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I nodded once. “Good morning.”

“Are you… do you have plans for today?” His brow was furrowed, worry lines creasing his forehead.

I shook my head. “Not especially. Why?”

The look on his face was one of relief as his features smoothed out. “The real estate agent said we could come look at the space today. If you still want to, I mean.”

I brightened and nodded again. “Yeah. I’d love that. What time?”

He glanced at the time on his phone. “A little over an hour from now.”

“Perfect.”

We were both silent for a few moments before Ellis gestured toward the coffee machine. “Coffee?”

I couldn’t stop the soft, surprised smile on my face. “You made me coffee?”

He shrugged and grunted. “It’s not a big deal.”

Maybe it wasn’t, but it was thoughtful, and for that, I was appreciative.

Around an hour later, we were in Ellis’s beat-up car, making our way into the downtown area of Pine Bluff. He parked on the street across from the empty storefront and turned the car off, but didn’t make a move to get out.

“Ready?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know.” His eyebrows were pulled together again.

“You look worried.”

His shoulders dropped a little and he nodded. “What if it’s not the right time? What if I rent this place and things go south?”

“You’re not committing to anything by just looking at it.”

He nodded once and exhaled slowly. “Good point. Let’s go.”

We got out of the car and walked across the street where we found the real estate agent waiting on the sidewalk just outside of the space.

The agent, a tall, stocky guy with short, dirty blond hair, reached out and shook Ellis’s hand. “Ellis? I’m Warren.”

“Good to meet you. This is Kieran. He’s a friend of my sister’s. Brought him for moral support.”

Warren gave me a bright smile and shook my hand as well. “Great to meet you, Kieran. Let’s go inside.” He pulled a key ring out of his pocket and slid one into the lock on the door.

We stepped into the vacant space, which felt vast, and Warren flipped the switch to turn the lights on. There were high ceilings, which made the space a little echoey, and ugly gray commercial grade carpet. The walls were painted in seafoam green, which worked in someone’s house, but in the empty shop, it just felt artificially cheery. The impact was amplified by the bright fluorescent lights overhead. The space was mostly one huge empty room, with two doors toward the back, which I assumed were restrooms, an office, or both.

I looked to Ellis for his reaction. His expression was neutral, lips pressed together tightly, and he looked around, taking it all in.

“What do you think?” I asked quietly.

He looked at me and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. It’s… intense.”

I nodded. “It is. But just think about it. We can rip up this carpet. Put in tile, something easier to clean. You can add half walls here and here,” I said, walking around and pointing. “That way you have a little waiting area if you need one. Or a quiet space to sit and draw. And your table could go here. You’ll be able to put whatever you want on the walls, a mural maybe or we can just paint them a neutral gray if you don’t want to do anything special. And back here, we can wall off another space if you want an office area.”

I turned toward Ellis to get his reaction and noticed the small smile on his face.

“I’m doing it again, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”

He held up a hand and shook his head. “Don’t apologize. This is great. Anything else?” When I didn’t answer, he took a breath. “We could put a TV here, right? So clients have something to watch while I work.”