Time to Control (13 page)

“These look nice,” Eddie said,
pulling into the driveway of a gated community.

“These are townhomes, not
apartments.”

“So?”

I sighed.
 
“Townhomes are overpriced apartments
that you have to buy.
 
Similar to
condos.
 
We're not interested in
townhomes.”

“Says you,” he teased.
 
“I'm interested.
 
Come on, what does it hurt to take a
look around?”

Your pocketbook, I thought, but
didn't say it out loud. Sighing wasn't getting me anywhere, so I climbed out of
the car after Eddie as he went into the community information office.

The bored property manager was
pleased to have someone expressing interest in buying a house, and handed us
packets of information extolling the virtues of living in their planned
community.
 
I had to admit, it
looked really nice.
 
Each unit had
their own garage, and buildings only had two residences in each – I only
had to deal with one neighbor sharing a wall, which would have been first time
I'd had that since leaving for college.
 
There were trees and canals artistically laid out, with sidewalks for
walking or bike riding.
 
I'd even
consider buying a bike to ride on their trails, which was a scary thought.
 
One thing I did notice was the decided
lack of a price anywhere on the pamphlet.

“Do you have any one bedroom units
available?”

The guy looked hesitant.
 
“You're not really going to be finding
one bedroom townhomes.
 
We do have
some units that can be considered one and a half to two bedrooms –
there's one official bedroom, and a loft that can be used as an office or
second bedroom.”

Eddie noted my ears perking up at
the concept of a loft.

“Let me show you one that is
available,” Mike, the lanky guy in a suit, told us.
 
He led us out to the ubiquitous golf
cart used to move visitors around, and drove the winding sidewalks along the
canals to the home.

“Do the canals flood?”
 
I asked bluntly.
 
North Texas was known for microbursts
and heavy rainfall, and I didn't want to have the canal run through my living
room.

“Our engineers have planned for a
hurricane stalling on top of Dallas,” the man said proudly.
 
“We'd have to get three feet of rain in
three days before the water would start getting close to homes.
 
And at that point, we'd probably have
other problems facing us.”

The unit he took us to was the left
side of a building, and looked the same as all the rest of the street.
 
Good lord that must be confusing, I
thought.

“Lawn care is done by the
community, and includes basic landscaping.
 
If you wish to customize the landscaping by bringing in your own plants
and flowers, you are welcome to after signing a lawn care landscaping release.
 
You would be responsible for caring for the
plants at that time, and they must follow community aesthetics guidelines.”

I
 
nodded.
 
My parents were green thumbs, but as in
so many other things, they selfishly kept that to themselves.

Mike unlocked the door, and I
ducked under Eddie's arm as he held the door open.

“As you can see, you enter into the
living room.”
 
Technically, we
entered into a foyer; there was a five foot square of tile bounded by the front
door, a coat closet, a half bathroom, and the living room carpet.
 
I opened the closet door; it was much
deeper than expected.
 
The tile
continued into the half bath, which, though small, was bigger than my last
bathroom.

The living room was good sized;
easily bigger than any one I had had.
 
A fireplace was on the wall on the front of the house.
 
French doors opened onto the side patio,
where gas hookups waited for a barbecue to be installed.
  
There was a canal fifty feet or so
off the side of the house, and the nearest neighbor to that side was another
fifty feet on the other side of the canal.
 
The living room had a vaulted ceiling, and the second story of the patio
wall was glass windows that were probably a pain to keep clean.

Stairs up to the loft ran against
the shared wall, starting half way back along the wall.
 
We bypassed the stairs to finish touring
the downstairs first.
 
A closet was
tucked under the angled part of the staircase.

The dining room was more of just
the space between the living room and the kitchen.
 
The dividing line was technically where
the loft balcony overlooked, but if someone wanted to, they could get a smaller
or bigger table and adjust the size of the living room accordingly.

The kitchen had what I thought was
called an open design, where the sink was facing the dining room, with
bar-level counter tops between the rooms.
 
A stove and refrigerator were already installed, and were top of the
line.
 
The pantry and laundry room
were along the shared wall, tucked behind part of the kitchen, going what
seemed to be the rest of the length of the house.

On the other side of the kitchen
was a small hallway that led to the master bedroom.
 
It was basically a
 
regular bedroom, pretty standard.
 
There were several windows, and I noted
that you'd really want to keep the blinds closed in here.
 
Both from the sun, and the neighbors.
 
Bad enough that we had sex in public in
the past; no need to do it in the present.
 
Closets ran against the back of the kitchen, and the bathroom was tucked
in the back right corner, against the shared wall.
 

The bathroom was a lot more
spacious than Eddie and I anticipated.
 
“Because the Cowboys practice facility is right down the road, we wanted
to be ready for any players that wanted to take up residency here.
 
So all of our units are equipped with
six foot long super deep soaking tubs.
 
Water or air jets are available upon request.”

I didn't hear anything Mike said
after that – I was too busy drooling over the tub.
 
Eddie so shouldn't have taken me
here.
 
Now all other tubs would pale
in comparison.

“Now let's show you two the loft,”
Mike said, leaving the bathroom.

“You doing okay?” Eddie asked me,
amusement on his face.

“Uh huh,” I answered, trying not to
have a glazed over expression on my face.
 
I wanted this townhome, damn it.
 
And I wasn't even looking for one.

The loft was decent sized, easily
able to be a bedroom or office, just like he had said.
   

“This is the only living quarters
that shares a wall with your neighbor,” Mike told us.
 
“As you can see, though, the stairs are
immediately against the wall.
 
You
will not be affected by sound traveling through.”

“Thank you for the tour,” Eddie
said quickly.
 
“May we stay here a
few minutes in private to discuss?”

“Certainly.
 
You know the way back to the
office?”
 
He gave a quick refresher,
and left, leaving the front door open as he went.

I sat down on the staircase as
Eddie went through the kitchen, opening and closing all the cabinets.

“Kinda sparse on room in the
kitchen,” He reported.
 
He took a
look at me.
 
“What's wrong?”

“Why are we here?” I asked tiredly,
crossing my arms over my knees and resting my head on them.

“We're finding you a place to
live.”

“I can't afford a townhome.
 
I can barely afford rent in the
apartments around here.”

“Don't you like it?”
 
He sat down a few stairs up from me, and
started rubbing my shoulders.

“Yes, but that's not the
point.
 
Stop, you're distracting
me.”
 
He didn't.
 
“Um, yes, I like it.”

“And what did I say about the
money?”

“Eddie...”

“Schroeder.”

“They say you shouldn't buy a house
– I guess a townhouse would count – if you can't be there for three
years.
 
It's not a good
investment.”
 
I was grasping at
straws.

“I don't care about the money.
 
It's a nice place. There's a hydrant
right next door, and a canal.”

“Hon, the odds of my place burning
down twice is slim.”

Eddie smiled at my use of a
nickname.
 
“Ok, love, think of it
this way.
 
You can be as loud as the
hell you want when we're making love.”

I froze, remembering the neighbors
in the hotel banging on the wall the night before.
 

“You're a screamer,” he whispered
in my ear.

“Fine, you win.”
 
I tilted my head up for his waiting
lips.
 
After making out for a
minute, we decided Mike might be getting other ideas of what we were doing, and
figured we should head on back before we were christening the place.

“How much?” Eddie demanded when we
entered the office, without so much of a hello.

It took Mike a second to catch
up.
 
“Two seventy five.”
 
I winced.
 
It wasn't worth that much in this
housing market.

“One seventy five,” Eddie
negotiated.

“I can't possibly--”

“Cash.”

“Sold.”

I blinked.
 
“Wow.”

Mike reduced a stack of paperwork
to just a few pieces, the mortgage ones not needed.
 
“I have three units pending foreclosure
right now.
 
I'd rather take a hit in
price and get guaranteed money then get more now but lose it in the long
run.”
 
He started filling out
addresses on the forms, and I wandered off, but still in hearing range.

“With all due respect,” Mike
started, “I'll need to verify the funds availability with your bank.”

Eddie chuckled.
 
“Not a problem.
 
Would a funds transfer be easier for
you?
 
I can call my bank and set
that up right away.”

Mike cleared his throat with a
cough.
 
“Um, sure.
 
Let's just get this paperwork filled out
first.”

Less than an hour later the papers
were all filled out and the money transferred.
  
I thought they hit record time,
according to Mike's demeanor.

“And here are your keys.
 
Mr. Valenti-Kirby, Ms. Kelly –
welcome to your new home.”
 

***

“Wait.”
 
Eddie stopped me after I unlocked the
door, before I stepped inside.
 
He
scooped me up in his arms.

I threw my arms around his
neck.
 
The modern world might not
know we were married, but it wouldn't mind us playing the part anyway.

“So how are we decorating this
place?”

“There's no we, it's just me,” I
said firmly, putting my feet back down on the ground.
 
“I'm the one who has to live here.
 
If you have bad taste, I'm not going to
be the sucker left living in it for the next six months.”

I stuck my tongue out at the face
he made, and sprinted up the stairs.
 
He chased after, and leaned me against the wall to kiss me thoroughly after
catching me.

I straightened my shirt when we
parted.
 
“I'd like for this to be a
library and office area.
 
I'm
thinking bookcases against the back wall.
 
Put a desk, in matching wood, along the half-wall.
 
Half sized bookcases next to the desk as
well.
 
Think there's room for a
recliner too?”

“Oh, plenty.
 
Let me guess, dark leather?
 
Going with the whole British library
feel?”

I couldn't tell if he was teasing
or not.
 
“Yes.
 
That a problem?”

“Nope,” he said, giving me a kiss
on my forehead.
 
“Just cute.”

I wrote down the shopping list, and
followed him down to the living room.

“Flat panel tv hanging next to the
fireplace, couch here, another recliner here, and coffee table here?”
 
Eddie walked and gestured to the
difference locations as he spoke.
 
I
agreed; they were the natural places for the furniture.

“Table with four chairs, or six?” I
asked.

“Four would be fine.
 
Need everything for the kitchen, right?”

“Yep.”

They headed into the bedroom.
 

“King size bed so you can fit.
 
Dresser, nightstand.”

“What about a cedar chest?”

“Let's wait until I have a wedding
dress to put it in first,” I said firmly.

I insisted on going to IKEA.
 
The prices were reasonable, and the
simple style suited me. Since it was a weekday, IKEA wasn't very packed, which
was good.
 
Generally when I had been
to the one in Dallas it was more crowded than an amusement park.
 
The first time I had gone, there
literally was a line to just get in.