Chapter 43
“What’s that sad face for?” Court asked as she walked into Stephanie’s kitchen searching for coffee. Even after all this time together, they never got a full night’s sleep. Not that she was complaining.
Stephanie was staring at a piece of paper in annoyance, not her cutest look, but Court was partial to it. Probably because she knew she was an annoyance a lot of the time, so that was a face she saw a lot.
But it had been four months, and they were still together, still making it work.
The road had been anything but easy. Stephanie’s hours were erratic at best and horrifically long at worst. Which left Court with her steady hours and strict policy on overtime alone more than she liked to be.
Sure, she went out with Rebel and Ellis, just not as often as before.
Preferring to be at her place or Stephanie’s when she finally had her last class of the day and left work.
Though Court longed to tell Stephanie how to run her business, she kept her mouth shut. Unless she was asked directly, it wasn’t her place to say anything. She wouldn’t like it if Stephanie told her how to run Lady Killers.
“Nothing big, just my rent is going up again for next year. What’s another fifty a month, I guess?” Stephanie folded the paper and tucked it back in her purse.
She’d come to Court’s late last night, but Court had picked up her mail. It was something she did every so often to help her out when they were spending an extended amount of time at Courts. She had the time, and it was far better than actually going to the gym to work out. She hated doing that.
“You should move in with me.” She said without any thought as to what she was saying.
Yes, usually they were here at the condo, mostly because it was closer to either of their workplaces. And maybe because it was bigger and nicer and Court was far more comfortable here than there when Stephanie was either late to come home or early to leave.
Across the kitchen, Stephanie scrunched up her face as she contemplated her idea, then looked around the kitchen thoughtfully.
They had been dating for mere months, and though they got along amazingly and she knew they were madly in love.
The rest of the world had issues with that.
It wasn’t even just their parents, it was Ellis being cold to Stephanie, though Court knew it was an act now, and that she liked the woman way more than she’d admit.
When Stephanie was silent for too long, Court got nervous that they weren’t on the same page anymore. “I mean it, Stephanie, we’re always here anyway. Why pay for another place? And now pay more.”
“You want me to move in with you to save money?” She asked, simplifying the situation too much.
Court pulled her easily into her body and pressed her into the counter, kissing her upturned chin. “No, I want you in my life, which includes my apartment. On a side note, you wouldn’t have to pay rent anymore.”
“I would still pay my fair share.” She leaned back, so they were looking into each other’s eyes. “Which is probably more than I spend now, and that would pay for half. I know this place is nice, and I know how much nice costs in this neighborhood.”
“Would it help if I said when I bought the place. I got a good deal?” She asked, hoping it would be enough because, there was no deal, she paid more than the asking price to get into this building and never regretted it.
Stephanie groaned and rolled her eyes. “Of course, you own a place, I’m never going to get to that point in life.”
“We could own this place together.” Court said, but knew that she didn’t want to go through the process of actually changing the title work.
Not until she had to, and the interest rates went down a bit more than they were right now.
That was something Stephanie might or might not understand, but it was Court’s wheelhouse.
“I don’t know.” She pushed away from her and sat down, putting distance between them.
“What’s wrong with it? Is it because of my past? Because I used to date a lot.” She asked, it had been a while since she brought it up, but she’d had such a hard time with it in the beginning it couldn’t have left her mind so easily.
Stephanie shook her head. “Actually, for the first time, your past has nothing to do with it. When I think about owning a home, it’s a house. You know, a backyard, a front porch, no neighbors behind the walls. No restrictions on pets or paint.”
The picture she painted was of the all-American lifestyle, but it wasn’t what Court saw when she looked into her future. Now with Stephanie, that picture had changed, but so far, the picture wasn’t all that clear, and the picture that Stephanie saw was different from hers.
“Oh, I guess I never had that, so I didn’t think about it.” She admitted that this had been her dream house, a nice apartment in a nice building.
“Sorry to bring it up.” Stephanie was always quick to apologize for being an average person.
Sitting down across from her, she took Stephanie’s hands in her. “No, no, you’re right. The Ellis’s have a house, it’s a home, and I want what they have? I just never saw it that way, now I do.”
“I don’t want you to change anything. We can stay here, or move into another condo someplace together. Start fresh. God knows I don’t have time for a yard or even painting.” Stephanie admitted, “I’m moving in.”
“No, no, no. You're right. I want us to buy a house together. To make a home together. I’ll take care of the yard and the house. You need to focus on the gym right now. Let me shoulder the housework until you can help. We’ll do this together, no past, just future.
Us.” Court promised, it was perfect, she needed something to do when Stephanie worked, a yard would be perfect.
“Are we really going to do this? We haven’t been together for long, and my parents are completely against us. You want to do something so permanent as buying a house?”
“In a heartbeat with you.” Court promised, knowing she meant it. It just felt so right to make this move she had never even thought of with this woman. For the first time, she took a leap that she hadn’t planned.