“Ali, I’m not just offering you a place to keep your things. I’m offering you a place to live.”
“What?”
“Follow me.”
Live? As in...live? With him? In his house? With him?
“I don’t understand.”
He kept moving, forcing her to trail after him. They entered the house through a mudroom. To the left was a large laundry room and in front of them a gorgeous kitchen.
There were huge windows and dark cabinets and an island the size of her former bed and gleaming appliances, some of which she didn’t even recognize.
“I don’t cook much, but even I could shine in here,” she said. “It’s massive. This whole house is gigantic. How long have you lived here?”
“A couple of years. It’s hard to find a small house with a four-car garage. Plus I figured one day I’d settle down.”
Lucky lady, she thought as they continued through the downstairs. There was a big great room just beyond the kitchen.
He went to the far end of the kitchen, down a narrow hall, then pushed open a door.
“Mother-in-law suite,” he said, motioning for her to go in.
The small sitting area had a sofa and a TV on a credenza. Beyond that was a bedroom with a queen-size bed, a dresser, another TV and a desk by the window. The closet was huge, as was the bathroom.
“It’s yours for as long as you want it,” he told her. “My bedroom is upstairs and on the other side of the house, so you’ll never hear me. You can use the kitchen, family room, laundry, whatever you want. You can come and go as you please.”
She looked at the pretty lavender bedspread and the dresser with big drawers and the bathroom with double sinks and a jumbo shower.
“You’re willing to rent this to me?” she asked. “Seriously?”
“Not rent, Ali. You can stay here. I want you to stay here, as my guest, for as long as you’d like.” He shoved his hands into his front pockets. “There are no strings. You have my word.”
“Strings?”
“I don’t want you to think I’m coming on to you.”
She laughed. “Trust me, I would never think that. But you can’t be serious. I can’t just live here.”
“Why not? I have the room and you need a place. We get along. I want to do this. I want to know that you’re safe.”
He was the nicest man ever, she thought, fighting the sudden burning in her eyes. Glen had been so awful and Daniel was his exact opposite.
“Come see the rest of the downstairs,” he said.
She took one last look at the beautiful room, told herself she really couldn’t, before following him back through the kitchen. He led her into the big great room with a TV over the fireplace.
“There’s a media room upstairs,” he told her.
She smiled. “Of course there is.”
She saw a small formal living room and a much bigger dining room, both of which were empty.
“You’re such a guy. You have no furniture in your dining room but you have a media room.”
He flashed her a grin. “Priorities.”
They went into a good-sized office. There was a desk, a couple of leather chairs and built-in cabinets with bookshelves covering one wall.
The shelves were filled with dozens and dozens of trophies and other awards. On the opposite wall were pictures of Daniel racing or riding, along with photos of him in the winner’s circle, looking tired, dirty and triumphant. Ali crossed to the shelves.
“Look at all these,” she said, reading some of the plaques. “You’re so famous.”
“It was a while ago.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Please don’t downplay your success around me. I’m impressed. I wish I’d known about this before. I feel like when Glen and I were together, I barely knew you at all.” She decided to tell him the truth. “Actually, I thought you didn’t like me.”
His steady gaze never wavered. “Why would you think that?”
“I’m not sure. I guess I wasn’t comfortable around you. I am now, obviously. I can gush and fangirl all over you.”
“Not necessary. Ali, I meant what I said. Come live here for a few months while you figure out what you want to do next. I’m barely around and you’ll have plenty of space and privacy.”
“Your women won’t mind?” With a guy like Daniel, there were always women.
“I’m between entanglements.”
“For now, but later there will be someone.” Not anything she wanted to dwell on but there was no point in avoiding reality. Daniel was the kind of guy to have a beautiful woman in his life. Not like a player—she didn’t think of him as that. But what was there not to like?
Back to the issue at hand, she told herself. Living here. To be honest, her options were limited. She really didn’t want to pick some crummy apartment simply because it was available in her budget. If she had some time to pay off the credit cards and build up her savings, she would sleep easier, that was for sure, and moving in with her mother was not an option. Finola’s situation was, ah, fluid and Zennie’s place was smaller than hers.
“If you’re sure,” she began.
“I am. Let’s say you can stay here a year, rent-free. After that, I’ll toss you out.”
“A year? That’s too long.”
“Then go when you’d like, but as far as I’m concerned, you have a year.”
“That’s too generous. I’ll have to pay something.”
“You really don’t.”
“At least half the utilities. I’d offer to cook, but neither of us want to depend on that.”
He hesitated a second. “Fine. Half the utilities,” he agreed. “I’ll email you a bill.”
She worried her bottom lip. It was the perfect solution, at least for her.
“Okay,” she said. “Thank you. I’m very appreciative.”
“I’m happy to have you here. Now you said you had something going on with your mom this weekend. Let’s get you moved in next Saturday. I know a couple of guys who can help. We’ll get you packed and moved in on Saturday so you can settle and unpack on Sunday.”
“Perfect. I’ll need to figure out what I’m keeping out and what goes in storage.”
Not that she would need much in his place, which was convenient considering she didn’t have that much left.
“Then we have a deal?” he asked.
“We do. Thank you, Daniel.”
“No problem, but do me a favor. Try not to sell any more of your furniture.”
She groaned. “That wasn’t my fault.”
He looked at her.
“Fine. It was a little my fault, and yes, I’ll stop.” She smiled. “Maybe I’ll get so inspired by your kitchen that I’ll take a class.”
“Whatever makes you happy.”
You do.
The thought was so unexpected, she tried not to fall over from shock. No, no and no. She was not interested in Daniel. No way, nohow. She had flaws but she wasn’t an idiot. Not only were there a thousand reasons not to get involved with her ex-fiancé’s brother, it was an awful way to repay someone who had only been nice. Super nice. Nope, she wasn’t into him at all. Not even a little. Really.
Chapter Thirteen
“Your blood work results are excellent,” Dr. McQueen told Zennie. “You’re not on birth control, you’ve tested negative for any STDs. From a health perspective, there’s no reason to think you can’t carry a healthy baby to term.”
“But?” Zennie asked her gynecologist. “I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
Dr. McQueen was a sensible-looking woman in her early forties. She’d been Zennie’s doctor for the past five years. Zennie dutifully saw her for a checkup every twelve months or so, turned down an offer of birth control pills or an IUD and went on her way. She wasn’t due for a baseline mammogram for years, never had any “girl” issues and hadn’t much thought about getting pregnant until a couple of weeks ago.
“Pregnancy is natural and the majority of women go through their time with only minor inconveniences. Having said that, it is a stress on the body. There are major physical and hormonal changes that require support and lifestyle changes. Once you deliver the baby, you’ll feel like your old self in a few months but your body will take a full year to heal. There are also risks with pregnancy—I would assume minor risks in your case, but risks nonetheless. And at the end of the day, you will have gone through all that just to give your baby to someone else and it will biologically be your baby.”
She softened her words with a smile. “Zennie, what you’re offering your friend is amazing, but you have to be sure.”
“I appreciate the honesty,” Zennie told her. “I really do, and you’re right—it’s a lot for my body to go through. But I love Bernie and I want to do this for her and Hayes. I’m young, I’m healthy and I have no plans to have kids myself, at least not right now. So I don’t think giving up the baby is going to be hard for me. I want to do this.”
She’d signed the paperwork and dropped it off with Bernie. Now all she needed was a clean bill of health and she would be good to go on getting pregnant.