Page 1 of Keeping it Casual
Chapter 1
Dustin
As I enter the real-estate office, the woman behind the front desk looks up and gives me a smile that has a scary resemblance to a great white shark. My heart gives an involuntary extra thud. I’m fairly sure humans are not supposed to have quite so many teeth.
“Hi. I’m Dustin Knight. I’m picking up the keys for my new house,” I say cautiously as I move toward her desk. Cautious does feel like the correct attitude around a woman giving me the same look I’m sure most predators give their prey.
“Oh, I thought it must be you! We’ve been waiting for you.” The enthusiasm in her voice somehow adds to the ominous feel.
“You’ve been waiting for me?” I question.
“Yes, we’re that small of a town. It’s always exciting when someone new moves here. Welcome to Mineral Creek.”
“Um…thanks, Ms…” I stumble, but the name she’s signed off her emails with comes to me at the last second. “Ms. Anderson.”
She gives me an even bigger grin. “Call me Amanda.”
“Amanda. Right. Nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” she coos, sliding me some forms across the counter. “Your house is all ready for you. You just have to sign on pages three and five, and then the keys are all yours. The pre-property inspection is done, but feel free to call me if there are any issues.”
“Thanks.”
I follow her instructions, scrawling my signature where yellow sticky arrows helpfully point out exactly where I need to sign.
When I hand her back the contract, she scans the paperwork briefly before lifting her gaze, her head tilting. “So there’s no Mrs. Knight?”
The speculative gleam in her eyes has me moving to shut down that line of thought quickly.
“Ah, no. There’s never been a Mrs. Knight, nor will there ever be. If there was anything, it would be a Mr. Knight, but currently, it’s just me and my son.” I say the words as neutrally as possible.
Somehow, the gleam in her eyes grows even brighter.
“You’re single?” she clarifies.
“Uh…yes, I am.”
Despite having grown up in a small town in the South Island, I’ve forgotten this aspect of small-town living. How the word private is applied to the bathroom zone in a house and not much further.
“Oh, you need to meet Jeremy King! He’s a single dad too. You’ll have so much in common.”
Given she’s only just met me, I’m struggling to see how she can be certain there will be points of commonality between this Jeremy guy and me. Unless Amanda has mind-reading abilities to go along with her real-estate skills or she counts being gay and a dad as enough mutual ground to build a relationship.
But I need another relationship about as much as I need a hole in my new house’s guttering.
I smile tightly. “I’m not looking for a relationship right now. Just focusing on my son.”
Lachie isn’t off the rails yet, but the carriages have definitely shown some signs of lurching off the tracks. Detentions. Failing to hand in assignments. Caught skipping school a few times. His last report card had been a wake-up call for me.
I missed some of the signs because I’d been too busy dealing with the disintegrating relationship between my boyfriend Robbie and me.
Guilt gnaws at my stomach. It’s currently a constant presence, chipping away at my stomach lining, probably causing an ulcer.
When I held Lachie in my arms for the first time, I pledged that he would always be the most important thing in my life. Yet he’d been relegated in my priorities by a guy who’d decided our relationship was changing to an open status without informing me.
It turns out I am very much a fan of closed things. A point of difference Robbie and I couldn’t get past.
Amanda hands me the keys and gives me another shark-like grin.
