by Martha Carr
The halfling smirked. “Not from wheeling yourself around, though.”
Her friend let out a wry laugh. “No, Cheyenne. From propping myself up while you pretend to be a scrawny Goth human trying to lift her friend in and out of everything.”
“Huh.” Cheyenne turned off the engine, and Ember blinked before opening her eyes all the way again.
“What?”
Turning in the driver’s seat to face her friend as directly as she could, the halfling raised her eyebrows and leaned forward a little. “You want to keep going?”
“Today?” Ember shrugged.
“I have no problem going out to find this apartment on my own.” Smirking, Cheyenne tapped a finger on her lips and exaggerated a thoughtful stare. “I’m thinking something like a giant warehouse, right? Maybe a repurposed garage, like the kind they turn into cool new restaurants with the door all the way open in the summer. Except we’ll have all the windows blacked out. I’m sure I could find a couple chandeliers from the 1800s. Complete with cobwebs. Fill ‘em with black candles. We won’t even need electricity.”
Ember laughed and rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. Maybe even purple velvet on the walls. I mean, don’t get me wrong, black is totally my number one. Purple’s a close second. But the floors, of course—all black, no carpet. Hell, we could find something shiny black and paint the wood floors. No rooms, though. Just one giant, open Goth box with a trapdoor to the toilet.” The halfling cocked her head and frowned. “Might have to install some kind of access lift down into it, though.”
“Okay, stop.” Ember finally looked at Cheyenne. “That is the worst last-minute plan for an apartment I’ve ever heard.”
“Hey, who said it was last-minute? I could’ve been planning this whole thing for months. You don’t know.”
“Cheyenne, you bought yourself a Panamera. We both know you have better taste than a Goth-box garage with chandeliers.”
Lifting one shoulder in coy indecision, the halfling batted her lashes. “This car is Cheyenne on the outside. That awesome picture I just painted in your head of our new apartment, Em? That’s Cheyenne on the inside.”
“Just shut up already.” Finally, Ember let herself smile.
Good. Pulled her back from the edge of that dark pit, at least.
Cheyenne couldn’t swallow another burst of laughter. “All joking aside, we don’t have to do this today if it’s too much. I don’t know what it’s like to go through what you’re going through, but I might know something about pushing myself too hard when I should’ve listened to my gut.”
“No problems with my gut, Cheyenne. I think the issue is all in my head.” Ember tapped a finger against her temple. “Way more than my legs right now, anyway.”
“Fair enough. You wanna keep going, or just call it a fun morning out to breakfast?”
Ember squinted at her friend, then snatched the halfling’s to-go cup and took a long drink of latte. With a satisfied grin, she lifted the cup toward the windshield and nodded. “We’re finding that apartment today. No fucking way am I letting you grab us a Goth box.”
“Excellent decision. I’m a little heartbroken, but I’ll get over it.” Cheyenne started the car again and backed out of the restaurant parking lot. “If you change your mind, though…”
“Trust me, I won’t. Not after that image in my head.” Ember laughed and drank more of Cheyenne’s coffee.
I don’t even care.
“As you wish, O mighty smiter.”
Ember rolled her eyes. “I think you’ve got us confused, halfling.”
“Not today. We’re gonna do this right, Em. Get us into a badass new place that’s safe and has everything we need.” I owe her that much, at least.
Chapter Fifty
Five hours later, they pulled up in front of the Guest Center of the Pellerville Gables apartments on Libbie Mill East Boulevard. Cheyenne glanced at the tall buildings around them and shrugged. “Third time’s a charm, right?”
Ember smirked and shook her head. “We’ve already been to three different apartment complexes. I think we missed the cutoff.”
“What? No, in this situation, we’re interpreting the saying as three duds in the apartment search equals a winner with number four.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
The halfling chuckled and unbuckled her seatbelt. “Just let it percolate in your head. You’ll catch up.” With a wink, she popped the trunk and got out to grab the wheelchair one more time. I’ll be helping her for a while, so I better get used to it.
She jerked the chair out of its folded position with an almost fluid motion and grinned. “Hey! I think I’m gettin’ the hang of this.”
Ember let out a mocking groan. “Awesome. You get the hang of my wheelchair. I’ll wait.”
“Whoa.” Laughing, Cheyenne brought the chair around and locked the wheels. She stuck her hands on her hips and eyed her friend, still sitting in her car. “You’re gonna have to go easy on me, Em. I’m on a learning curve here. Don’t worry, I’ll quit slowing you down in no time.”
Ember snorted and steadied herself while Cheyenne bent down to help her transfer out of the car. It took the magicless fae only seconds this time to get herself adjusted in the chair, then Cheyenne wheeled her backward so Ember could shut the door. “We are getting pretty good at this.”
“See?” The halfling pushed her friend toward the ramp onto the sidewalk as Ember pulled the keyless fob out of her jacket pocket and locked the car behind them. The little chirp made them both smile. “We make the best damn team in the world. Only makes sense that we’re about to end up living together too.”
“Okay, I might be misreading the signs, but you sound more excited about this setup with every awful apartment we say no to.”
Cheyenne laughed as they headed up the walkway toward the front door of the Guest Center. “That’s ‘cause we’re getting closer to that Goth-box garage.”
“Maybe I should just say this is the one I want, no arguments, I’m putting my foot down now—” Ember froze in the chair and stared at the warped reflection of a girl in a wheelchair being pushed by a blurred black figure shaped like another girl. Then she laughed. “That’s always metaphorical, isn’t it? Putting one’s foot down.”
“Unless we’re talking about toddler tantrums, yeah. Hey, look at this. Automatic doors with a handicap button.” Cheyenne wheeled her friend up to the blue metal square on the outer wall of the building and nodded. “Would you like to do the honors?”
“That’s the first one we’ve seen today, isn’t it?” Ember leaned sideways and slammed her palm on the button. The door opened slowly to let them inside. “I like this place already.”
“Okay, well, don’t put your foot down just yet.”
They made their way into the wide, sweeping lobby of the Pellerville Gables Apartments, everything in bold colors and sleek, clean lines.
Ember tipped her head all the way back to study the unusually high ceilings and the track lighting. “Does this place look like a hotel lobby to you?”
“Stole the words right outta my head. Not a lot of black, though.”
The fae girl scoffed. “I’m pretty sure a good interior decorator can take care of that issue.”
“Oh. Now we’re talking about interior decorators, huh? When did we get so fancy?”
“Probably when you bought that super-fancy car outside and started throwing around the phrase ‘inheritance.’” Ember looked over her shoulder to grin at the halfling. “Plus, I kinda have a weak spot for decorating.”
“You know what? I’ll buy that.” Cheyenne found the receptionist’s desk against the right-hand wall just past a half-circle of black leather armchairs around a curvy modern coffee table with no identifiable shape. We need chairs like that. “Even with all the broken cabinets and the holes in the wall, your apartment looks a lot nicer than mine.”
“That’s because I have furniture.”
They laughed and pus
hed the sound level down into snickering as they approached the desk. The woman sitting there was only a few years older than they were, her platinum-blonde hair cut into a straight, severe bob. She readjusted the cat-eye frames of her lime-green glasses and smiled first at Ember. When she looked at Cheyenne, her smile faded a little, and her gaze moved to Ember again. “Hi. Can I help you?”
“That would be awesome,” Cheyenne replied with a firm nod.
The woman blinked—the little plaque on her desk said “Caroline”—and kept smiling at Ember.
“I called earlier this morning and made an appointment for a showing,” Ember said, her usual joking demeanor replaced by a perfectly polite bubbliness that matched Caroline’s.
Cheyenne pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Like she was groomed by Bianca Summerlin.
“All right.” Caroline’s smile widened, her blue eyes magnified behind the thick lenses. “What time was your appointment?”
“Two-thirty. If you took my name down, it would be under Ember Gaderow.”
The receptionist clicked around and nodded. “Oh, yes. I have you right here. Right on time. That’s excellent.” Her gaze flickered across Ember’s wheelchair. “Are you still wanting to look at the two-bedroom loft?”
“Definitely.” Ember either didn’t notice the woman’s hesitation about her wheelchair or was really good at ignoring it.
At least she’s got that part down already. Cheyenne stepped around the chair to stand beside her friend and stuck her hands in the pockets of her baggy black pants with small rips in the knees.
“Of course.” Caroline clasped her hands together, glanced one more time at her computer, and smiled even wider. “I’ll take you to one of our show units with the same layout. You can get a feel for what it might look like with all your things moved in.”
“Sounds great.”
“I’ll just step into the back office to grab the keys, and we’ll go take a look.” Caroline patted her desk as she nodded at Ember, and her eyes flickered toward Cheyenne before she spun neatly around and headed through an unmarked door on the other side of her desk.
“This’ll be fun,” Cheyenne muttered.
Ember chuckled and folded her arms. “Something tells me you’re not talking about going to check out another apartment.”
“Well, yeah, that too. But I think she expected her two-thirty appointment to look a little different.” The halfling turned to eye the closed door where Caroline had disappeared. “I think she’s having a hard time deciding which of us to be more concerned about.”
“What?” The fae pretended shock and pressed a hand to her chest. “You mean everyone can’t already tell that we’re both upstanding citizens looking to improve our current living arrangements?”
“Oh, man.” Cheyenne hissed a laugh and shook her head. “I gotta take you to meet my mom sometime. She’d love you.”
“I don’t know if I’m quite her style.”
“Ha. Maybe I just want to see the look on her face when you pull out the sarcasm.”
Ember raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure she gets plenty of that from you.”
Cheyenne slowly shook her head, her eyes wide as she fought to keep the image of Bianca Summerlin’s reaction at bay. “Not for a long time. You might say she had a certain way of grooming it out of me. At least when I’m around her or any of her peers.”
“Oh, I get it. You just want to make her squirm when she sees your best friend has the balls to act that way around her, and you don’t.”
The halfling pointed a warning finger at her friend and swallowed another laugh. “Low blow, but dead-on.” Ember rolled her eyes. “No, for real, though, Em. It’s a fun thought to entertain, but I know it won’t happen. You’re too adaptable.”
“I can’t tell if that’s an insult or a compliment.”
Cheyenne shrugged, laughing when the fae girl smacked her arm with the back of a hand. “Seriously, we’d have a good time. We’ll wheel you out onto the veranda and open some wine. Eleanor makes a mean chicken cacciatore when the mood strikes.”
Ember’s eyes widened as she tried to process that mental image. “Now who’s getting fancy?”
“Just sayin’. It’s a whole new world out there in the middle of nowhere.”
The unmarked door on the other side of the desk opened, and the receptionist stepped toward them, dangling a single key on a keyring. “Here we go. Can I offer either of you something to drink? We have wine, red or white. Mineral or flat water, if you prefer.”
“No champagne?” Cheyenne asked with a deadpan stare.
“I’m sorry?”
“No, no. Don’t apologize. It’s fine.” The halfling lifted a hand and dipped her head. Wow, that even feels like Mom.
“Of...of course.” Caroline blinked furiously and turned her attention to Ember. “For you, Ms. Gaderow?”
Ember fought down another laugh and shook her head. “No, thank you. We’re ready to go take a look at that loft.”
“Absolutely. We’ll just step outside the Guest Center and head to the first building on the right. This way.” The woman nodded and brushed past them without looking at Cheyenne.
The halfling leaned down to whisper in her friend’s ear, “I told you this would be fun.”
“You’re gonna make her pull her hair out,” Ember muttered.
“Well, if we like this place and wanna seal the deal, just wait ‘til we get to the paperwork-signing part.”
“Oh, boy. Here we go.”
They shared another quiet laugh that cut off abruptly when Caroline held the front door open for them. Then they were back outside on the pathway across the Guest Center’s manicured lawn. The woman leading the way kept up a brisk pace to the first building on the right, and Cheyenne made it a point to stay several feet behind her at all times.
“Here we are.” Caroline opened another entrance door, and in they went. “So tell me, Ms. Gaderow. What made you decide to visit Pellerville Gables Apartments this afternoon?”
Cheyenne wheeled her friend into the lobby of the apartment building, which was a smaller version of the Guest Center.
“Well, I checked out the website. The pictures looked really nice, and I saw two-bedroom lofts were still available, so I gave you a call.”
“Excellent. And who referred you to us, if you don’t mind my asking?” Caroline led them down the hallway in the back toward the two elevators.
“Um, Google.”
The woman turned quickly to shoot Ember an incredulous glance and tried to cover her surprise. “I see.”
She stabbed the elevator call button and stared up at the little upward-pointing triangle, now glowing with a soft white light.
Cheyenne drummed her fingers on the handles of the wheelchair and watched their apartment tour guide. They don’t get a lot of potential residents right off the street like this. She doesn’t know what to do with herself.
The elevator doors opened with a ding, and Caroline stepped back with a gesture for them to enter. “After you.”
“Thank you.” Ember dipped her head, and Cheyenne pushed the chair just roughly enough to wheel it over the metal strip without getting stuck. A small laugh of surprise burst from Ember’s mouth as her head whipped back, then Cheyenne jerked the wheelchair to a stop before her friend’s feet would have hit the back wall. “You’re outdoing yourself, Cheyenne.”
“Thank you.”
The elevator doors closed behind them.
Caroline looked horrified.
Chapter Fifty-One
The door to the show unit swung open without a sound, and Caroline stepped inside first. She opened her arm in a grand, sweeping gesture, the key dangling from her hand. “Here it is. The two-bedroom loft is one of our most popular units. Master bedroom and attached master bath to the right. Second bedroom on the left at the other end.”
The woman’s heels clicked across the hardwood floors with sharp, staccato echoes. “The entire north wall is windows, so there’s
more than enough natural light, but none of it direct. Insulated windows keep the unit remarkably energy efficient—no cold drafts in the winter or extra heat in the summer. And the door just there steps out onto the balcony. Plenty of room out there for chairs and a little bistro table. Open floor plan, all-new hardwood flooring throughout. Tile in the bathrooms. Stainless-steel appliances in the kitchen and granite countertops.
Caroline stepped toward the kitchen and flipped a switch on the side of the huge center island. “These lights up here are dimmable for ambiance. Every unit has a laundry room as well, with a side-by-side top-loading washer and dryer. That’s down there in a separate room behind the second full bathroom.”
Cheyenne wheeled Ember into the center of the loft, and they took a moment to stare at the phenomenal view of northern Richmond through the wall of windows. I bet if I stared long enough, I could see DC from here.
Ember said, “This is not like the other ones.”
“You can say that again.” The halfling turned around to take in the ceilings, high even for a loft, and ran her hand over the back of the gray suede couch in the center of the huge living area. “Do all these units come with that extra loft up there?”
Caroline followed her gaze and nodded at the wrought-iron staircase leading up to the raised platform above the second bathroom and hidden laundry room. “Most of them do, yes. A lot of people use that for an office, semi-private study, library, et cetera. I believe it can also fit a queen-sized bed and a short chest of drawers.”
“Uh-huh.” Cheyenne walked quickly toward the staircase and climbed it just enough to peer through the iron rail surrounding the miniature loft.
“Unfortunately, all of our two-bedroom units with this particular layout and the built-in loft are currently rented.” Caroline fiddled with the single key in her hand. “Our available units with this floorplan don’t have that specific feature, but it does open up the rest of the main room quite a bit.”
With one more sweeping gaze around the loft, Cheyenne leaned over the staircase railing and grinned at the woman. “Not a problem.”