Clarice had no idea what her own name meant, but she made a mental note to look it up. “Mr… ah, Bruno was interested in seeing these two properties,” she said, knowing she sounded very dull as she handed Veronica the printouts.
Veronica glanced at them. “Oh, you have good taste, Bruno,” she purred. “Is it just you or do you have a family to put in one of these homes?”
“Just me and my son,” Bruno said briefly. Clarice had a thrill of hope.
“Oh, howsweet!” Veronica cooed. “How old is he?”
“Five.”
Veronica seemed to realize from his flat tone that she was laying it on a bit thick—yes, she could be overwhelming, but she could also read a room and knew when to back off. “That’s a delightful age,” she said, managing a slightly wistful tone. “I don’t have any kids myself, but always wanted them. Clarice, would you check the status of these two properties? I don’t want to drop in on a seller without notice.”
“They’re both vacant,” Clarice said. “Here are the keys.” She had already gathered them from the keychart, and she handed them to Veronica.
“I don’t knowwhatI would do without Clarice,” Veronica said to Bruno as she took the keys, as if Clarice wasn’t standing right there. “She’s the glue that holds this office together!”
Clarice smiled faintly.
To her surprise, Bruno looked at Clarice and said carefully, “I was actually hoping Clarice could do the showing. She’s the one who suggested them.”
Veronica’s smile didn’t falter even a little, though she darted a thoughtful sideways look at Clarice. “Oh, ofcourse! Just be back in time to close the office, will you? I have a hunter’s club meeting at five.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Clarice glanced at her watch. They had plenty of time to do two properties. She grabbed the keys for a third that was in the same neighborhood in case Bruno wanted another alternative as Veronica reiterated that it was so nice to meet him and waxed eloquent on how fulfilling it was to put a family—even a small family like his! ha, ha!—into the perfect home.
Clarice pulled on her down coat and put her knit hat down over her ears. “We can meet at this one first,” she said, showing him the top sheet on her clipboard. “If you have a GPS, it should take you right there. The other address is a little bit harder to get to, because Oak is one way for that block and the GPS doesn’t know that.”
“I’ll follow you,” Bruno said agreeably, and he held the door open courteously for her.
10
BRUNO
Clarice was a breath of fresh air after Veronica’s sandstorm presence. Bruno didn’t need instinct to tell him that Veronica was a master of flattery and deception. He didn’t even need second-hand experience with her machinations from Cherry and some of the Tiny Paws parents. Everything he needed to know was in the way she treated Bruno with gushing flirtation and Clarice with absolute disregard until it was in her best interests to flatter. Bruno had seen the expression on Clarice’s face plenty of times. She craved the praise, but didn’t really believe it.
His armadillo was outraged.She should be cherished!
Clarice drove conservatively, using plenty of extra time for braking and signaling her turns well in advance.
There was a berm of packed snow in the driveway of the address and Clarice pulled up along the curb while Bruno took his truck right over it to park in front of the garage.
“Sorry,” she said, wading through the snow to meet him at the front door. “We have a service that clears thedriveway, but apparently, they haven’t been by since they plowed the street.”
“Isn’t the city supposed to make sure that doesn’t happen?”
“Lots of people are supposed to do things that they don’t,” Clarice pointed out. She said it with a cheerful shrug and unlocked the door.
Bruno had to keep reminding himself that he was there to look at the house. Clarice came alive as she showed it, pointing out a number of details he never would have thought of. “The kitchen has so much storage,” she said. “I love that it’s all behind doors so you’ll never see the clutter. Plenty of counter space, too, in case you like to cook. Do you?”
“Like to cook?” Bruno had been opening some of the pantry doors. They were floor to ceiling along an entire wall and the doors themselves had hooks and shelves. “I guess. Okay, not really.”
“I love to cook, but hardly ever get the chance. It’s just me. And my cat. His name is Horatio. Sorry, I don’t mean to be the person who starts out by talking about their cat. He’s not even that nice of a cat. Let me show you the bedrooms.” She flushed. “Ah, they’re upstairs. The bedrooms are.”
Bruno followed her up the stairs, which were covered in carpet. Gil would have entirely too much fun sliding down those, and he was too old now to hope that a baby gate would keep him off of them.
The master bedroom, echoing and empty, had a generous closet. Either of the other rooms would have made a perfectly fine bedroom for Gil or an office. Both of them were small, but Bruno knew that with more space, Gil would just fill it up with mess. There was room for a bed and a desk.
They ventured out the back door to look out over the fenced back yard, but it was full of calf-deep snow, so they didn’t tour the rest of the yard. “It’s hard to picture in the winter,” Clarice said, looking out over the snow. “It’s just snowy lawn right now, but there’s space for a garden, if you wanted, or maybe a swing set.” There were a few trees that looked entirely too tempting for Gil to climb. “It looks like the back fence might need a new gate. You could definitely negotiate that with the seller.” The existing gate was listing on one hinge.
Bruno let Clarice do the talking, and she managed a stream of information that Bruno found fascinating. “It’s got an oil furnace with a water tank, which is going to save you a lot of money on hot water. My place has an electric heater, and too many hot showers run up the meter a lot. You’d want to replace those windows, probably, with something more thermally efficient. That’s the sort of point you can negotiate with the seller if they won’t budge on the price. This is definitely the original paneling from when it was built. A coat of paint would fix a lot of ills! If this was my house, I’d probably expand the bathroom into the laundry room. They’re just too tiny separated like that, and if everything was in one room you could put your towels in the dryer when you took a shower! It’s maybe not Martha Stewart’s method, but I like practical layouts.”
