The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron

Author:Chelsea M. Cameron [Cameron, Chelsea M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-31T18:19:56+00:00

* * *

Iris found her bed at the next store. The frame was completely different from mine, curving iron that looked almost antique with swirls and curves and small flowers. A bed fit for a princess.

“This is it,” she said with a sigh, gazing at it in adoration.

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

She beamed and I told myself not to smile back at her and failed.

“I’ll just have to teach Dolly not to chew it. She’s a good girl but she goes wild sometimes when she’s bored.” Iris ordered the bed and we wandered around the store, picking out lamps and side tables and talking about paint colors.

“We can have a painting party. It’s hard to get it done all by yourself, especially with that whole house to do,” she said. “I’ll come over and help in my capacity as your interior designer.”

She was so happy that she was glowing. I walked close to her, feeling bathed in her light. Other people noticed her too. Heads would turn as she walked by, and it wasn’t just my imagination.

We decided on food again and headed to a chain restaurant/bar nearby to get chicken wings and cheap beer.

“I have a confession to make,” Iris said when we were handed the massive drink menus.

“What’s that?” I scanned to see what kind of beer I wanted to order.

“I kind of hate beer,” she said, and I set my menu down.

“You do? Why do you keep drinking it with me?” I had no indication that she felt this way.

“Because I didn’t want to be rude?” she said with a sheepish smile.

“It’s not rude to tell someone you don’t like something, even if they offer it to you. Jesus, Iris. Don’t do things you don’t want to do.”

She sighed and looked at her menu. “That’s easy enough to say, but not so easy to practice.”

“Then you just need more practice. Do you want a beer?”

She looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I nodded at her to tell me. “No, thank you. I don’t like beer.”

“See? How hard was that?”

She laughed and shook her head at me.

One beer, one mojito, a bucket of wings, and a basket of fries later, I was tapped out. Chronic sleep deprivation was finally taking its toll on me.

“You ready to go, or did you want to look at some paint colors?” Iris asked.

“I’m done for today. Maybe next weekend?” I shouldn’t be making so many plans with her, let alone hiring her for a project that was going to take a considerable amount of time and would require us to constantly interact.

I hadn’t made so many bad decisions at once in years. It was a trend I needed to work on.

“Works for me. It’s nice to get out of the house and not be tending to my parents. It wears on me after a while.” She did look tired. Add up working so many hours at The Lobster Pot and trying to get her parents to eat vegetables and helping her dad and dealing with being back to a place she didn’t want to be and there was a lot.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.