Chapter 3 #4
“Be serious for a minute. Please,” Rafe said, trying to decide if he was really about to commit to this. “Are we actually going to do this?”
“The inn—hell yeah. And if you really want me to move in here with you…”
“I do. It seems smart, considering you’ve just said you’d be here weekends and after work.”
“Okay. So here’s the next move. We crunch some numbers, get a lawyer, and if it all looks good and we agree, we sign some paperwork so it’s legal, and then…you’ve got yourself a partner.”
“And a roommate,” Rafe added, Gio’s excitement rubbing off on him.
“I took my grandfather’s room, but there are a couple of large guest suites that he kept nice for company.
You could have your pick of one of those until we start making some headway on the renovations.
Then, if you want, you can have one wing of the house, and I’ll take the other until we finish the project.
I know neither one of us is used to having a roommate, but this mausoleum is big enough that we could go frickin’ days without running into each other. ”
Gio rubbed his hands together, and Rafe could practically see the wheels spinning.
“Some of the bedrooms are small. We could knock down walls to create larger suites. And I’ve already got a few ideas for this office.
I think we could preserve the history and architecture of this place and still give it a more modern feel.
I bet we could even incorporate some green construction, lower the house’s carbon footprint and—” He paused mid-sentence.
“Getting carried away, aren’t I?” Gio asked.
“A little.” Actually, a lot. Gio’s grab-the-bull-by-the-horns approach to life was in direct counterpoint to the way Rafe lived.
Rafe was much more conservative, a thinker by nature who took very few risks.
If left to his own devices, Rafe would never get a damn thing done in this house because he’d spend way too much time simply trying to choose a paint color.
“Okay,” Rafe said at last. “I’m in. Operation Haunted Inn is underway.”
“Hot damn! We gotta work the ghosts into the name of the place.”
Rafe grinned. “Keeley insisted that would be the biggest selling feature. The thing that would have folks lining up for a stay.”
“She’s not wrong,” Gio said, reaching out to shake his hand. “Partner.”
Rafe shook his hand, but when he started to pull back, Gio tightened his grip.
“I know you’re overwhelmed, Rafe. I can see you’re stressed out, running on fumes.
And I know this inn feels like one more obligation to you right now…
but I really would like to do the heavy lifting on the project.
At least until you get your sea legs under you on the rest.”
Rafe was unaware of exactly how tense his shoulders had been until Gio found the right thing to say to loosen the muscles just a bit.
“Maybe even after that. I trust your talent. I’ve seen your work.
Thanks for saying that though. It helps.
Hell, now I’m starting to get excited. You and Keeley are becoming a bad influence on me—getting me fired up about things that are ultimately more work,” he joked.
Gio released him. “We’re coming up with ways to make you richer, and you know it.
Tony just bought this cool AR that I can use.
It’ll help draw up the designs, give you a chance to see what I’ve got in mind before we pull out the tools.
Sound good?” Gio radiated enthusiasm, and Rafe suspected his best friend was only just barely restraining himself from grabbing a hammer out of his truck and starting work on the place tonight.
Rafe had always admired Gio’s what-you-see-is-what-you-get attitude. No one ever questioned where Gio stood on an issue because he so readily expressed all the emotions—anger, joy, sadness—and when he wanted something, he went for it, all in with no reservations.
His personality was one of the main things that had drawn Rafe to him in high school.
Gio, a sophomore at the time, was the first person to reach out to him, offer to help him find his locker and his classrooms. He’d confided that his family had just returned to Philadelphia the previous year, so he knew what it felt like to be the new kid.
Rafe’s mom had moved them in with stepdad four, Douchebag, right after the wedding, and the change in address put Rafe in a different school district. So he started high school as the new kid, all his friends from elementary and middle school attending another school across the city.
Gio had been the first friend he’d ever confided in regarding his mother’s relationship record. When he was younger, he’d been embarrassed by his mother’s marriage and divorce routine, but Gio had helped him find a way to deal with it. Typically with humor.
Mom had surprisingly managed to move past her hurt over the will, and she’d texted him just this week to assure Rafe she wasn’t mad.
Because he was her only child, Mom tended to rely on him for pretty much everything, but only when she was single.
Once she met a new man and made that trip down the aisle, he was relegated to white noise in the background until the next divorce.
She’d confided yesterday that stepdad number five, Rodney, was still pissed off about the will and talking to a lawyer.
Rafe wasn’t surprised, since Rodney was a lot like Douchebag.
The two of them had only been married about a year.
No doubt Rodney had learned she was the daughter of a wealthy, elderly, ailing man and had taken that trip down the aisle not with hearts in his eyes but dollar signs.
Grandpa’s lawyer—now Rafe’s—had assured him this morning that the will was airtight.
Mom was still hung up in the honeymoon phase, so she defended Rodney, certain he’d calm down soon enough.
Then she mentioned that she’d booked a long weekend for the two of them in New York City because she was sure getting away for a little while would help.
Rafe had been tempted to ask how she was paying for the trip, but he’d held his tongue, perfectly aware it was going on her credit card…
and equally aware that at some point, he was going to have to decide if he would continue to bail her out the same way Grandpa always had.
Worrying about her and Rodney, the stepdick, was just one more thing adding to his stress, his sleepless nights, and his stiff neck.
Gio pulled him from those heavy thoughts, thrilled about their plans.
“You know, if everything works out, I could move in pretty much immediately. I’ve lived in my apartment so long, I’m on a month-to-month lease.
Once we sign on the dotted line, I’ll give the landlord notice and start packing my stuff. ”
“That sounds great.” In truth, it did. Gio, like Keeley, never failed to find joy in life.
With Keeley here during the day to lighten his load and make him laugh, and Gio here on the weekends and evenings, Rafe hoped the loneliness that had settled over him since Grandpa’s death would lift.
“I hope this all works out,” he said sincerely.
“Me too. Now let’s go eat. I’m starving.” Gio placed his hand on Rafe’s shoulder, guiding him toward the door, when something obviously caught his eye. He turned his back to Rafe as he walked over to Keeley’s workstation. “That’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” Rafe asked.
“I swear to God I walked by this table three times and never saw this.” Gio turned around, holding up Keeley’s phone. “I can’t believe she hasn’t come back for it.”
“She probably thinks it’s in that gargantuan bag of hers.”
“Yeah. You know…it seems to me a big decision like going into business together calls for a celebration, something fancier than a cheesesteak at Founding Fathers. What do you say we go celebrate our new living situation with a couple real steaks? Saloon’s got good food.”
Rafe tilted his head. “Keeley will kill us if we show up there.”
“Maybe so, but you know she’d want this.” Gio paused, then added, “And I want to check the guy out.”
There was no way Rafe would argue with either reason for going. The idea of Keeley out on a date with a guy who was basically a stranger, without her phone, bothered him a lot.
“We’re just dropping off the phone and leaving,” Rafe stressed.
“We’ll see,” Gio said, more seriously than Rafe expected.
He sighed. “She’s gonna kill us if we crash her date,” he repeated.
Gio put a friendly hand on his shoulder, his grin firmly back in place. “Think Albert and Marta would share this house with us if she does?”
Rafe didn’t reply, too many things fighting for dominance at the moment.
Somehow, the guy who’d never done an impulsive thing in his life had quit his job, taken over a company, hired his friend’s little sister—a woman he was more attracted to than he cared to admit—moved into a haunted mansion he was now renovating into an inn, and acquired a roommate.
Those vast changes weren’t coming anymore. They’d already arrived.
He wasn’t sure, but for a moment, he could almost imagine he heard Grandpa Albert laughing.