Page 113 of One Small Spark
“You heard that?”
She hitches a shoulder, glancing away. “I was right there. I didn’t know she would try to set you up in front of me.”
“Lucy’s what I wanted to talk to you about earlier.”
She takes in a big breath. “I know.”
She so obviously doesn’t.
“Lucy’s not for me. She’s for you.”
“That’s flattering, but I’m not interested in dating Lucy.”
I drop a kiss onto her mouth. “Cheeky. I told Rosetta about your apartment hunt this week at the library. I didn’t explicitly tell her about us, but she’s a smart woman. She didn’t need it spelled out. But she asked around, and she found someone who has a place that could be good for you. Lucy.”
“Really?”
“Lucy has a small house with an apartment over the detached garage. She’s got a roommate in the house, but the woman who was living over the garage moved out. It doesn’t sound like she has any unusual rental history stipulations or sketchy vibes. But I got her number so you can call her and find out foryourself.”
Wren’s soft expression hits a tender spot in my chest. “You’re helping me find an apartment?”
“I’d do anything for you.”
Her mouth twists as she battles a smile.
I tilt my face closer to hers. “But you have got to stop eavesdropping on partial conversations and drawing conclusions.”
She blows out a breath. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m not good at confronting people.”
I lift an eyebrow. This woman isexcellentat confronting people.
“Okay, I am,” she concedes. “But not when I’m feeling small.”
I hold her tighter. I don’t ever want her to feel too small to let her usual confidence shine through. “Promise you’ll talk to me when you’re worried about things.”
“I will. I promise.” She squirms against me so I have to adjust my hold on her. “Will you take me inside now?”
A chuckle rumbles out of me. “Yes. It’s pretty cold out here.”
“I don’t feel cold.” Something sparks in her eyes as she gazes at me, and her grip tightens on my shoulders. “Will you take me all the way inside? Upstairs?”
I press closer, running my nose against hers. “If I take you upstairs, I’m never letting you go again.”
Her grin is all smug triumph. “I’m good with that.”
“As you wish, goddess.”
THIRTY-TWO
WREN
“This place is so stinking cute!”I’ve walked through the one-bedroom apartment over Lucy’s garage three times already, and I can’t stop staring at everything. The huge front windows that overlook the tree-lined neighborhood. The shiny checkerboard tile in the kitchen. The sloped ceilings just like in Shepherd’s bedroom.
Oof. I’d better not think about that last one too much right now if I want to behave like a somewhat normal person.
But the addition is comfortable and snug. It’s probably ten minutes from the bakery and fifteen from Mom’s house. Even longer to Shepherd’s, but there was never much hope of cutting down that commute. Best of all, it’s one block from a park with a big play structure perfect for Wren Wednesdays with August.
“The house and everything is really my aunt’s, but she passed it over to me while she goes out living that RV life. She’s in Arizona right now. I think.” Lucy, for the record is also super cute. She’s roughly my age, petite and curvy, with golden-brown hair and dimples in her cheeks when she smiles. Which she does a lot.
