laughed. “I’m a single guy. I don’t need a big house. I don’t need a giant house. I don’t want a giant house. That’s a waste of space and furniture. It would take me a week to get from one end to the other. I checked out several of those mega-mansions before I settled on this one. They all felt cold and very isolating.”
She nodded as she looked around what I thought was a fairly normal house. “How many rooms do you have?”
“Four.”
“It’s a beautiful house. I like that it’s comfy and you don’t have silly vases that cost more than my car sitting out on a table. I’ve had to work with clients that insist on parties at their houses and then freak out when one of those stupid things gets broken. Your house looks like a home.”
“Land was more important than house. I would have been fine with a one-bedroom house if I could have plenty of space between me and the neighbors. I wanted comfort. I wanted to walk in the door, kick off my shoes, and just chill.”
“You and your lack of liking people, right?” she joked.
I smiled. “It’s more about my like of privacy and quiet.”
“Your stairs go directly down to the beach?” she asked.
“Yes, they do. It’s steep, and it can be a hell of a workout, but it is well worth it. One of these days, I might buy a house that is right on the beach.”
“I’ve always dreamed about living on the beach,” she commented as she took a seat on one of the overstuffed white couches. “Not this beach because it is always so packed but maybe a little more up north. Better yet, a deserted island.”
“Now, you are talking,” I said with a laugh.
“Do you have people that try and sneak up here?”
“Not a lot. There is a locked gate below, but you know drunk kids.”
“You need an island,” she said with a nod.
It did sound appealing. “I might just look into that.”
“Then you wouldn’t have to worry about sharing your beach with anyone else,” she reasoned.
“It does get packed during the summer, but during the fall and winter, it’s pretty quiet down there. I like to go down and just spend the day doing nothing.”
“That does sound nice,” she said with a smile.
“So, what does your schedule look like for today?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “No schedule.”
“You don’t have a checklist of things you need to get done?”
She laughed. “I have things that I could get done, and I do have a few errands to run, but nothing hard and fast.”
“You don’t have plans to drag me to Disneyland or some other wild and crazy place?” I asked with a smile.
“Not today, but now that you put that out there, have you been to Disneyland?”
I nodded. “A few times when I was younger but not in recent years. You?”
“I went a few years ago with my friend. It was fun. We should go sometime. We could get a hotel and stay overnight. Maybe stay the weekend.”
She was making plans for us. Plans for the future. “I think that sounds like a great idea. And today?”
She shrugged. “I have no plans for today, but I was thinking about this evening.”
“Oh? Would you like to go to dinner? Movie?”
She chewed on her lower lip, telling me she was nervous about something. “Dinner, yes, but, um, well, I have plans.”
That took me by surprise. “Oh, I see. Maybe another night.”
“No, actually, I wanted to know if you would like to go to dinner with me. And my dad.”
“Your dad?” I asked, automatically leaning away from her. It was not what I expected. I would have never predicted that would come out of her mouth.
“Yes, my dad.”
I cleared my throat. I needed to clarify some things without coming off like a total asshole. “Evie, I like hanging out with you, but I want to make sure we are on the same page here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Meeting your dad,” I said, knowing it was blunt.
“Oh,” she said. “No, no, no.”
“No, no, no, what?”
“I wouldn’t be introducing you as anything other than my friend. We are friends, right?”
“Yes, we are.”
“If it bothers you, that’s cool. I probably shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. My dad asked me to have dinner with him tonight. I was hoping me and you could have dinner, and well, it just seemed like why not do both?”