Chapter 16 #2
She chuckled. “It’s a bathroom, Vince. How ‘awesome’ could it possibly be?”
He looked smug. “An all-tile, walk-in shower, not one of those plastic insert things. A big soaker tub…”
Lace was instantly jealous.
“…double sinks, a heated floor, and warming towel racks.”
Lace blinked. “You’ve got to be kidding me?” Her enthusiasm waned a little. “That’s, uh, going to cost a fortune.”
She wondered a little nervously how much her share would be, and Vincent didn’t leave her hanging.
“My father is donating all the wood for the project, and since Stat’s a buddy, he’s giving us the friends and family discount. The whole thing will be…”
He named a figure that completely blew Lace away. It was not only reasonable; it was a veritable bargain.
“Wow. I’ll certainly pick up half of that,” she responded immediately.
“Uh, uh,” he rebutted. “That was not the deal. Remember? I pay for the lion’s share, and you get to be in charge of buying groceries and preparing food for supper that you either leave for me, or we enjoy together.”
“Fifty-five, forty-five,” she sent out.
“Seventy, thirty,” he argued with a grin.
“Sixty, forty,” she countered.
“Sixty-five, thirty-five,” he returned. “Final offer.”
Lace knew he’d drawn a mental line, and that she wasn’t going to win. She was very much getting the better end of the deal, so how could she argue?
“Fine,” she huffed without anything behind it, “but if you want more of a contribution from me, just say so.”
He fluffed her off. “We are leaving the color scheme to you.”
That was unexpected.
“Okay,” she said pondering for only a moment before spitting out what she imagined.
After all, she’d been staring at that pink monstrosity for years, contemplating what it could be like.
“I think a basic black and white will be good,” she began. “With maybe one accent wall in a bold color. Perhaps an interesting shade of green or blue.”
“That sounds doable,” Vincent responded with a grin. “I’ll pick up some color samples so you can have a look, and we should be able to take it from there.”
“Nice,” Lace replied, thoroughly pleased. She’d have some say in the project, but wouldn’t have to expend any of her limited energies.
“But I’m sorry,” Vince segued. “I interrupted you. You were saying?” He handed the conversation back over to her.
“Oh, I was just going to request things like, don’t leave dirty dishes around because like all old houses, we have ants, and some resident mice.”
She wouldn’t tell Vincent that in order to cope, she often pictured the latter like the little helpers in Cinderella, complete with brooms and aprons, although the cartoon mice most assuredly didn’t leave tiny poops behind, like her visitors did.
Vince, not privy to her musings, nodded for her to go on.
“Umm, it would also be nice if you could maintain quiet time after eight on nights when I have to work the next day. And as for food, we’ve already discussed me being in charge, except when it comes to take-out.
And if this spread is any indication,” she went on, “you’re going to do a fine job, there. ”
“Geeze, Lace,” he scoffed. “You’re making this too easy on me. You took my first offer on what I’d pay for rent, and now you’re not even mentioning chores. Or the biggest challenge we’ll face later on, which is Inez, if that ends up happening.”
Lace looked him right in the face with as much seriousness as she could conjure. “I already know that you’ll do all the routine maintenance around here that I’ve…let go.”
Yeah. With her summer hours, and her lack of after-work oomph since her treatments began, she’d kind of dropped the ball.
“For sure.” Vince didn’t balk. “I’ll mow the lawn in the summer, shovel in the winter, and take care of all the little carpentry things I’ve been noticing that need attention, which are luckily not beyond my skill level.”
Lace wasn’t sure anything was beyond Vincent’s skill level. So far, the man seemed to be good at everything he did.
She couldn’t help but sneak a peek at his lips.
Yup. Perfect, and sensual as all hell.
Lace sucked in a breath and addressed his second concern.
“As far as Inez goes, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I offered this place.” As a matter of fact, right after Vince had left that night, Lace had gone online and submitted her application and the information it would take for them to do a background check, hopefully approving her.
“If you manage to get her as a foster child,” Lace continued, “or any other little one, for that matter, I’ll do whatever I can to help. Which as you know,” she demurred, “in the summer, will be limited. But in the late fall, winter, and early spring, I’ll co-parent with you wholeheartedly.”
It was funny thing to say, co-parent, when she and Vince weren’t even a couple.
Which left only one thing lying on the table.
“That leads me to the final item on my list,” she said, unable to stop her anticipatory trembling inside. “Where do our, uh, romantic interactions go from here?”
Vince tipped his head, clearly weighing his words.
Fuck it.
Lace went for broke.
“In other words, which side of the bed do you prefer?”