Impulsive (Reach out to Me) (9 page)

              “Yes sir,” she said sarcastically, stiffening up and offering him a salute. “I did my homework.”

              “You’ve also got your monthly income and expenses mapped?” he asked, impressed.

              “I had some spare time at work today,” Kara said with a shrug. “Don’t look so surprised that I’m amazing.”

              “I’m not surprised that you’re amazing,” Thomas said. “I already knew that. It’s just that I know this isn’t really your favorite thing.”

              She nodded emphatically. “You can say that again. I almost died of sheer boredom. Just like I’m almost dying of sheer boredom right now.”

              “You’ll be happy when this is done,” he promised as he pulled a pencil from behind his ear and bent his head over her budgets and expenditures.

              She bit her lip at how sexy he looked. How could she have ever thought that he wasn’t her type? His dark hair was slightly mussed up and she was dying to thread her fingers through it, not to smooth it, but to ruffle it more. She wanted to make it look the way it looked after they’d gotten done making love. He rubbed his chin and frowned at her numbers.

              “Is this a 5 or is it an 8?”

              She looked at it briefly. “It’s an 8.”

              “An 8?” he asked incredulously.

              “Hey!” she said defensively. “You said to be sure and get the closest approximation of everything that I could. You didn’t say you were going to sit here and judge me!”

              “I’m not judging you,” he promised as he smiled. “I’m just a little shocked.”

              “It costs money to dress this way,” Kara pointed out. “They don’t give outfits away. Believe me; I’ve tried every way I know to get free clothes. It never works.”

              “You’re going to have to cut back,” he said bluntly. “As a matter of fact, if you can do it, I suggest that you take a clothes-buying hiatus for at least 6 months.”

              “What?” Kara was so shocked she nearly fell off the kitchen chair. “You’re telling me that I can’t buy any new clothes?”

              “I’m telling you that, as your financial advisor, I recommend the cold turkey approach,” he said firmly.

              “That’s insane!” Kara protested. “Actually, no, that’s worse than insane! That’s just never going to happen, Thomas. I am a fashionable person! It’s part of who I am!”

              “If you’re a fashionable person you should have plenty of amazing clothes in your overstuffed closet,” he pointed out. “Or are you going to tell me that you can’t make new outfits out of everything you already have?”

              “I don’t know,” Kara said as she chewed her lip. “I probably could. It’s not like I’m not creative.”

              “You are very creative,” Thomas said encouragingly, seeing his opportunity. “If anyone could do it, it’s you.”

              “You don’t have to butter me up,” Kara said dryly. “I see your point. Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, it’s just clothes.”

              “This is just for clothes?” his voice went up incredulously again. “This isn’t makeup and hair and everything personal?”

              “Don’t be silly!” Kara pointed to another column halfway down the page. “That’s makeup.”

              He rubbed his face with both hands.

              “Oh, Kara.”

              “Oh Thomas,” she repeated. “You’re going to recommend that cold turkey thing again aren’t you?”

              “Tell me this,” he said. “If I had to put all your makeup in one bag, would I need a makeup bag, a grocery bag, or a suitcase?”

              “A grocery bag,” she informed him tersely. “If it was one of the big paper ones, that is.”

              “Yet you still feel you need more?”

              “Yes,” she said flatly.

              “Do you want to decorate your new apartment or do you want to eat off of milk crates?”

              She sighed before asking, “Cold turkey for how long?”

              “At least three months.”

              She groaned and dropped her head to her crossed arms on his kitchen table.

              “It’s not that bad,” he said sympathetically. “You’ll have your new apartment to console you. If you can reign in your clothes shopping you can fix the transmission, as well.”

              “Really?” Her head suddenly popped up and a cheerful smile spread across her face. “Are you sure?”

              He pretended to be offended. “Am I sure? Of course I’m sure! This is my job you know.”

              “I’m sorry I doubted you,” she said seriously, even though her eyes were shining with a smile she didn’t let show on her lips. “This is really good news, Thomas. Thank you for helping me with this.”

              “Anything for you,” he said honestly. “Now, let’s look at the numbers on these apartments.”

              They bent their heads over the listings and compared pros and cons.

              “I think this one is going to be the best fit,” Thomas said after several debates as he told her she couldn’t afford both food and a river view and that the penthouse, while stylish, would put her back to eating off of milk crates.

              “Are you sure?” she said dubiously. “I only put it in the stack because it was such a good price.”

              He tapped the end of her nose when she wrinkled it and said, “Yes, but I think you’re getting caught up in what it looks like right now. Imagine it without the starving college student furniture. Look at all the space that a loft apartment offers. Look at the kitchen cabinets. Look at the light.”

              Kara squinted at the picture and let Thomas’s words wash over her. The sofa with its stuffing falling out in places melted away, as did the pile of dishes in the sink. She focused on the beautiful dark hardwood and the exposed brick on the lower level. The upper level had a charming slanted ceiling and a place that she instinctively knew would be perfect for her bed. There was a small window where the head of the bed would be and she could wake up with some beautiful sunlight streaking over the white bedding she could get to balance out the brick.

              She wondered if her mother still had her old bed. She had some living room furniture in storage and it shouldn’t be too hard to find a kitchen table and chairs at a secondhand store. She chewed her lip as she thought more deeply about it.

              “It looks like you might agree with me,” Thomas teased when she put her chin into her hand and started doodling decorating ideas.

              “Yes, you win,” Kara admitted. “I missed the potential.”

              Thomas shrugged. “It happens to the best of us,” he said with a teasing smile.

              She, as always, melted at the sight of his dimple.

              “Just so you know, I don’t always miss the potential in things,” she pointed out as she leaned over the table and pressed her lips to his.

              “That’s a very good point,” he acknowledged. “Want to stay here tonight?”

              Kara was surprised and very pleased that he had asked so spontaneously, but she regretfully shook her head.

              “No, I think I’d better stay home tonight. I’ve got to talk with Michelle.”

              “Oh that’s right,” he said. “You haven’t told her yet. How do you think it will go?”

              “I’m sure she’ll try to talk me out of it,” Kara said. “At least she will a little bit, because she’ll be afraid that she and Hayes have made me feel unwelcome. After she settles down from that she’ll probably be worried about my budget.” Kara chuckled. “I’m so glad I’ll have this to show her! When she stops worrying, she’ll be happy, I’m sure.”

              “You two certainly do know each other well,” Thomas said, amused by her concise explanation of a conversation that hadn’t even taken place yet.

              Kara shrugged and kissed him once more before she gathered her papers.

              “I’ll see you tomorrow at work,” she said before giving in to the urge and kissing him once more.

              “Bright and early?” he joked. He always got to the office ten minutes before her on the days they arrived separately.

              “9:05 is bright and early enough,” Kara answered before mussing his hair up and jogging for the door. “Bye!”

              “Bye,” he called after her.

              He started to fix his hair and then gave a mental shrug. It was fine the way it was. He wasn’t going anywhere and he liked remembering how her fingers felt when they moved through it. What he liked even more was the uninterrupted chance to do his homework for the week and get started on his preparations for his big project at work. He was a lot later on it than he wanted to be.

             
“Michelle?” Kara called out as she walked into the house.

              She didn’t get an answer, but a quick look around told her that her friend was out in the garden.

              “Hi Kara,” Michelle said when she walked up. “I didn’t expect you to be home tonight.”

              Kara smiled. “All play and no work,” she said, letting the sentence trail off. “Want some help with that?”

              Michelle was on her knees weeding the vegetable bed. She looked really adorable in her gardening clothes and her big hat.

              “Sure,” she said agreeably. “Grab some gloves and get to work.”

              Kara did as Michelle said and they pulled weeds in companionable silence for a while.

              “Michelle,” she said when they were near the end of the row. “I’m going to rent an apartment and move out before you and Hayes get married.”

              “What?” Michelle dropped the weed she’d just pulled and looked at her friend in shock. “Oh Kara you don’t have to do that! I know Hayes still has his apartment until the end of the month, but we basically already live together and we don’t have a problem with you being here! Have we done something to make you feel unwanted?”

              “No,” Kara hurried to say. Michelle seemed a little more distressed than she’d imagined. “Not at all. You and Hayes have always made me feel like part of the family. Please don’t think this is anything either of you did.”

              “Well, okay,” Michelle said after taking a moment to calm down. “If you’re sure it isn’t that you feel like you’re in the way I won’t try to stop you.” She looked like she was trying to think of the best way to phrase the next question.

              “You’re worried about how I’m going to afford it?” Kara asked.

              Michelle blushed and nodded as she lightly bit her lower lip and gave a shrug as she said, “Kara, you’re my best friend and I love you, but you are not always the most level headed person when it comes to money.”

              “Believe me, I know,” she said with a grimace as she recalled the amazement on Thomas’s face when she’d shown him her monthly expenditures. “That’s why I sat down with Thomas and did this.” She pulled the neat budget Thomas had made for her out of her back pocket and promptly got garden dirt on one corner of it. “Darn,” she muttered as she took her gloves off and wiped the dirt off. The smudge wasn’t too bad. “See? He mapped everything out for me. Get this; Thomas said that if I stop buying clothes and makeup I can even fix the car by the time I move into the apartment!”