Kerry stared at him. “I thought we settled all that gratefulness crap this morning, Jesse.”
“Excuse me?” Damian suddenly said. “I hope nothing was settled in my room, because those are twelve-hundred-thread-count sheets!”
Kerry turned on him with a hard look, and Jesse whirled around at the same time. Damian put up his hands to them both. “Okay, I was just joking.”
Kerry let out a breath. Sure, he was just joking, but little did he know how close to her own thoughts he had come.
“Just so you are,” Jesse said, then turned back to her. “Like I was saying. There is another option. It’s ridiculous for you to uproot and go to another borough when everything you need is right here. We’ve got plenty of beds.” He paused, and Kerry heard Val chuckle. Jesse then added, as if he had caught Val’s chuckle, and his own words too, “I mean we’ve got plenty of room—well, a lot of space.” She caught the embarrassment in his voice. “What I’m saying is, you won’t be putting anyone out.”
“What?” Damian balked, chiming in once again from his own personal peanut gallery. “I was joking earlier, but Kerry living here? What are you thinking?”
Kerry turned from Damian back to Jesse, unable to keep the shock from her eyes. Damian wasn’t wrong. What could Jesse be thinking? One night was more than enough to push the boundaries of awkwardness between the two of them. Her living there would just be too much. She held up a hand. “Thanks, Jes, but that’s really not necessary. Though I don’t want to move to another apartment—or borough, for that matter,” she said, twisting her lip, “I can and will. I’m lucky to have the option. Besides, if it gets late at night”—she turned to Val—“I’m sure I can stay with Val. Or better yet, maybe I can stay with her outright.” Kerry’s eyes went wide at Val, and she tilted her head a bit, giving her the “Go with me on this” signal. She needed help out of this mess.
But in spectacular craptastic form, Val just looked at her, blinked and then smiled before turning to Jesse. “I think living here is a great idea! Jesse, who knew you would be the knight to save the day? So, you’re not just a pretty face after all.”
Jesse just grumbled at that, so Val ignored him and turned back to Kerry, who considered adding a growl to Jesse’s grumble. “Not that my place isn’t always open to you,” Val said, “because it is, of course. It’s just that with you spending so much time here, working, I know it will be more, um, convenient for all involved. Logically, it’s the best choice.”
Her pauses and emphasis on certain words made Kerry want to walk over and pinch her. Hard. But since they were in the middle of the shop in front of the guys, she just gave herself a mental note to save the pinching for later.
“It sure is,” Lucas said, further surprising Kerry with his agreement. Then he salted the mood by throwing the ball back to Damian. “Isn’t that right, Dame? And she can use your room. I would offer her mine, but I’m in and out so much, that might get a little inconvenient.” He looked at Kerry with a definite sparkle in his dark eyes. “For you,” he added, “not for me. Not at all. Now, thinking things over a little more deeply, Noah still is in and out with his shaky living arrangement and the tour going on. He’s got lots up there in that space. So yeah, Damian’s room would be best. It’s like an oversized walk-in closet anyway.”
Damian growled at that one. “Why is it everyone has so much of a problem with the closet? I mean, my room. It’s not a freaking closet.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Lucas said. “But still, she can use it, right?”
Damian looked from Lucas to Kerry, and the hard look he gave her made her want to tell him where he could shove his convenient room and color-organized closet and then walk on out of there. But where would she go? What would she do?
For a few tense moments they all stood there in charged silence, the air thick with the anticipation of who would speak next. But the off energy was soon broken when Jesse clapped his hands together and ended the little standoff.
“Perfect,” he said. “I’m glad we got that settled.” Jesse put his arm around Kerry’s shoulder. The gesture was a lot more casual than the mood from that morning but still had the same intense impact that put her heart in a stutter. He gave the top of her shoulder a squeeze at the same time as Val came over and gave her a nudge in her side.
“Now let’s go and get the rest of your essentials, roomie,” Jesse said. “That way you can get back here and we can get going on this never-ending to-do list.”
“Roomie”? Oh hell!
Kerry shook his arm off. “Don’t worry about me,” she said, quickly backing away. “You’ve got plenty to keep you busy here, and I can take care of my things myself.”
“Well, I’m heading that way,” Val said. “I can go with you and give you a hand before I hit the gym.”
Kerry looked her way with sharp eyes. As if she was hitting the gym. She knew for a fact that Val’s membership had expired five months ago. But unlike her friend, Kerry would not be blowing up her spot, at least not today. Instead she just raised her brow. “I think you may have helped enough. Thanks.”
Val grinned. “No need to thank me. You’re my girl. That’s what friends are for.”
Oh really? Right now, she wanted to pop this particular friend one right in her big mouth.
She mentally groaned. Just a month ago she had thought she had a plan, or at least that things were halfway set and stable, but now . . . She sighed. Now it all felt shaky. Mama Joy was gone. Her mom was gone too, though just a few hours away, but still, she was not there, and Kerry was left as the keeper of their small but still valuable apartment. This whole displacement situation just didn’t sit right with her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust their landlord, but trust and foolishness were two different things when it came to rent-controlled apartments in New York. She couldn’t lose their place. She’d seen too many long-standing neighborhood families moved out of their apartments and rents hiked up to triple, sometimes quadruple the rates for less than what she was being moved out for. She had to be sure this was just a temporary thing. For all she knew, she could be gone, and her landlord could end up Airbnb-ing her place and she wouldn’t be the wiser.
Kerry shuddered at the thought of Swedish tourists sleeping in her bed, going through her under-sink cabinet and, oh God, her night table. “I can walk with you guys too if you’d like. I was just gonna head to the gym, but I’ve got time. Maybe I can help find out the status of things for you,” Lucas said.
Oh God, no! Lucas seeing what she had in her nightstand drawer. No way!
“You’re a regular Fire Scout,” Kerry said, then immediately felt bad because he was only trying to help and indeed was helping. She didn’t have any reason to give him anything but gratitude.