Page 11 of Take My Heart
‘How do you know they’re booked?’
‘I heard it on the radio right before I found you. Why are you so freaked out about staying with me? Most people would be happy I offered.’
‘I am. I just .?.?.’ She pauses. ‘You’re right. Thanks for letting me stay. Do you have any roommates?’
‘No, it’s just me. The place has three bedrooms. It’s nothing great, but it’s a place to crash until the storm ends.’ I feel her staring at me and glance over at her. ‘What? Why are you looking at me?’
‘I’m trying to figure out how old you are.’
‘Twenty-six. Why?’
‘That’s kind of young to have a three-bedroom house. I’m sure houses are a lot cheaper here than in Chicago, but still, most guys your age would be living in an apartment, not own a house.’
‘I bought it as an investment, but it didn’t quite work out that way.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Oh, so it’s okay for you to not talk about stuff, but I can’t?’
‘There’s nothing to say.’ I turn down my street, the truck swerving on the ice as I round the corner.
‘Why didn’t it work out? Did the value go down and now you can’t sell it?’
‘I could sell it, but I need to fix it up before I do. If I sold it like it is now, I’d lose money.’
‘So fix it up.’
‘I can’t, at least not right now.’
‘Why?’
I look ather. ‘You ask a lot of damn questions.’
She smiles at me. ‘Annoying, isn’t it?’
‘It’s the gray one,’ I say, pointing to my house. The plan was to finish the renovations last fall but so far all I’ve done is fix whatever was broken, or broken to the point I couldn’t use it, like the kitchen faucet that wouldn’t turn off.
When I bought the house last October, I imagined it looking totally different by now. I had so many things I wanted to do to it, but none of those things happened, and given how things are going, I don’t think they ever will.
‘It’s cute,’ Kate says as I pull up to the driveway.
‘I’m going to plow a path to get to the garage. I can give you the house key if you want to go in.’
‘That’s okay. I’ll wait.’
I press the button on the snowplow controller, but the blade doesn’t lower.
‘What the hell?’ I press the button again but nothing happens. I try the other buttons, but they aren’t working either.
‘What’s wrong?’ Kate asks.
‘The blade isn’t lowering.’ I open the door. ‘I’ll be right back.’
I walk in front of the truck and check for any damaged wires leading to the plow. Everything looks okay.
‘That’s just fucking great,’ I say, getting back in the truck. I grab my hat and put it on.
