As I typed into my laptop to bring the listing up on my screen, I asked, “What is this business you want to start again?”
She began talking about some idea of hers to make dog biscuits with peanut butter in them like her two Chihuahuas loved, but I stopped listening a few sentences in. I always hated those dogs when we were together. She’d bring them on our dates, and it never failed whenever she had her head turned, one of the damn things would come up out of her oversized purse and bite me.
Thank God she knew better than to bring them here to my home. That’s all I needed. I already had enough hassle with a kid. I didn’t need two yapping dogs around too.
An hour later, she breezed out of my office, happier than when she walked in and just how I prefer my clients to be when they leave an appointment with me. I made a few notes about the property in Amanda’s file and then walked over to the window to see if Tia and Grace were still outside.
Oddly enough, I felt disappointed when I didn’t see them. I didn’t know why. It’s not like any of us were close. In fact, I wasn’t close to anyone.
I pushed that ridiculous thought out of my mind and made my way to the kitchen to get lunch. I walked in and saw Tia sitting at the table reading a book, and for some reason, I couldn’t stop myself from mentioning part of what Amanda had said about her.
“My client thought you were another niece of mine. You must have looked very young to her,” I said with a chuckle.
As I walked to the refrigerator, I heard her say, “Well, I guess a man your age could have a niece my age, so maybe she was only stating the obvious.”
Slamming the door, I spun around to face her. “I don’t know how old you think I am, but I’m not even forty. I’m barely thirty-five, so the idea that I could have a niece your age is ridiculous.”
Tia carefully set her book on the kitchen table and nodded. “Your sister could be much older than you. Maybe you were a late-in-life baby for your parents.”
“Well, she isn’t and I wasn’t,” I said, correcting her even as my temper began to rise.
Standing up, she picked up her book and shrugged. “You act much older than your age, so you can’t blame me for thinking you were in your mid-forties.”
“You know, you might want to try to show some respect. I am your boss,” I said, furious by this time.
“I’ll tell you what, Mr. Allen. Since it seems like you don’t plan to fire me, I’ll take that criticism if you’ll take mine. Respect isn’t just for bosses. It’s for little girls who cared enough to make you and purple and silver macaroni picture too.”
I watched her walk out into the hallway, leaving me stunned and feeling like I’d just been slapped across the face. Not only didn’t she like or respect me, but she thought I was old.
Mid-fucking-forties old.
Chapter Five
Tia
After an early morningdrizzle that evaporated as soon as the warmth of the day settled in, Grace and I decided to take a walk through the neighborhood to get to know it better. Hand in hand, we strolled down the streets around Mr. Allen’s house. Each home in the area had all the hallmarks of opulence like his home, and as she and I took in all the sights and sounds, I told her about my childhood growing up in Brooklyn, a very different place compared to this one.
“Was it noisy?” Grace asked after the lone car on our journey whizzed by us.
I thought about that for a few seconds and nodded. “Sort of. I think it was just that there were so many more people around than here. Like you see how there’s all this space between houses around here? Like everyone has big yards and huge walls and fences around their homes? That isn’t how it is where I come from. We lived in a little house compared to your uncle’s. It was my mother, my father, my sister, and me. We didn’t really have much of a yard, but we had a little one where we would sit and play for hours.”
“What’s your sister’s name?” she asked with a look of utter curiosity in her eyes.
“Sara. My mother has a thing for the letter A,” I said with a laugh.
Grace didn’t understand what I thought was funny, of course, since she was only five, but I had a feeling she understood quite clearly that she wished she had someone close to her age like a sister to play with. I’d never met an only child who didn’t wonder if life would have been better if they had a sister or brother to play with instead of always being alone.
After a minute or so, she said quietly, “I wish my mommy had a sister for me. Then I’d have someone to play with.”
I squeezed her hand and swung our joined arms out in front of us. “Well, you have me. What do you want to do? You tell me, and I’ll make it happen.”
Grace pointed her little forefinger toward the woods in front of us at the end of Revere Road. “Can we go for a walk in there? I can pick up leaves and acorns. There aren’t any left in the yard.”
Swiveling my head left and right to check the area for anyone who might look like they would take advantage of a young woman and a little girl, I saw no one. I didn’t want to tell her no since I said I’d make whatever she wanted to do happen, but taking her into the woods hadn’t been in my mind when I made that promise.
Nevertheless, I nodded and smiled down at her. “Sure!”
When we reached the edge of the trees, she eagerly began pulling on my arm to get me to move faster, but we had some prep to do before we walked in there. “Not so fast, Grace. We need to tuck your pants into your socks first.”