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grooming spa for a few years, but they moved to a different part of the city last month." Jerry walked toward the center of the room. "You said you were starting a clothing line?"
    I nodded.
    "Impressive for a girl your age." He gestured toward the front desk. "If you want, you could get rid of this desk here. We just need to talk through logistics and any improvements made to the building will be paid by you, but I will reimburse them by crediting your rent."
    I looked around the room. Light wood floors. Glossy. Beautiful. Sleek. I could easily see the room as a gorgeous boutique filled with my custom clothes and the excitement made my heart flutter like crazy. Kinda like it did when Alistair's arm touched mine. I pictured him on the sidewalk, giving me those eyes.
    Autumn snapped in front of my face. "Come back to reality," she said, drawing out her words to emphasize my spaced outness.
    "Sorry," I said. "Could I see upstairs, please?"
    He led us up the stairs to a modern-looking loft apartment. I gasped. So did Autumn.
    "This is amazing," I said, taking in the light that poured in through the windows. "I didn't expect it to be so modern in such an old building." I walked to the back windows. "These windows are incredible."
    At the back of the building the windows covered the entire wall and faced west, so the sunset would paint my room at night. Right now sunshine beamed through and lit the entire room. Light wood floors. Clean, modern kitchen with new stainless steel appliances. I walked up the cute little stairs to the bedroom area that sat above everything and realized it extended back further than I thought, even had a second room that could be used as a spare bedroom if anyone wanted to room with me. It felt more like an exposed attic than a one-bedroom loft.
    "I absolutely love this," I called down to Jerry. "Let me guess, it's out of my budget."
    He cleared his throat. "What's your budget?"
    I thought for a second. Did a quick calculation of everything I needed to buy and yeah, Autumn was right, I probably wouldn't have enough, but I was determined to try.
    "A thousand a month?" I should've said it without the question mark.
    He nodded. "Well, you know this is a prominent and popular part of the city and includes the storefront downstairs."
    "You're saying it costs more than a thousand."
    "I've been renting it out for three thousand, but I would be willing to allow you to stay for the first six months at fifteen hundred, then if all goes well and your business improves we can move up to the full price."
    "And what if it doesn't improve?" I said. "Six months isn't a lot of time."
    "We can talk about it then." He rummaged through some papers in his folder and handed them to me. "If you're interested we'll need to do a credit check and have you fill out this paperwork."
    I nodded. "My credit is perfect. Have barely done much with it yet."
    "Okay." He handed me a few more papers. "That should be all you need. Would you like to take the next step?"
    Autumn stood behind him and waved her hands like a referee while she mouthed, "Don't do it."
    "Yes." I flipped through the papers. "I would love that."
    He went over a few details as I glanced around the room, imagining my own furniture and art on the walls. My own place. My own store.
    Really?
    Donovan texted me: Hey, let me know when you're free. We need to talk.
    Me: Yes. We. Do!
    Donovan: No... I mean... we need to talk.
    Me: Tonight? Our spot?
    Donovan: 5pm.
    Me: K.
    I took one last look around the loft, inhaled the clean, fresh paint smell, then followed Jerry and Autumn downstairs. Soon this would be my home. In the city. Alone.
    Maybe it wasn't such a good idea. "So," I said. "I can think this over a few days if I want and get this paperwork back to you when I'm ready?"
    "Sure," he said. "I do have quite a few people coming to look at it today, so I can't guarantee that'll still be here, but you're more than willing to think it over and see."
    Hm. I didn't like the