Close to You - Kristen Proby Page 0,9
where we’re going. It’s not as far away as I thought.
“So far, so good,” Cami says as she steps out of the car.
“I wish you’d let me open the door for you,” I say as I join her on the sidewalk.
“Why?” She frowns and glances from the house to me. “This isn’t a date.”
I simply shake my head and follow her up the steps to the front porch.
“Oh, you could put a great rocking chair out here,” Cami says as I see a note on the door, telling us to come in and look around. The property manager had to rush off to an emergency at another property.
“Let’s check it out,” I say, and lead us inside. This one already feels so much better than any of the others I’ve seen. It definitely is newer, it doesn’t smell weird, and the floor plan is open.
“This is it,” Cami says confidently.
“You just stepped inside.”
“I’m telling you, that last one was haunted. This one is perfect.”
“You didn’t say anything about that last one being haunted.” I stop and stare back at her, but she’s wandering around the living room.
“I didn’t want to scare you, in case you decided to live there. But I would never visit you there.”
“But you will visit me here?”
“I don’t know, Landon; the last time I rang your doorbell, you snapped at me like I was trying to sell you on religion or vacuums.”
My stomach clenches. “Cami, I told you, I’m sorry for that.”
“It’s fine,” she says quickly, and walks into the kitchen, the click of her heels echoing through the empty space. “These countertops are to die for!”
I follow her into the kitchen and nod. “It’s a big kitchen for someone who doesn’t cook.”
“Maybe someone will cook for you,” she mumbles, not looking at me.
Everything feels off with her today. It’s felt off since that morning when she showed up unexpectedly at my parents’ house, waking me up and looking all sexy and sweet, and I didn’t have my wits about me.
I fucked up. I seem to be the king of fucking up lately, and it’s starting to piss me off.
“There’s a lot of cabinet space,” she continues, then opens a door in the back of the room. “And there’s a large pantry here.”
“Let’s check out the rest.”
We see two average-sized bedrooms, a nice guest bath, and then wander into a massive master bedroom, with a large closet and bathroom as well.
“Wow. Swanky,” she says, that dimple winking at me as she grins. “You could get a lot of shoes in this closet.”
“That’s exactly what I was worried about.”
“Hey, I’m just saying.” She saunters into the bathroom. “Holy shit, you could host a party in this shower!”
A two-person-party-with-Cami-boosted-up-against-the-wall-with-me-inside-her party sounds just about perfect.
I don’t dare go in there.
“Don’t you want to check it out?”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“But it’s pretty.”
“I believe you.”
“Landon . . .”
I pop my head in and take in the spacious bathroom, see that the shower is indeed larger than the one in my last apartment, and turn away. “Yep, great bathroom.”
“This is the house,” she says confidently as she follows me out and back to the car.
“We have one more to see.”
“No.” She shakes her head and hands me my phone. “You don’t need to see more.”
“What if it’s better than this one?”
“It won’t be. You’re sick of looking, Landon, and this house isn’t too big, isn’t too small, and is newer. And it’s not haunted.”
“I don’t think that other house was haunted,” I reply, agreeing with her. I like this house. I pull away and head back to the restaurant.
“Why are you renting instead of buying?” she asks.
“Because I don’t know where I’ll end up,” I reply immediately, and slam on my brakes as we’re almost T-boned in an intersection. “It’s a four-way stop, asshole!”
“Nothing wrong with your reflexes,” she says, and pushes her hair off her face. “So you don’t plan on settling down in Portland?”
“I probably will,” I say, and shrug. “I mean, the family is here, and I don’t have any job offers elsewhere, but I want to keep my options open for a while, you know?”
“No, not really,” she replies, and I glance over at her. “I like it here. I’ll always be here.”
“Well, especially now that you have the restaurant, I can see that.”
“With or without it, this is home.”
I shake my head. “Haven’t you ever wanted to live anywhere else? I mean, you’ve been here your whole life. Now that you don’t have family here—”
“Steven