16. MAX #3
“Absolutely!” She led us back to the stairs and showed me how to use the lift.
She and Lucas climbed the stairs, Lucas lugging my chair, and waited for me on the landing until my ride arrived, and then she directed us down a hallway that led to the left.
“Your and Margie’s bathroom is here to the left.
” She pointed. “I do ask that you do your best to coordinate with her about using it; it’s not fair to either of you if the other hogs it. ”
I popped my head through the bathroom doorway to find a spacious room where I’d be able to easily move my chair.
There was an empty space next to the toilet that would let me transfer to it easily, and grab bars in the shower.
The sink was on the low side, clearly not custom made but just as clearly selected for as much accessibility as possible within that restriction.
This was nothing like the tiny, dark bathroom I’d had in the New Hampshire Victorian, and thank god for that.
“This is fantastic,” I couldn’t help but say.
“How much of this did you do when you were in a chair, and how much is original?”
She thought about that. “I replaced the sink then, and had the toilet moved over to against the edge of the shower so there was enough room for a chair on the other side. The floor space was part of the original design; there used to be a claw-foot tub in the middle of the room.”
“Wow,” I mused, and Lucas nodded enthusiastically.
Evelyn just smiled serenely. “And now let’s go see your room.”
My room turned out to be about five feet down the hall.
It was, again, more spacious than I would have expected.
Although it was currently empty, I was pretty sure there was plenty of room for a double bed and even a desk against the wall that I could work from.
I turned slowly in the middle of the room, spotting a small closet—that was ok, I didn’t own many clothes.
The walls were a glossy cream color, tidy and without holes.
There was one window, on the wall where I envisioned placing the bed.
It was perfect. A little too perfect. There had to be a downside, and I suspected I knew what it was. “This is great, Evelyn,” I began slowly. “I’d love to live here. But there’s something I need to tell you before you make any decisions.”
She cocked her head to the side and studied me. “Oh?”
Behind me, Lucas put a supportive hand on my shoulder, and I took a deep breath. “I’m gay.”
She continued to look at me. “Yes?”
I waited for her to react, but the only change was that her expression was now puzzled. “I have sex with men,” I explained, just in case she wasn’t familiar with the term. “And I’d like to be able to do that in the privacy of my room sometimes.”
Evelyn blinked. “That’s what you needed to tell me?” she asked slowly.
I steeled myself for rejection or worse and nodded.
She blinked again, and then her face softened into a motherly look. “Oh, sweetheart. Thank you for telling me. I know coming out is hard, no matter how many times you’ve done it.”
I could only gape at her. How did she know that? A glance over my shoulder showed that Lucas was doing the same. “You’re...ok with that?” I asked, needing active confirmation. “With me being sexually active and gay?”
“Honey,” she said easily, “who you have sex with is none of my business. Now, I’d ask that you keep it to your room rather than in the common areas—that’s just basic courtesy—but other than that, I have absolutely no problem with whatever you choose to do.” She smiled warmly at me.
“But…” You’re old, I managed not to say out loud. Instead, I asked, “Why?”
She studied my face for a long moment and then reached out and gently laid her hand over mine.
“I don’t know who taught you to expect people to not be ok with who you are, but they were wrong.
My daughter is gay—she lives in Sacramento—and I’d like to think that if she was looking for somewhere to stay, no one would judge her based on that. ”
Behind me, Lucas made a soft, surprised noise, and his hand tightened on my shoulder. Without thinking, I raised my hand to cover his. When I realized a second later what I was doing, I made to pull away, but he opened his fingers and intertwined them with mine before I could get away.
Evelyn’s eyes flicked from me to him and she smiled again. “You two make a very attractive couple.”
“Oh, we’re not -” I began, just as Lucas said, quite evenly, “Thank you.” I glanced back at him in surprise, but he just quirked a small smile at me and looked away.
“So,” Evelyn said briskly, clapping her hands together. “Would you like the room? Or do you need some time to think about it?”
Lucas sucked in a breath as if he was startled by the offer, and it hit me then that this was it. If I took this room, I’d be moving out of Lucas’s place and might never see him again. “What about parking?” I said in a desperate bid to find fault with the place. “I have a car.”
“Well,” she said, “there is a garage around the side of the house, but there’s no clear walkway from it to the elevator, so I don’t know if you’d want to use it.
If you did, you and Eli would have to agree on a rotation to share it, and I’d need to charge you a little more rent.
But!” she went on, raising a finger, “there’s usually street parking within a block—everyone has driveways in this little neighborhood—and I don’t know if you noticed, but there are cut-outs in the sidewalk for wheels in front of every house’s front walkway.
Usually they’re used for lawnmowers and the like, but they should suit your chair just as well. ”
So much for a reason to disqualify this house.
It was too perfect to turn down; I couldn’t say no, as much as I wanted an excuse to stay with Lucas.
I owed it to him to make a genuine effort to stand on my own two feet, so to speak.
“I…” I managed weakly. “I’d love to rent your room. ” There. The die was cast.
She clapped her hands together excitedly. “Oh, that’s great news! When would you like to move in?”
I glanced at Lucas. I’d need his help to get my suitcases out of the apartment and into my car, which had been sitting unused in front of Lucas’s building for almost two months.
It would be my first time driving since the accident, and I hoped my leg would work well enough.
Hell, I’d still need Lucas’s help on the other end, to get my suitcases out of the car and up the stairs.
Even in getting out of his hair, I still needed him, I realized with an internal sigh.
Lucas looked thoughtful. “I don’t go in on Friday until 4. We could do it in the morning that day?”
Friday was only two days away. I swallowed. “That would be great,” I said, and if my voice came out a little hoarse, who could blame me?
“Friday morning it is!” Evelyn announced.
“Let me get you your keys so you can let yourself in when you get here.” She disappeared down the stairs before I could respond; a minute later she was back with a keyring containing two brass keys.
“This one is for the front door,” she said, selecting one, “and this one is for the door to your room.”
It hadn’t even occurred to me to wonder if my room door locked, but now that she said it, I was glad it did. I took the keys from her with a grateful smile and tucked them into my pocket. “Thank you so much, Evelyn.”