Page 187 of The Paid Wife: A Lesbian Romance

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own art there and that’s how I’d get my start. If the building is

big enough—I haven’t even seen it yet—maybe we could even

have half the place as a gallery and half the place as her store.

That would give her a chance to keep expanding her business,

and it would give so many other aspiring artists a chance to get

their names out there too. I’m assuming the building has a

place to live, since she wouldn’t have agreed if it didn’t, and I

know Dani will be there, so I know she’ll be okay. If you don’t

want me to keep living at home, I can move out. I could share

the place with her, but that’s quicker than I’d like to move, so I

could also get a job and find an apartment somewhere.”

“We’d like you stay,” Sandra said, her voice cracking and

wavering on every word. “We’d really like you to stay. I’m

sorry that we haven’t listened to you. I just didn’t think you

were truly serious. You were always such a dreamer that you

thought anything was possible. I didn’t know you’d have the

drive to keep going with your art. I thought the first setback

would break you and then you’d give up entirely and you’d be

aimless, with no career, no job, no way to make money for

yourself.”

Emily nodded. “The building wasn’t my idea. That was

Dad’s. I never would have considered property management or

investing like that.” She turned to her dad. “It’s a great gift, but

I don’t think you should just give it to me. If you don’t want to

be partners, I promise I’ll pay you back, slowly but surely.”

“I don’t want to be paid back,” Peter clarified. “We bought

houses for each of your brothers. I was going to talk to you

about the building I purchased and tell you that if you

managed it correctly, you would soon have enough money to

use as a down payment for your own condo or a small house if

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