All of a sudden, the whole place is illuminated and I’m speechless. Not for long. “It’s beautiful.” And it is. “Seriously, Billy. Wow.”
The living room, dining room, and open kitchen are the first things I see. Everything is done in whites, grays, and touches of blue and black. It’s sleek, modern, and masculine. It’s obvious a woman hasn’t gotten in here to change things up. As for me, I’ve no intention to change a thing. Well, except to add some color. Just a tad.
“There are two bedrooms down that hallway as I mentioned. They each have en suite bathrooms.” He points to his left. “And there’s an office through there and a third bathroom.” He points to the right. “There’s a small gym on the first floor.”
“Is laundry in the basement or do you have to use a laundromat?”
“No. Laundry is in the hall closet next to the third bathroom.”
“You have laundry here?” I say with awe. “This place is the bomb.”
Billy chuckles. “I’m glad you think so. Let me show you to your room.” He stops and winks. “Unless you want to share mine.”
“Too soon, William.”
“It’s Billy.”
“Right.Billy.”
I follow him down the hallway to the bedrooms. He stops in front of a set of double doors. “This is my room. You know… if you decide you want to visit in the night.”
“Noted.”
Several more steps and he pushes open a door to a huge bedroom with a king-size bed, two floor-to-ceiling windows and a set of French doors that lead to what? “Is that a balcony?”
“Yep. A small one. I have one too, and there’s another one off the living room.”
“Holy shit, son. This place is amazing.”
“Yeah?” He smiles brightly. “You like it?”
“What’s not to like? You have laundryinthe condo.”
“That’s all it took to impress you? A washer and a dryer?”
I shrug. “What can I say? I’m a simple girl.”
“Bullshit.” He laughs. “I have a feeling you’re going to be the most complicated woman I’ve ever met.”
I shrug again. “We’ll see.”
“Yeah,” he says as he leans down to kiss the top of my head. “Why don’t you get settled and I’ll order us some food. Thai okay?”
“Oh, God. I haven’t had Thai in forever. Shrimp pad thai, please. And any appetizers you choose would be a bonus and very much appreciated.”
“Got it. Come out when you’re done in here.”
“I will. I’m just going to take a quick shower and I’ll be out. I’m beat. I’ll do more organizing tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
After he leaves, I turn three hundred and sixty degrees to take in the bedroom that has got to be twenty feet square. It’sthatbig. I open a door next to the bathroom and gasp. “A fucking walk-in closet, bitches.” I’ve never had one of those. I drag my suitcase and duffle into the closet all while scooting my plastic tub along with my foot. Unzipping the suitcase, I grab a pair of pajamas and a clean pair of panties. From the duffle, I get my bathroom supplies, and from the plastic tub, I pull out my pillow and my most prized possession: the quilt made by Grandma Foster. She gave it to me when I graduated from high school. She was pretty old by then, but it didn’t prevent her from making me one of the most beautifully detailed quilts I’ve ever seen. It’s got every color in the rainbow. She designed it that way because she said I was “as colorful as they come.” She meant it as a compliment. She told me so. There’s also tiny hand-done stitching all over it. If you look really closely, you can see words she stitched into the fabric. Words like love, family, and, my favorite, “Jo is so very special.” That one is in the upper right corner and so tiny no one would ever spot it, but she pulled me aside and showed that one to me saying, “You are special. Jo. More special than you’ll ever know.”
Well, crap on a cracker. I’m going to cry. I can’t though. Thai food will be here any minute. I need to get it together. Anyway, the blanket, also known as my wooby, goes everywhere with me. I can’t believe I left it at my folk’s place when I went over to Clancy’s. My head wasn’t in the game, I guess. Not surprising.
Once I have all of my gear in hand, I step back into the bedroom and toss the pillow and wooby there. Making my way into the bathroom, I stop in my tracks when I see not only a huge shower, but a deep, jetted tub as well. “Fucking heaven.” That’s what this is.
It takes me several minutes to figure out how to get the shower going. Once I do, I strip and step into the spray. “Oh. My. God.” There are three shower heads, and they’re all pointing to different parts of my body. “I’m never getting out of this shower.”
