“Same thing,” she said, reaching for her phone like the conversation was over.
He turned to me. “Maybe you can talk some sense into her. She insists on moving out while my wife and daughters are here. Says she doesn’t want to ‘take up space.’”
“I said I’d book a hotel,” Claire added, scrolling casually. “It’s not a big deal.”
“You’re family,” Nolan said. “They haven’t seen you in months. They’ll want you there.”
Claire just raised her eyebrows in that calm, immovable way that said she’d already made up her mind.
And then, before I could think it through, before my brain even registered the words, I said it.
“You can stay at my place.”
The room went still.
Nolan blinked. “What?”
Claire actually froze. I saw her fingers stop mid-scroll.
Even I didn’t know where that sentence came from.
I cleared my throat. “I mean, if you’re just looking for a place for a couple of weeks. I’m on the road a lot. There’s a guest room with its own bathroom. Separate wing. You’d barely know I was there.”
No one said anything.
So, naturally, I kept going. Needed to make this sound less weird.
“You’d be closer to your nieces.”
I looked at Claire, then at Nolan, then back to Claire again.
She was still staring at me, blank, but not cold. Like she was waiting to see if I’d say something even dumber.
“And I cook,” I added, a half-second too late.
Oh boy. Was I making this worse?
Claire slowly turned her head toward her brother. “Are we… in a roommate pitch meeting?”
Nolan just stared at me. “Callahan, I’ve had guys hustle for ice time before. But this is new.”
“It’s not like that,” I said quickly. “It’s just… practical.”
Claire tilted her head, clearly trying to decide if I’d gone insane.
“Really,” I added. “It’s not for that long.”
That part came out softer than I meant. Because for some reason, saying itwasshort-term made it easier to offer. Made it sound less creepy.
Claire studied me. Not suspicious, exactly. Just… curious. Like she was trying to figure out if I was serious.
“I mean, if it’s not weird,” she said finally.
Oh no, it's definitely weird.
Nolan made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. “Oh, it’s definitely weird. But it’s also weirdly practical. Which sounds a lot like you, Claire.”
Claire gave him the death stare, the kind that probably began when they were kids and had only grown more intense with age.
