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“Dav, we can’t,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
“Mostly because of Joel,” I told him. “We’d be… kidnapping him.”
“That’s kind of the beauty of the ones I have picked out,” he told me. “They’re in the neighborhood. One is right across the street. He could still drop in from time to time, so they know he’s around.”
I had to admit that seemed like a solid compromise. And we genuinely were bursting at the seams here. The one bathroom situation alone was a nightmare. I took for granted how nice having a bathroom all to myself was. I would never, ever take it for granted again.
“It won’t hurt to look,” he reasoned.
“Okay,” I agreed. “But I don’t want the kids getting their hopes up if it’s not the right time.”
“They’re big kids. They’ll manage their disappointment if it comes to that.”
“I guess that’s… wait,” I said, turning to look at him. “There’s no apartment building across the street.”
“There’s… a building,” he said, looking all mischievous.
“Dav…”
“Look, I’ve been needing to open a legit business to wash more of my cash through,” he said, holding up a hand when I opened my mouth. “That building is as good as any. Plus, it had empty space above that could be converted to a multi-floor condo.”
“Dav, no.”
“Why not?”
“It’s one thing for me to rent a new apartment. Or even buy a condo. It’s another for—“
“For what?” he cut me off. “For us to move in together? Even though I’m already living here? I get that we are, technically, new, but it’s not like we’re strangers who started shacking up, love. We’ve known each other for a decade.”
“I know, but—“
“Your stubborn ass is going to dig your heels in about this, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I admitted, almost smiling at his exasperation.
“Fine. Then if we both like it, I buy it. You rent the apartment from me. That’s a win-win to me. You’d have a landlord almost anywhere you moved. Why not have it be me?”
“That’s… not a terrible idea.”
“Careful, Cin. You’re dangerously close to agreeing with me.”
“It’s… a rational plan.”
“And you don’t even know the best part yet.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll get to live out all of your DIY renovation dreams.”
That wasn’t exactly true.
Since in my DIY renovation dreams, I was picking paint swatches and deciding what kind of built-in cabinets would look best. Not trying to map out a floor plan, figure out where walls would go, and dodging sparking electrical wires.
In the end, though, Dav had been right. The building across from my current one made the most sense. It worked for Joel. It made life easier while we worked on renovating to be able to just walk across the street to go home, and having a business a floor below was smart fiscally, legally, and even from a safety standpoint.
We ended up not making any of our other appointments.
