Three Alarm Tenant. Christa Maurice

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СКАЧАТЬ of man had keys to Katherine’s place. He squared his shoulders and knocked at the door, aware he was preparing to size up the competition.

      The guy who answered the door was good looking with shaggy blond hair and bright blue eyes. He had a smear of grease on his left cheek. “Yeah?” he said.

      “I’m here to pick up the keys to the apartment.”

      “Oh!” The blond guy grinned. “So you’re the tenant, huh? She left the stuff here someplace. Wait a minute.” He jogged back up the stairs and Jack heard him rummaging around. Then he saw him walk across the hall and begin rummaging again. This guy was the competition? He was pretty good looking, but kind of scrawny. He didn’t seem very bright, but she might like that. If she did, his opinion of her was about to take a plunge. He hated women who only liked dumb guys. It narrowed the pool of acceptable dates, since he didn’t think he was Einstein, either. Still, after the conversation over dinner, he didn’t think she had much patience for the truly slow witted. Which the blond guy seemed to be, based on how long it was taking him to find a piece of paper and a couple of keys that the efficient Katherine had to have left lying in plain sight.

      “Do you need help?” Jack asked. He might get a look at her place this way. All he could see from this vantage point was a wall with a couple of framed photos he couldn’t make out, and a sliver of hall.

      “No. She said she left it out someplace.”

      Jack stepped inside the door and closed it behind him, telling himself he was keeping the heat in. The entrance way seemed cramped and narrow. It must feel confined to her after walking into that big bright foyer. He tried to imagine the foyer intact, with this dark stained, pine banister visible from the door. Could the blond guy be the other half of the ‘we’ she kept mentioning? He seemed familiar with the layout of her place. But if he was the other half of ‘we,’ why weren’t they living here together? Why had she split her big house into two apartments? Jack glanced at the bottom step. A large manila envelope with printing on the outside sat on it, propped against the next step.

      Jack cocked his head to the side to read the printing. Contains keys to front door and back door. Two copies of lease. Have him sign both copies of lease. Keep one, give him the other. Collect check for first month’s rent and deposit. $1200 total.

      Jack picked it up. That handwriting and the instructions could only belong to Katherine, so formal and elegant, clear and concise.

      “I found it,” Jack announced.

      The blond guy stepped into the hall and paused as if he wanted to set off to another room. “You found it?”

      Jack held up the envelope.

      “Oh yeah. She said she left it on the stairs.” The blond thumped down the steps, reaching for the envelope.

      Jack opened it and dropped the two keys into his palm before the blond guy could get his hands on them and drop them through a crack in the floor. There were two copies of the lease so he skimmed the top one. Pretty standard. The text bent along one edge of each page as if it were photocopied right out of her book, or a book at any rate. Her signature already graced the bottom of both copies. He pulled a pen out of his jacket, glad he didn’t have to rely on the blond guy for that, and signed both copies. Tucking one into his pocket, he folded the other around the check he had ready before putting it back in the envelope.

      “All set.” Jack held out the envelope wondering how well the blond guy would lose it before Katherine got home. “So you must be a friend of hers.”

      The blond guy grinned. “You could call me that.”

      Jack filed the comment for later consideration. “What’s she up to tonight anyway?”

      “Parent-teacher conferences. She forgot about it until yesterday. She forgets stuff all the time.”

      “I see.” Jack smiled and held out his hand. “Well, good meeting you.”

      “Yeah, hey. Don’t be a stranger.” The blond guy pumped his hand.

      Jack’s mouth did not drop open through sheer force of will. Don’t be a stranger? He was moving in downstairs. How could he be a stranger? “See ya.”

      He pulled the door open with numb fingers. Did it mean he would see a lot of that truck? Did the blond guy live here with her?

      Couldn’t be. She didn’t have plans on Valentine’s Day. If she was living with someone, wouldn’t that imply automatic plans? Unless the guy worked long shifts. That would also explain why he hadn’t been home all that day. But the garage fit two cars. If she had a car and the blond had the yellow junker, why would she tell him he could park in the garage? Unless they weren’t living together, and he only came by occasionally. That thought unsettled Jack more.

      Jack stopped before he opened his truck door. He considered going into his new apartment to eavesdrop. He might even want to stall long enough for Katherine to come home. He looked at the front yard and noticed the For Rent sign still there. He walked over and pulled it up. He turned it over in his hands. She never had put the phone number on it. That had helped his chances a lot. He propped the sign against the wall in the garage and took a minute to check it out. The two and a half car garage had a nice deep worktable along one side and a neat array of tools hanging from the peg board above it. Were those the dumb blond’s tools? Jack shuddered and retreated to his truck after closing the garage door.

      As he backed out of the driveway, he spared one last look at the battered truck. He hoped he wouldn’t be seeing much of it. If Katherine liked him, Jack had misjudged her. He grinned at his refection in the side mirror. It also meant the competition wouldn’t be able to out think him. Even if he wasn’t supposed to date the landlady.

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