Page 5 of Their Little House Colter
The timing was great, our lease up soon. But this wasn’t our first lease cycle, and I was sure Mike assumed that I was going to sign again, just like I assumed he was going to as well, which meant it was time for a potentially difficult conversation.
“I can do this.” I hugged my stuffed dragon tightly. “I can do this. It’s a better place to live, and it isn’t like I’m breaking up with Mike. We are just sharing expenses. No big deal.”
My dragon nodded, with some assistance from me, and I gave him a kiss on his head. I put him back in my dresser, where he hid.
He wouldn’t need to hide in my new place. I’d be able to carry him around without anyone thinking twice about it. But first, I had to man up and go tell Mike.
I made his favorite dinner, thinking that would help ease him into the bad news. That was a miscalculation on my part. Instead, my meal confused him and turned things really weird, really quickly.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about.” I grabbed one of the shrimps off my plate with my fork.
“Oh. Oh. Oh.” He got louder with each oh. “No. It’s not you, it’s me. I like girls. This is sweet and all, but—”
My jaw dropped. He didn’t think I was leaving. He thought I wanted more with him. Crap. Talk about giving the wrong signals.
“No! That’s not what I was going to say. Don’t worry, it’s not at all like that.”
I wasn’t going to tell him he wasn’t my type because Mike was the kind of person who would be hurt by that. Not because he wanted to be my type, but it would be rejection in his eyes. I did want him to know that that was not at all in my head.
I couldn’t be lovers with someone I wasn’t friends with. And if we weren’t friends after so many years of living together, we never were going to be. Plus, there was the whole he-was-straight thing. Which I had been pretty sure of anyway. Not that I gave it a lot of thought.
“I think that…I’m not going to be staying here after the lease is up.”
“Really? Oh. Because of what I—I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you.”
Great. Now he thought he was to blame and I was upset he rejected me. I was batting a thousand today.
“No. That’s what I needed to talk to you about. I found a place closer to work. I think it used to be an old boarding house at some point, but some guy owns it, and it’s nice, the rooms are nice, and it’s got a real nice kitchen and a nice dining room.” How many times could I say nice in a row?
I left off the part about a playroom.
“And it’s closer to work,” I reiterated, “so I think I want to move.”
He looked at me for a while. I wasn’t sure if he was going to answer at all. He just stared.
And then, finally—
“So. Okay. Maybe I’ll look for someplace too. The rent was going up anyway and for what we pay already, it’s not the greatest.”
And once that was out there, everything was back to normal.
I wasn’t good at confrontations, even though this technically wasn’t even one.
But at least it was done.
Now all that was left was to move out and into my new place.
I could hardly wait.
Chapter Five
Ari
Seated behind my desk, I opened another document on my screen. Winning that case had been great and even earned me a bonus, but in this business, I could only rest on my laurels for so long. About a day and a half. The next one was already well underway, and jury selection began in less than a week.
We employed a service to help with that in some cases, depending partly on our client’s budget, and this one was pro bono. So, it was all on me, and I needed to be sure I knew everything there was to know about the qualities I needed in those who would decide my client’s future.
Jerry was broke due to excessive medical bills incurred by his late husband’s long-term
