28. Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Spencer
T he morning of the first day of the Pride festival is busier than I anticipated. I receive a phone call first thing, which leads to an emergency meeting with Vic. Once the meeting is over, I place another phone call.
“Hello?” Daze answers when she picks up.
“Hey, it’s Spencer.”
“Spencer?”
“Spencer Cole.”
She takes a breath. “I actually didn’t know your last name, so that’s not exactly helpful. But I only know one Spencer. I’m just confused as to why you’re calling.”
“Well,” I say slowly, dragging out the moment, “how would you feel about getting married in seven weeks?”
“Excuse me?”
“We had a cancellation in the middle of September. They’ve lost their deposit. I already talked to Vic. We have a lot of stuff already ordered for this wedding. We won’t be getting our deposits back on any of it. We’ve hired people to work it. We have to pay those people whether they work or not. Vic agreed to offer you the date first for the remainder of the fees.”
“How much?”
“You’ll be getting a fifty per cent reduction in price. Of course, we’ll have to make sure Tina is good to run the kitchen that night. I feel like our head chef will be busy.”
“This is… I can’t believe… I’d have to talk to Sophie.”
I grin. “Of course. Talk to Sophie. Think about it. You’re coming by for the party tonight, right?”
“Yeah. Lis gave us the tickets.”
“Come a bit early and we can show you what we have. If you want to make any changes, we can discuss what that will do to the cost. I know it’s short notice, so you may not want to take the date what with dresses and everything. Vic said you can have until Sunday night to decide. Monday, we’ll release the date for other potential events.”
We finish the call and I hang up, getting back to the preparations for the party. About an hour later, my phone rings. I answer it, half expecting to hear from Daze. Instead, it’s Sam, my realtor.
“Hey, Sam. Got another condo for me to consider?”
“I do. And I think you’ll be happy about this one.”
“What is it?”
“Remember the condo where we met? You said you really liked it, but you wished it was a few floors up and facing the water? How would you feel about the tenth floor?”
I go into my office and close the door, leaning against it.
“Are you serious? South-facing, tenth floor?”
“Yep. Same layout, just inverted. All fittings are the same.”
“Sam. I want it. Put the offer in.”
She laughs. “You don’t even want to look at it first? At least learn the asking price?”
“No. Just write it up.”
“I will. But there’s an open house this weekend. They’re not accepting offers until next Tuesday.”
“They want a bidding war.”
Now she sighs. “Everyone does. The market is hot.”
“What can we do?”
We discuss a few options, including how much over asking price I’m comfortable offering. We decide to do a home inspection on Monday before the offer goes in to keep it out of the conditions.
“I also heard from their realtor they’re looking for a fast closing,” she says.
“We can close tomorrow if that’s what they want. I don’t fucking care.”
“You don’t need time to give notice to your landlord?”
“No. I don’t have anything to sell. And my landlord is my best friend. I rent a bedroom from her.”
“Okay. I’ll get the home inspection booked and let you know what time. Will you be available for it?”
“Yes. I’ll make sure I am. Just let me know when.”
I hang up with Sam and find Vic in her office, typing away on her computer. I close the door and sit down, my knee jumping in anticipation. She looks up at me with concern.
“We have a lot to do today for you to be taking a break,” she says.
“I want you to come with me on Monday.”
“Where?”
“I’m getting a home inspection done on a condo I’m going to buy.” I decide not to jinx it by using conditional words. I’m going to buy this place.
She lifts her hands from the keyboard and sets them flat on her desk. “Did you buy a place?”
“Not exactly.” I explain what’s going on.
“And you want me to come and not Lis.”
“Lis has already seen this place. Sort of.” I pause, taking a deep breath. I lace my fingers together in front of me, squeezing them tight. “I’m not doing this for her. I’m doing it for me. I think I’ve been scared to take any steps in my life. But this is the right one at the right time. It’s a good place. Everything I’d put on my list because of her are things I want, too. I want to be able to have a pet. I want to be able to get a car. Did you know it only takes thirty minutes to drive to Grouse Mountain?”
Vic rolls her eyes. “You want a car so you can go hiking?”
I shake my head. “No. I want the option of having a car in the future because one day…” I hesitate, swallowing past the nerves. “One day, I want to have kids and I figure a car would be a good thing to have in that case. This place gives me that option. And it’s big enough that I could start there and then move to something bigger later if I need to.”
“You’ve thought a lot about this and what you want.”
I nod. “Out of all the places I’ve seen, the first one felt right. It felt like a place I could live and be happy. I just wanted a couple of little tweaks. This place has those exact tweaks.”
She leans back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest.
“Okay. You’ve convinced me. So why me and not Lis?”
“Because, while I—” I stop myself from saying love. I’ve admitted what I want in the future out loud. An out loud declaration that I’m in love with Lis isn’t something I’m exactly prepared for today. I clear my throat. “While I like Lis and hope to get her to change her mind about the relationship status, you are still my best friend.”
She rolls her eyes again. “You sure know how to lay it on thick.”
I grin. “I could add more. Maybe remind you all the times I did things for you? Or get down on my knees and beg?”
“You idiot,” she finally says, shaking her head and turning back to her computer. “Of course the answer was always going to be yes. I just wanted to know why. Let me know what time.”
#
The weekend passes by in a blur. We are so busy with all the events, I don’t stop to think about the apartment until Monday morning. Vic and I go there before work and look around the place while the home inspector does his thing.
Vic agrees that the place is perfect for me, and we return to work. It’s a relatively easy day compared to the chaos of the weekend. Since it’s the last Monday of the month, we all go to Derek’s after to unwind. We’re too exhausted to play a game and so we just sit on his rooftop deck, Abyss lounging in her catio in the corner while we chat and drink.
It’s Lis’ first time up here and she chooses to sit next to me on the outdoor couch. It’s small enough that her leg and shoulder brush against mine. I refrain from draping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her against me, but the thought is there. And when she looks up at me, I note that her eyes have darkened to green.
I make the decision that, once this next week is over, I’m going to ask her out on a date again. After the bar and my office, she has to be ready for this. Right?
My phone buzzes with an email and I look to see it’s from the inspector. I open the email and read through his report, finding nothing of note. I breathe a sigh of relief while, simultaneously, my heart rate kicks up as I send a reply to Sam telling her to put the offer in as we’d discussed.
“What are you doing?” Adalie asks.
“Nothing. Just had to check an email.”
She taps her finger against her beer bottle. “Sounds work related, Spencer,” she says in a sing-song voice.
I catch Vic’s eye and lift my drink. “I guess I’ll have to drink then.”
She smiles. “Those are the rules.”
I take my drink and the conversation moves on. Adalie tells us about how her sister Calista has quit her job, again. This time to try her hand at travel writing.
“Is she going to travel?” Derek asks.
“I don’t know what her plan is,” Adalie says. “I don’t think she really has one.”
We decide to call it a night early. Lis’ head dipped to rest on my shoulder at some point and I look to find her eyes half closed.
“Come on, firecracker. Let’s get you home.”
I pull her to her feet and we all troop downstairs to where an Uber is going to pick us up. We say good night and when I get home, I can’t sleep. I’m too wired, waiting to know the fate of my offer. I can’t sleep the next night either. Sam had said they probably wouldn’t get back until Wednesday morning, so when my phone rings and I see it’s her, I answer with shaking hands.
“Sam. Tell me good news,” I answer, my heart pounding in my chest. Vic comes out of her bedroom at the sound of the phone. I put it on speakerphone. I don’t want to hear this alone.
“Okay. Good news.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am serious. They accepted your offer, Spencer. You can move in two weeks.”
I sit down heavily on a dining chair.
“They accepted my offer.”
“You gonna survive?” Vic asks.
I nod.
“Hi, Sam. I’m Vic. Spencer’s best friend. He’s just a little in shock right now.”
Sam chuckles. “No worries. You want to come down to the office today and we can sort out all the last details?”
“Yeah. Uh. What time?”
“Whenever you’re free. I’ll be here until five.”
I hang up and look at Vic.
“Are you going to tell everyone today?”
I shake my head. “It still feels so surreal.” Then I nod. “I will. After I see Sam today. I’ll tell everyone tomorrow.”
“Or.” She pauses, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Or you could keep it a secret and just invite them over when you move in.”
A smile begins to spread on my face. “Closing is only two weeks away.”
Vic frowns. “Two weeks. Isn’t that…”
I nod. “I chose the day before.”
“Are you sure—”
“It’ll be fine.” I take a breath. No one knows me better than Vic. She’s been with me from the beginning. She was there when my mother died. So she knows how I get around the anniversary of her death. But this year is going to be fine. Because the day before is going to be the first day of my new future.