitchen before the dishes are done. They’d feel obligated to help.” Her hands moved on his back, sending pleasurable chills throughout his whole body.
She felt so right cuddled against him, the way nothing and no one ever had. Before, he had been a tree unable to put down roots, and he thought it was because of his dual nature. He was meant to live in the skies, not to forge connections on the ground.
That…no longer felt true.
For a few moments, Eli reveled in the hug, breathing her in. This much was fine. Soon, he’d figure out how to tell her the truth, before things got more complicated. And then she kissed him.
The world melted away.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Some kisses were fireworks.
Some were spiky aliens with lizard tongues, and others were summer nights by the ocean with sand between the toes. This one? It was the chill of an autumn night warmed by the sweetness of hot cocoa. It was soft and shy with a slowly building heat that felt like a roaring fire by the time Iris pulled back, breathless, to peer up at Eli.
He was smiling slightly, gazing at her with such affection that she felt a bit silly for not having noticed how much he cared before. Those are the eyes of a man who— Okay, maybe not that L word. A man who likes me. A lot. How’s that?
“Limited PDA, huh?” Then he did pull away, resuming the kitchen work with a haste she found mildly unsettling.
Maybe he’s worried about getting caught. If she was smart, she’d share that concern because the last thing she wanted to do was make anyone else uncomfortable. She’d never been in this situation before, so she couldn’t say what the etiquette was. In other roommate situations, the rules had been “Partners should stay no more than two consecutive nights and no more than seven nights a month total” and “Don’t wake anyone up with your nocturnal doings.” Since they lived together, the first rule didn’t apply, but the second made sense. If she got teased by Sally the morning after— “Oh God,” she mumbled.