Maybe I’ll ask Tyler,she thought, grinning to herself. Tyler was softer than Nancy. Younger by ten years than his seventy-year-old wife, Tyler, a tall African American with a slender figure and a kind face doted on ‘his girls’. As far as Inca was concerned, he was her father, and nothing would change that.
Her cell phone buzzed and she picked it up without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
Nothing. Inca frowned. “Whoever this is, this is a bad line; I can’t hear you. Hello?”
Nothing. She shut off her phone and forgot about it. She switched the TV off and the small lamp and sat in the darkness watching the snow fall. Her attention was caught by a movement down on the street. A figure stood under the streetlamp. He looked up, as if sensing her scrutiny, and their eyes met. Inca felt a thrill go through her: fear or desire, she couldn’t tell.
Raffaelo Winter stared up at her, his expression unreadable.
The next day, she was still thinking about him. It was her day off and, as she did her chores, she wondered what he had been thinking of, standing outside her apartment like that.Weird.Her phone rang again and this time it was her realtor, Mindy. The apartment Inca lived in was leased from the owner of the building but had offered Inca first refusal on it when he decided to sell. She’d scraped together the deposit and had put her offer in, and now she knew Mindy was calling her to finalize the details.
“Hey, Mindy. What’s going on?” Inca sat on a kitchen chair, pulling her knees up to her chest. She heard Mindy draw in a deep breath.
“Inca, honey, I’ve got bad news. The thing is,” Inca heard her sigh, “the apartment’s gone. It’s been sold.”
For a moment, Inca didn’t process what the realtor had said. Then her heart thudded, heavy with dismay. “It can’t have. I mean, I thought the offer I made was a lock …”
“It was. It was, sweetheart. I’m sorry, but the owner just called me. They were called late last night by a private buyer who gave them a crazy offer.”
Inca sat upright in the chair. “I’ll match it. Call them. Tell them I’ll match it. I want this apartment.”
There was a silence. “Honey …” Mindy hesitated. “You can’t. You can’t match it. The buyer’s offered three times the market price.”
Inca was speechless. Her shoulders slumped and in that moment she realized how much she had been relying on getting the apartment to kick-start everything and move forward. She felt suddenly tearful.
“Hon? You okay?” Mindy sounded concerned.
“How did they know who to call?”
She heard Mindy give an annoyed hiss. “Jeb. Don’t worry. I’ve nailed his ass to the wall. He knows better than to give out that information. Look, I’m going to email you over some other prospects; we’ll find you something.”
Inca drew in a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I’m just disappointed, is all.”
She jumped slightly as the doorbell rang. “Look, Mindy, thanks, I’ve got to go.”
She looked around the apartment—her home—and felt tears threatening. This washerhome, her space. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. She grabbed her jacket and headed out of the door.
Inca knocked onceon the back door of her parents’, home then let herself in. Tyler, standing in his apron flipping pancakes and frying eggs, smiled at her and bent to kiss her cheek in greeting.
“Hey, Bubs.”
“Hey, Popsicle.” She heaved herself onto one of the stools. “How’re things?”
“Good. Nancy’s gone to the city, so I thought we’d have a little father-daughter chat.” He handed her a plate of food. She grinned her thanks.
“That always sounds ominous when you say that. Honestly, I didn’t break my curfew, Pa.” She grinned, her mouth full of food, and he laughed, tapping her on the head with a spoon.
“Your mother tells me there’s a new man in your life.”
Inca rolled her eyes. “Not really. Just a new friend. I swear to God, you and Nancy are the biggest gossips. Every adjective you can think of. This is yummy, by the way.”
Tyler sat down with a plate of his own and studied her face. “Thank you. Is it a good thing?”
Inca grinned. “Yes. You’ve always been a great cook.” Tyler didn’t smile.
“I’m serious. I worry, Bubba, especially after all that business with Oliver.” Inca smiled. Tyler had never called Olly ‘Olly’, not once.