Читать книгу Three Alarm Tenant - Christa Maurice - Страница 5

Chapter 1

Katherine Pelham hefted the hammer and pounded the For Rent sign into the frozen ground.

“Happy Val-En-Tine’s Day,” she emphasized each syllable with a thwack. A truck slowed on the street, but she resisted the urge to look. She’d probably smash her thumb. Already this morning, she’d stubbed her toe, spilled hot coffee, and ripped a hole in her skirt getting it out of the dryer. Going back to bed sounded ideal.

She stepped back to admire her handiwork. The sign wasn’t crooked and the post hadn’t snapped. The perverse Ohio weather that transformed her yard to concrete had warmed the air until she only needed a sweatshirt. With the apartment done, she needed a reliable tenant. Then she could handle the mortgage, the credit cards and her leftover college loans. She started toward the front door and stopped. It wasn’t her door anymore. Her apartment opened from the side.

The servants’ entrance.

Oh, she could have taken the first floor, but it still would be half the house. And the half closer to the basement spiders. She walked around the side and up her new steps. As she reached for the door, a car pulled into the drive.

A truck actually. A green pick-up. A tall, broad-shouldered man climbed out. He looked as if he’d stepped out of an action adventure movie.

“Hi. You have a place for rent?”

His warm tenor voice worked its way through her ears and made straight for other parts of her body. She nodded.

“Do you take pets?”

“What kind of pets?” she asked.

“A dog.”

A dog. She’d never had a dog and envied people who did. When other girls wanted ponies, she’d wanted a puppy. How wonderful would it be to have a dog romping in the back yard? How wonderful would it be to have this gorgeous man romping in the backyard with the dog? “What kind?”

“A big mutt.” He held his hand two feet above the ground. Katherine wondered if that meant head height or shoulder height. Either one wasn’t bad. Plenty to play with.

“Sure.”

“How much is it?”

“Six hundred.” Everybody said it was too low, but it sounded high to her. It covered the mortgage payment, freeing up her paycheck for other non-essentials like food.

“Plus utilities?”

She shook her head. “I cover utilities, but I control the thermostat.”

He nodded. “What’s the deposit?”

“One month’s rent.”

“And the pet deposit?”

Katherine bit her lip. Should she charge extra for pets? How much damage could it do? She supposed that depended on the animal, but the landlord book hadn’t mentioned that, and she didn’t want to take advantage. “Even for the dog.”

He blinked. “Wow. Can I see the place?”

“Now?” Katherine’s mind reeled. She’d just hammered the sign in the yard. She hadn’t even put a notice in the paper yet. Everyone warned her it might take a month or, God forbid two, before anyone answered her ad. The book said she might show it dozens of times before an acceptable tenant came along. She’d braced herself to show the apartment until summer. This could be another annoyance in an already bad day, or a sign her luck was turning.

“If you’ve got time,” he added.

“Of course.” She walked back down the steps and tried to get a better look at him. Did he look crazy? No, he looked nice. Tall, well-proportioned, dark blond hair. His expression seemed to settle into bright-eyed amusement, as if life entertained him. He filled out his blue fleece jacket nicely. She caught her breath as she stepped past him to the door, wanting to run her hands over his fleece to see how soft and warm it was. What had gotten hold of her? His height? She didn’t know many adult men anymore. Most of the males in her life were high school boys, or high school janitors who acted like juveniles.

“My name is Jack. Jack Conley,” he announced, holding out his hand.

She caught his gaze sweeping up her body. He was checking her out. For a split second it annoyed her, but pleasure swamped that reaction. She waited until his eyes met hers before shaking his hand. His eyes were extraordinary. Golden brown and smiling even when his face was serious. He had a good grip, firm, not crushing. His touch spread a liquid shiver up her arm.

“Katherine Pelham. Pleased to meet you,” she said, struggling to keep the tremor out of her voice.

“Pleased to meet you, too.” He raised one eyebrow.

She unlocked the front door. The foyer still looked strange with the stairs blocked off. It seemed cramped even though she'd painted the walls a pale tan to make it appear larger.

“The back door lets into the yard. This is the foyer, and there’s the living room.” She gestured through the archway as he pushed the door closed. She jumped away at the soft click. Her nerves hummed, but the sensation wasn’t unpleasant, which confused her more.

“What?” he asked. His hand rested on the doorknob.

“Nothing.” She stared at his hand. His fingers were long, graceful and ringless. She forced herself to meet his eyes.

He searched her face—his lips tightening to the closest thing she’d seen to a frown on him. “So. This is the foyer?”

Katherine forced herself to take a deep breath. She was acting like a fool. She couldn’t deny a certain sense of tension around him, but it didn’t feel like the tension of a scary situation. More like a warm ache she remembered feeling once or twice, a long time ago.

“It could be anything you want. It was the foyer before we divided the house. Through here is the kitchen.” She started down the hall, pointing to another door. “This leads to the basement. This is the bathroom.” She pushed open the bathroom door. “The shower’s behind the door. It’s very small.”

He crowded behind her to peer into the narrow bathroom, which she’d painted mint green to brighten the windowless space.

Katherine found herself leaning toward him rather than away. He smelled good. His firm jaw came to the top of her head.

And he was looking down at her with those amused eyes.

She frowned, but didn’t move. “It’s very small,” she repeated.

“It’s fine.”

She fled to the kitchen and waited for him, swearing she would gain control over this interview right now.

“This is the kitchen. The bathroom used to be part of the kitchen, so it was much larger. There’s plenty of room in the nook for a table, but the floor gets cold in the wintertime. I don’t think there's any insulation under there.”

She’d loved the big kitchen when they bought the house. She considered it the heart of the house. Now it was the smallest room because she’d had to carve out space for the bathroom. “Through this door is—was, the dining room. I suppose it would make a wonderful bedroom.” She blushed at the image of this room as a bedroom with him in it. She was developing some sort of obsession. Too many nights with a book and a bowl of soup. Nothing to do with the way he looked at her. Or the way she hoped he looked at her. She pushed open a door and stepped through it.

Jack crossed the room and peered at the inset china cabinet. He ran his finger along the dark mullion windows, studying the uneven glass. “Is this original?”

“As far as I know. The house was built in nineteen thirteen, and it was very fashionable back then to have built-in cabinets.” Katherine tried to pull herself together. First time in a long time around an attractive man, and she started babbling like a schoolgirl in a chance encounter with the captain of the football team. So what if he was handsome? So what if she could almost feel his strong hands gliding down her spine?

She clenched her teeth and walked out of the dining room, acutely aware of him behind her. “There's another little room back here. We used it for storage. It’s not insulated. Anything you put back here has to be able to take huge temperature fluctuations.” She tugged open the French door leading to the storeroom. It popped open and she stepped through. “That’s the back door. You could put in a doggie door, then your dog could get out if he needed to.”

“Archer would like that.”

Katherine found herself trapped between Jack and the door, struggling with the bolt. Blood rushed in her ears, and she couldn’t remember when she’d last taken a decent breath. She seized the doorknob and yanked.

The door burst open. She stumbled backward. For an eternal moment, Jack’s arms wrapped around her shoulders. Heat rushed to her face as she felt his hard chest through his coat. She wanted to sink into his embrace and stay there.

“Sticky door,” he said, setting her on her feet. His hand trailed up her arm.

Katherine tried not to sound like a breathless fool. “It’s worse in the summer when the wood swells.” She pushed through the storm door and took a large step away to gain some room. Unfortunately, two feet of porch wasn’t enough to slow her pulse or clear her mind. “This is the backyard. It’s fenced and it goes all the way back to the alley.” She pointed to the tree line.

“Big yard.”

“We loved it when we bought the house, but we never got around to working on it. Our neighbor has a beautiful lawn. I have moss. Feel free to look around.” She hurried inside and perched on what remained of the stairs.

Not long ago, these two steps had led to a landing and another nine steps to the upstairs. Now they led to a wall. On the other side was her front door, amputating her new home from what she’d always considered its heart. The symbolism was ironic. Katherine leaned back, trying not to think of Jack Conley, who she could hear walking around the kitchen and dining room.

It would be nice to have a tenant by the first of the month and to have a guy with a dog living downstairs for security purposes. That the potential tenant was gorgeous and that she’d been alone too long had nothing to do with the choice. This was business.

“Mrs. Pelham?”

Katherine looked up. He was admiring her legs. A giggle gathered in her throat. She stood, commanding those legs to hold her. “Ms.”

His eyes swept up her body again. Low heat developed in her belly. “Ms. Pelham, then. It’s a great place. Do you have an application?”

“Oh yes. Give me a minute, and I’ll get it.” She spun around to dart upstairs, checking herself before she ran into the wall. This chopped-up house would take getting used to. “I'll be back.”

Katherine slowed to a walk as she stepped off the porch steps. Why was she running? It was business. Just because he looked at her like a woman and not like a teacher, or a friend, or a conquest didn’t mean anything. She walked to her door and opened it. The applications lay on the steps. Without the wall, she could have handed him one through the banister. She heard Jack walking around, but knew she wouldn’t be able to hear him upstairs. If she wanted to spy, she’d to have to sit at the bottom of the stairs. Or position herself at one of the heat vents.

Katherine shook her head. Why was she thinking of spying on her tenant? She didn’t even have a tenant yet. She picked up one application, took a deep breath and went back around the house to the first floor. He waited in the foyer studying the cracks in the ceiling.

“Here you are,” she said. “Drop it off in my mail box anytime.”

“Thanks.” Jack folded the paper and slipped it into his coat pocket. “You live upstairs?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “I’ll have this back today.”

“In a big hurry to move?” Katherine tensed.

“It’s Archer. I just got him, and I can’t have pets at my apartment. My landlord wants him out by the end of the month.”

“I see. Well, you can drop the application off in the mailbox whenever.”

“Thanks.” He held out his hand. “Nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you, too.” She kept her composure when his hand enveloped hers, but it wasn’t easy. “Good-bye.”

He grinned. “See ya.”

Katherine locked the front door as he backed his truck out of the drive. She’d forgotten to tell him about the garage and the basement, but it hadn’t gone too badly. Chances were excellent he wouldn’t bring the application back, and if he did, that he wouldn’t be a good tenant. The book specifically discussed researching prospective tenants. Once they moved in, getting them out was impossible. She suspected evicting Mr. Conley would be the least of her troubles.

Living in half the house felt strange. Back in her own apartment, she turned toward her kitchen at the top of the stairs. This had been a four-bedroom house. Now, one was her bedroom, another her living room and the third room was her kitchen. Only her office stayed the same in the fourth bedroom. Her office didn’t have bad memories attached to it, so she hadn’t changed it.

She wandered back into the hall and studied the pictures on the wall. She didn’t know why she hadn’t taken them down. Photos of her ‘happy’ life with a hero. Getting engaged, college graduation, buying a home on a police force mortgage assistance program. All quite dandy until Gary was killed, leaving her with a mortgage she couldn’t afford on her teacher’s salary. And all Gary’s cop buddies lost interest in his not-quite-widow. Four years later, she only rated an occasional drive by.

That mistake she wouldn’t make again. The next time she married, if she married, she refused to marry a hero.

* * * *

When Jack got home, he greeted Archer, cleaned up the newspaper Archer had shredded all over the apartment, and had sat down to fill out the application when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Jack. It’s Kevin. There’s a place for rent on Jefferson.”

“On Jefferson? Did you get a number?” Jack frowned. He hadn’t noticed another For Rent sign on Jefferson, but all the way home, his eyes had been full of Katherine Pelham.

“No number on the sign.”

“White Colonial?”

“Yeah.”

Jack nodded. “I looked at it on the way home.”

“And?”

“Nice. Big fenced-in yard, and a door that lets into a little room at the back. She said I could put in a dog door.”

“And the deposit?”

“One month’s rent. Nothing extra for Archer. I don’t think she’s done this before. It’s cheap. I want to get the application back to her today.” Jack scanned the next question. Employer. While he talked, he wrote in ‘Arden Fire Department.’

“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with it?”

“I’m sure. She’s just new at this. I looked the place over thoroughly. It needs work, but I’ll talk her into letting me do it.”

“Or you could buy a house, and then you wouldn’t have to ask.”

Jack shot the receiver a dirty look, knowing his friend expected one. “It takes a long time to buy a house. I need a place for Archer now.”

“The landlord is a woman?”

Jack felt a spark of desire he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Yeah.” Definitely a woman. Long auburn hair. Great curves. Sparkling chocolate brown eyes. A little formal, but vulnerable too. Just his type.

“Good looking?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Anybody we know?”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her around. It’s only a couple blocks from the station.” He wondered about the other half of her ‘we’. Was it an old family home? Or was she divorced and saddled with a house she couldn’t afford? Or did some other little tangle cause the tenseness around her eyes?

“So you can run home when you forget your St. Florian medal.” Kevin chuckled.

“Very funny.” Jack shifted to read the next line of the application. References. “Can I use you as a reference?”

“She asked for references? I guess so. Do I have to tell the truth?”

“Only if it’s good.”

“Should I tell her what a hero you are? How you run into burning buildings to save kitties who have already vacated the premises?”

“That was a long time ago, and I thought the woman said kiddies. You’re welcome to tell her how much you admire me for my sheer masculinity though.” Jack filled in Kevin’s name and number on the last line. Mrs. Wilson would give him a reference, and Dale was so happy he’d taken Archer that he’d sell Ms. Pelham on Jack without encouragement. Still, he’d give them both a call to let them know.

“You know you can’t date the landlady, right?”

“Ha ha.”

“Hey, you coming over to help me with my plumbing tomorrow?”

“Okay if I bring Archer?”

“Sure. See ya tomorrow.”

“See ya.” Jack hung up and double-checked the phone numbers. Then, he called Mrs. Wilson and Dale to make sure they didn’t mind being his other references. Mrs. Wilson was happy to help, and Dale promised to convince her Archer was well behaved.

Jack inspected the application, wondering how to skew the decision in his favor. The apartment was perfect. And the landlady wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

Archer put his big head on Jack’s leg. Jack looked at him. He looked like a Rottweiller, but he didn’t have the typical markings and his face was longer and leaner. He couldn’t be happy in this little apartment. The apartment on Jefferson would be big enough for him to move around without bumping into things and had lots of yard to chase squirrels in. “What do you want, boy? Do you want to go meet the landlady?”

Archer’s ears perked up. All he heard was ‘go.’

“All right, come on. Let’s go.”

Archer danced around the tiny kitchen, crashing into the cupboards and the table. Jack grabbed the leash and his keys. She’d seemed interested in the dog. She might like the idea of having one around. Maybe meeting him would convince the lovely Ms. Pelham.

Aw, who was he kidding? He wasn’t going back to drop off the application as soon as possible, or so she could meet Archer. He was going back so he could see her.

* * * *

Katherine gathered up the graded quizzes and put them into her book bag. She hadn’t assigned enough homework last week. She’d finished grading, and the weekend wasn’t halfway over. What was she supposed to do with the rest of it? She grimaced. Maybe she should devote time to her bustling social life. Why, she had two books checked out of the library. That alone was a huge time commitment. She moved away from her desk and studied the room.

She’d lined the walls with shelves constructed of milk crates and boards. Most of the shelves bowed under the weight of books. Shortly after they bought the house, she’d talked to the school janitor about building real shelves, but Gary nixed the idea. He said he’d make them himself. He never had. Time ran out.

Katherine hung her book bag on the doorknob. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe the office did have bad memories. She wandered to her living room, trying to think of some way to waste the rest of the weekend. Her friends told her to move on. It had been four years. Get out and date. Have fun. Start over. The whole idea made her feel ill.

She’d never been outgoing, and the notion of hanging around a smoky bar trying to meet a nice, intelligent guy who wasn’t trying to get himself killed for a living didn’t sound like fun. She’d rather live alone. There had to be other ways to meet men who weren’t heroes, teachers or, heaven forbid, school janitors. Maybe one would move in downstairs.

Like the guy she’d shown the apartment to this morning. He seemed nice and looked even nicer. She could recall the clever glint in his eyes and the timbre of his voice. Wrapping her arms around herself, she remembered how it felt when he caught her after the door burst open. The way his arms supported her. If he brought back the application, she’d know about his job. And if he moved in right downstairs, something might happen.

A vehicle pulled into the driveway. Jack Conley’s truck. What was he doing back already? Was the apartment that much of a bargain, or was he desperate to move? He climbed out, pushing something back inside, and closed the door. Immediately, a dog’s head poked out of the open driver’s side window.

Archer. At least that’s what she thought the name was.

He was big and black. Exactly the kind of dog a guy like Jack would have. And exactly the kind she’d always wanted to play with and have patrolling the backyard.

The sharp knock at the door startled her, even though she'd expected it. Katherine took a deep breath. A gorgeous man with a great dog, and he wanted to rent her first floor so much he’d returned the application before the ink was dry. Perfect, right? There had to be a catch. This was her life. There was always a catch. She answered the door trying to appear calm.

“Hello.”

He stood holding the paperwork out. “I filled this out. I thought I’d see if you were home.”

Katherine took it without looking, her heart fighting up her throat. “Thank you. Is that your dog?”

Jack glanced at the truck. “That’s Archer. You want to meet him?”

“Sure.” Katherine tried not to sound eager, but failed.

Jack led the way down the steps. Archer’s face swiveled from one to the other, his long pink tongue lolling out of his mouth. Jack scratched his ears and the dog closed his eyes, leaning into Jack’s hand. “Archer, this is Ms. Pelham. Ms. Pelham, this is Archer.”

“Call me Katherine.” She clasped her hands behind her back, afraid of what they might do given the opportunity. He was wearing the blue fleece jacket again. She wanted to pet him as much as she wanted to pet his dog. Maybe more.

“Katherine.” He grinned, leaning against the side of the truck with his hands in his pockets. “You can pet him. He doesn’t bite.”

She reached out to the dog cautiously. She’d been bitten before, but this dog didn’t look as if he would. As the tips of her fingers touched his head, he twisted and licked her hand with his sloppy tongue.

“Oh, thanks.” She wiped her hand on her jeans before trying again. This time Archer allowed her to stroke the top of his head. His short fur felt smooth and slick under her fingers. “He’s very pretty. Did you say you just got him?”

“A friend of mine had a kid. They were afraid to have a big dog around a baby.”

Katherine rubbed Archer’s ears. “I’m sure he’d be fine. He looks so gentle. He’d be like Carl in the picture books.” As if to emphasize the point, Archer pressed his cheek against her hand and whimpered. Katherine laughed.

“My friend’s wife wasn’t so sure, so I said I’d take him. My landlord isn’t as happy about the arrangement. I have until the end of the month to get rid of Archer or find a new apartment.”

“So little time?”

Jack shrugged. “He doesn’t want the dog in the building.” He fished his keys out of his coat pocket. “Well, we shouldn’t keep you. You probably have Valentine’s plans.”

Katherine pursed her lips. “Not me.” Although walking up to the grocery store and buying a quart of ice cream for dinner sounded like a great idea.

“Really? I’m not doing anything either. You want to grab dinner? Nothing fancy, Wendy’s or something.”

“Are you serious?” Katherine warmed at the idea of seeing Jack again today. She didn’t know the appropriate words to describe how much she wanted to have dinner with him, fast food wrappers and all.

“Sure.” Jack shrugged. “Us singles should stick together.”

“I don’t know. We just met.” Katherine reined herself in. What was going on here? Did he want the place that much?

“I don’t bite, either. I can’t stand to see a beautiful woman alone on Valentine’s Day.” Jack glanced at his watch. “Listen, I have to take Archer to the park, but I’ll drop him home by about five and pick you up around six.”

Katherine looked up at him. His expression didn’t give her any real hints. This morning he hadn’t known she existed and now, based on two short conversations about an apartment, he was asking her to dinner. What if he didn’t need to move? What if he did think she was beautiful? And if he didn’t think she was beautiful and wanted the apartment, did it matter? She didn’t want to spend this holiday with Ben and Jerry’s again. She scratched behind Archer’s ear. “Okay. I’ll be ready at six. We’ll go Dutch.”

“Dutch? What does that mean? It’s not something rotten in the state of Denmark, is it?”

“Each pay our own way.” Katherine stifled the urge to giggle. He couldn’t possibly know a Shakespeare joke would win her over.

“If that’s what you want. I’ll see you then.”

Katherine stepped back so he could climb into his truck. While she waited, she skimmed his application. When she got to the employer line, air vanished from the atmosphere. “You work for the fire department?”

“Yeah.” He pulled the door closed. “I work up at nine.”

“You’re a fireman.” She said, hoping he wasn’t, but pretty sure it didn’t matter. He was one of the brotherhood. They were all heroes, or wanted to be.

“Firefighter,” he corrected.

“What?” She looked up from the traitorous application, blinking.

“Firefighter.” He smiled. “I’m not actually on fire, and I do my best to stay that way.”

“Oh. Firefighter. Right around the corner, you say.”

“Up on Garfield Street where Worcester dead ends.”

She nodded, but her head didn't feel attached to her neck. Naturally. The moment she saw him, she'd hit it in the head. The reason he looked as if he'd stepped out of an action adventure movie was because he had. His whole life was an action adventure movie. Cue soundtrack. Would this be the sweeping hero's theme or the ominous danger variation? Perhaps the comedy music. “I know where it is.” Drawing a deep breath, she pursed her lips. “Well, I guess I'll expect you at six.”

“I’ll be back at six. See ya then.”

“Yes.” She stepped back until her shoe bumped the bottom step. A firefighter. Even better than chasing armed bad guys, he ran into burning buildings. She must have a tattoo on her forehead, Heroes Only—normal guys need not apply. Wasn’t there one normal, intelligent guy in the entire city who would cross her path long enough to make an impression? Jack backed his truck down the driveway, pausing at the bottom long enough to wave before driving off. Katherine waved back. A firefighter. They were probably worse than cops.

Still, he might be a good tenant. He made enough money, judging by Gary’s city salary. If he was noisy, he’d be at work for long shifts. And he had a great dog. Who said they couldn’t be friends? Maybe he had friends who weren’t firemen—firefighters.

Katherine snorted at the likelihood and turned back to the house. At least now she knew what the catch was.

* * * *

“What just happened?” Jack asked Archer.

Archer looked at him.

“One minute she’s all for going out with me and the next, Wham! She’s gone. I thought she’d walked back into the house and left her body behind.”

Archer snuffled.

“I like her, buddy.” Jack chewed his lip. “I wonder if she’s always stiff or if it’s nerves. She's too cute to be snooty.”

Archer looked out the passenger window.

“Some help you are.” Jack sighed. “Well, she liked you. She said you were pretty. What do you think about being pretty?”

Archer ignored him, demonstrating his entire opinion of his prettiness.

“Maybe if she likes you enough, she’ll give me a chance, too. What do you think?”

Archer stood up on the seat still looking out the passenger window, offering Jack a view of his docked tail.

“Thanks a lot, pal.” Jack patted the dog. She’d been adorably pleased to see Archer, but a little suspicious of his dinner invitation. He knew he’d rushed it, but the delighted flush on her cheeks was worth the risk, and she’d agreed. He’d have to remember the word she used. Dutch. He might get another blush if he worked it into conversation.

Then, she’d looked at the application, and her eyes went big as saucers. What had she seen?

He had one whole dinner to figure it out. After that, he might never see her again. Providing she didn’t call off the dinner.

Now he wasn’t sure which he wanted more, the woman or the apartment.