Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1)(67)
Author: Cambria Hebert

His eyes displayed real interest. “The orchard we walked to the other day?” Was it a special place for him too?

I nodded with a small smile.

“Cool.”

“That reminds me, Sam. I have an offer for you,” Gran said, cutting into our private moment.

Sam turned his eyes to her. I felt a little hollow for the loss.

“I know you have two jobs and may not want another, but I could use a farmhand around here for the summer.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sam nodded.

“You could come out early in the morning, or in the evening – whatever works for you. I’ll pay you, and you’d be welcome to stay for supper or breakfast, whichever you’re here for.”

I could barely contain myself. I was so excited.

“I could come first thing in the mornings,” Sam told her, “before I go to my other jobs.”

My excitement dimmed. Would this be too much for him? How much could one person take? Maybe he shouldn’t take the job.

“Wonderful. I’ll show you how to work the tractor tomorrow. You can do all the mowing, and I’ll show you where everything else is. I’m sure Heven will need help with the orchard, it’s probably really overgrown.

“Thank you for the opportunity, ma’am.” Sam smiled. “You know, I would do this work for you for free.”

My heart melted. He was so, so sweet.

Gran smiled. “I know. But it’s honest, hard work and you deserve to be compensated for your time.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She chuckled. “And please call me Silvia.”

He nodded and stood, taking his empty bowl to the sink. My breath caught when he looked at me. He was so completely gorgeous that I wanted to pinch myself.

“So, I need to go somewhere, and I was hoping you…”

“I’ll go anywhere with you,” I rushed out, cutting him off.

He grinned and Grandma laughed. I blushed so much my face felt hot.

“Don’t you want to know where we’re going?” he asked, his honey eyes twinkling.

“Yeah,” I said sheepishly.

“I found a place to rent, I am supposed to go look at it this morning.”

I jumped up. “Let’s go!”

He smiled and went to the door. I turned to Gran. “May I?”

She made a shooing motion with her hand. “I’ll see you later.”

I raced out the door after Sam.

The place was a dump. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t great either. It was an efficiency apartment, which meant that it was one room with a bathroom. It had everything he needed: a fridge, microwave and a sink in the small kitchen, which was off to the right of the front door. The landlord seemed to think that the stove and oven was a big deal. I guess that not many tiny apartments had them. The rest of the room was a big open space. The floors were nice, which were a light-colored hardwood. They were scratched up, but a rug would fix that. There was enough room for a TV, a bed and a small table. The bathroom was off to the left of the space. It had old tiles that I guess you could call retro, that were shaped like small hexagons and were in alternating colors of blue and white. There was shower stall that needed a curtain, and there was a pedestal sink and a toilet. It all needed a good cleaning.

“Well, what do you think?” the landlord asked Sam. We were standing in the center of the room, hands clasped and taking in the little space.

“I like it.” He shrugged.

At the same time I said, “It needs painting.”

The landlord must have really wanted to rent the place because he said, “I’ll pay for the paint if you keep it neutral and do the painting yourself.”

Sam was about to agree when I squeezed his hand. “He needs a rug. For the floor,” I added when the guy looked a little blank. He still didn’t say anything so I said, “The floors are a little scratched.” Actually, a lot.

The man sighed. “Okay, you can pick one out that I have downstairs in the shop.”

I nodded. The apartment was above a secondhand store.

“The place rents for three hundred a month and includes all utilities but cable.”

“Two eighty,” I tried.

The landlord narrowed his eyes. “Who’s going to be living here?”

Oops. Maybe I went too far. Sam cleared his throat. “Just me, sir.”

“Aren’t you kind of young to be renting on your own?”

“I’m emancipated,” Sam said and held out the document proving it. The landlord looked it over and handed it back.

“This your girlfriend or your agent, son?”

Sam grinned. His hand returned for mine. “Girlfriend. She can be a little bossy.”

“Hey!” I argued.

“What woman isn’t?” the guy muttered.

I sputtered. But Sam said, “I’ll take it.”

“Good.” Then he looked at Sam. “You into partying?”

“No, sir.”

He pointed a finger at Sam and said, “There will be no wild parties here.”

This made me angry. Sam worked hard, he didn’t need this. I stepped forward. “Listen here, he works three jobs. Three. And he goes to school. He doesn’t have time for parties.”

Sam pulled me back to his side, but I still glared at the landlord.

“Three jobs, huh?”

Sam nodded.

He sighed. “All right, then. Come on downstairs and sign the papers.”

I cleared my throat. “Two eighty?” I asked.

The guy laughed. “Geez, you should be a lawyer. Two eighty it is.”

I grinned. Sam shook his head. When the landlord left the room Sam leaned over and kissed me. “You’re amazing.”

“I wish I could have got you more.” He deserved everything. More than he had.

“I already have everything, sweetheart.” He pulled me close. “So what do you think of the place?” he asked, leading me from the room.

“Ask me again after we paint, and I scrub the place with bleach.”

“You’re going to help me?”

“Of course. When I’m done with this place it will be perfect.”

“I don’t know about that.” He smiled.

“I do. You’ll see.”

The morning I spent with Sam was close to perfect. We had time to be alone, and we found him an apartment (which, yes, needed some work – okay a lot of work), that promised even more time to be alone. I couldn’t quite explain it, but there was something inside that was urging me to find places for us to be ourselves. Almost like we needed a place that could be a sanctuary. I didn’t tell this to Sam because it sounded a little weird, and he was already worried enough. Everywhere we went he was constantly searching, his eyes were never still, and his shoulders were never relaxed. He stayed as close to me as possible, as if he was prepared to jump in front of me at any given moment. It made me nervous, and I was constantly reminded that we were not safe and that someone sick was after me.