“Our project deadline!” Tessa sat up straight and tossed the balled-up napkin into the wastebasket. “I can’t afford to lose this contract. I’m already behind in rent, my car is in the shop and it’s going to cost a small fortune to get it out.”
“Two weeks,” Ben took a breath as he tried to reason with her. “Consider it a stay-cation. Kick-off your shoes, take it easy, relax.”
“And when Hilliard wants the revised plans, what do we tell them?” Tessa griped, waving the incomplete blueprints in Ben’s face. “Can’t exactly tell them we were on a vacation, didn’t have time for important things…like their plans!”
“Again, with drama,” Ben said the exact moment his computer pinged announcing a new email. He read it over and turned to Tessa with a smile. “Problem miraculously solved. Mason wants us to work from home.”
“Sounds like a perfectly logical plan. But there’s one small detail y’all seem to be missing,” Tessa held onto her whiny tone. “We live in two different houses clean across the city from one another. How are we going to do this, move in together?”
“Why not?” Ben asked, with a sedate shrug of his shoulders. “We could make it work.”
“Unfortunately, my apartment is about the size of a postage stamp, there’s barely enough room for me and Alley as it is. Besides, my landlord would have a bird if he knew I moved someone in. He’s already pissed about the late rent. This would tip the man over the edge.”
“Who’s Alley?” Benjamin asked.
“My cat. I found her in an alley, hence the name. You should have seen her; she was the scrawniest thing.”
“My place is plenty big,” Ben boasted as he rolled up the blueprints and slipped them into a travel cylinder. “My great-aunt Maggie left me her house when she passed. It’s an old Victorian. I’ve been renovating it for a few years now and am still not finished. There are four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and an attic office. There’s not much property but it’s enough for me and Jenny.”
Tessa’s heart sank, “Why didn’t I know you had a significant other?”
From the first day Tessa met Ben, some four years ago, she’d been attracted to him. Though she’d never had the guts to act on those feelings, she did what any loser would do and adored Ben from afar. Tessa was convinced that he was the man of her dreams. But, in reality, she was far too nervous and in fear of ruining what little friendship they had going on.
Ben laughed. “Jenny is my Golden Lab.”
“That’s right, you have a dog.”
“I have a dog,” he confirmed. “Oh, and I rent one of the bedrooms to my best friend, Kyle. Don’t worry though, he never comes out of his room and he won’t bother us. What do you think? You’ll have your own room complete with an ensuite. Alley’s more than welcome, too.”
“If you’re sure.” Tessa felt the need to keep on testing the waters, it was laughable really and she knew it by the sharply raised brow over Ben’s left eye.
“I am not in the habit of making offers and reneging,” he assured. “I’ll run down to receiving and grab a few boxes so we can pack up everything and be on our way. I’ll even hit the grocery store after I drop you off to pack your things. I’m afraid my fridge is bare.”
During their working relationship, Ben had always been well-organized, strategic, and never missed a deadline once, basically the bossy one. Whereas Tessa was the perfectionist, the detail girl, and the worrier for them both. Somehow it worked effortlessly, and she didn’t mind his authoritarian ways for the most part.
“I don’t have a choice,” Tessa grumbled, not wanting Ben to see her elation.
“Sure, you do, you go to your house and I’ll go to mine and we’ll see where we both stand in two weeks.”
“No!” Tessa blurted. “I mean, no, I’m willing to make the sacrifice... for the project.”
Ben peered over the rim of his reading glasses before taking them off and placing them on his head. “I’ll get the boxes.”
Watching Ben’s posterior turn and walk from the room was the highlight to Tessa’s day; a smile creased her lips as she began gathering things they’d need.
“Welcome to my humble abode. I’ll let Jenny out back before I show you to your new digs,” Ben instructed, setting the grocery bags on the kitchen table while the Labrador jumped and bounced excitedly, her tail lashing through the air like a whip. “Make yourself comfortable. There’re cold drinks in the fridge. If you get one, would you grab me a brewski, too? If you don’t mind of course.”
Alley meowed loudly as the carrier was placed on the floor beside Tessa’s bags. Tessa walked towards the kitchen, internally ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the grandeur of the old Victorian which was exactly like walking the halls of a romance novel. It appeared much larger on the inside and not quite what she envisioned two bachelors living in. From the way Ben talked on the ride over, it was nothing special, just another house on the block. The block that happened to be on the ritzy side of town.
Tessa lived on the not so picturesque side of the city, where the houses were shacks and between the overgrown weeds and gravel driveways, there were dilapidated cars, old furniture and junk piled in mounds. It was the kind of area you didn’t dare wander after dark, if dogs didn’t eat you alive the gun-toting neighbours surely would.
“Heaven,” Ben sighed on a breath of beer vapours. “Nothing like a cold one after a long day’s work. Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
After Tessa unpacked, hung her clothes in the closet, and got Alley settled, she wandered through the house nosing around each room taking in the splendor while trying to imagine when it was new. She found Ben in the kitchen and sat at the table watching while he chopped up vegetables and tossed them into a sizzling skillet. The mixture of herbs and spices permeated her nostrils, she took a deep breath and her stomach gurgled.
“Your house is beautiful,” she told, as she sipped Mike’s Hard Lemonade from an ice-cold bottle.
“Thanks, not many people appreciate the effort,” Ben offered a gleaming smile. “It was worth all the blood, sweat, and numerous splinters. I’m making a stir-fry; I hope you like chicken? I thought we could eat before we turn the dining room into office space.”
“I thought there was an office in the attic.”
“A crude version of an office,” Ben laughed. “It’s not quite finished. Actually, it’s going to be more of a study-like-library where I can curl up with a good book and relax.”
They made small talk during dinner regarding work mainly, then Tessa loaded the dishwasher that was skillfully disguised to look like a panel of drawer-fronts before they got to work on the new office area.
A floral print bedsheet was used to cover the dining table and a magnificent buffet, where Benjamin spread out the rough blueprints they needed to work on. While Tessa wired up the equipment, Ben grabbed a bottle of wine from the cellar and two glasses. It wasn’t too long before the make-shift office was all set up to go.
“Now that that’s taken care of, what would you like to do?” Ben asked as he refilled both of their glasses.