Page 30 of Without You

That gets her attention.

“Huh? What just happened?”

I can’t help it. I bark out a laugh. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” she murmurs.

Chuckling, I make a decision. “Let’s talk about something else. Tell me what you’re up to today.”

Her demeanor changes in an instant. Gone are the slumped shoulders and embarrassed expression, replaced with a brightness that stuns me. Katie sits up straighter in her seat, her eyes light up and smile is nearly blinding.

“Whoa. What has you so excited?”

“I talked to my daddy yesterday. He and Mama kicked me out of the house.”

Confusion has me furrowing my eyebrows. “And that’s a good thing?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t want to live with my parents. It sucks to have to start looking for a place to live, because that’s kind of time consuming, but it’s not like I planned to be living with my parents in my thirties.”

“So you’re looking for a rental? Or a place to buy?”

She bursts out laughing. “It’ll be a little while before I can afford to purchase anything, so yeah, renting.”

A thought hits me. One that’s likely going to freak her out but… “I have a place to rent if you’re interested.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” I nod and swallow hard, hoping she doesn’t think I’m a weirdo for suggesting this. “It’s a garage apartment.”

“Your garage?” she asks hesitantly.

Another nod. Another swallow. “My home garage, not my work garage. And it’s above the garage, so separate from it.”

“I see.”

“It’s been empty for a little over a month. Definitely nothing fancy,” I add on. “It’s a studio apartment, but you’re welcome to come take a look.”

“You’re serious?”

“I am. Why? Is that weird?”

“No. It’s just, really, really, really nice of you. How much is it?”

“Not much, really.” The last tenant paid me four hundred but there’s no way I would accept that from Katie. But I also know I can’t tell her she can live there for free, even though I would let her. “Two hundred fifty a month.”

Her jaw drops and she starts shaking her head. “No way. That’s not enough, Brody! You’re surely not serious.”

I shrug. “I’m serious. Like I said, it’s not much. It’s above the garage I park my vehicles in, Katie. There’s one room plus a bathroom.”

“Still. That’s cheap.”

It is. Dirt cheap, actually. Even the guy who paid me four hundred bucks said that. I’m not doing it for the money, though. Damon, the guy who just moved out, needed a helping hand. He’d just gotten out of prison for making some shitty choices. He did his time and learned from his mistakes. But, that meant he needed a place to live that he could afford. I told him I would rent it to him for what he could afford if he helped with the yard work and fixing up the apartment. He shot me an offer and I accepted knowing that I could have probably gotten more but I didn’t care. He was getting a place to live, work to do to stay out of trouble, and I trusted that he was ready to turn his life around. Luckily, that trust didn’t backfire on me.

“Want to take a look? It’s fully furnished and move-in ready.”

“Fully furnished?”

“Yeah, I figured people wouldn’t want to move their stuff in and out because of the stairs. It’s nothing fancy, but the guy who moved out was a clean freak. No smoking. No pets. Like I said, it’s not fancy or especially expensive furniture, but it’s clean and comfortable. What do you think? Have I convinced you yet?”

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