When I Was His

58

"surprise" Richard says as he moves his hands from my eyes. As my eyes adjust to the light the first thing I see is yellow it takes me a while to see that I'm looking at a car.

"I hope you don't mind but I took the money I was going to give you for looking after benji and bought you this car. Before you say anything it was only a thousand dollars, I had my mechanic check it out and he says its a great runner."

"you bought me a car" I whisper.

"technically you bought you a car" he says with a huge smile.

"it's a BMW z3, it's pretty old but it's only had one owner. The milage is also pretty low especially given its age" he says as I walk around it.

"it's recently been painted, the woman who owned it died last month. Her son said she only had it resprayed 2 months ago" Richard is so excited, he's watching my face waiting for me to show some emotion but I'm too shocked.

"thank you" I hug him and he squeezes me tightly.

"your welcome, you have no excuse not to come and visit me now. Book club every Thursday"

I laugh, Richard and Kate had insisted  that I joined their book club. I had only been to one but had loved it, everyone else at the group were adamant that I come to every meeting. This week we were reading the bird box, Im not sure when I can make the time to read it but I will try my best.

"kates Gardner took all your things to your new home. I wish I could help you get settled but I have another reading"

"hey you have done so much for me, I couldn't be more grateful. Your the best friend I've ever had"

"I feel the same" he hugs me again and opens the car door before handing me the keys.

"I'll see you Thursday"

.........

I use my new house key for the first time, I hadn't even seen the house before I agreed to move in. I have no idea what to expect, kates sister had been waiting outside for me to arrive. We walk in the house together and she shows me around. There's a modern kitchen and dining room.
She tells me there's 3 bedrooms, the one which will be mine is on the top floor at the back of the house overlooking the small garden.

The room is large there's a bed in the middle of the room with a nightstand at either side and a large built in closet with mirrored doors. It's around the same size as my room at my mom's house, I do however have decent size ensuite which I'm excited about. Like Richard had said my belongings were in my room. I can see the potential immediately, once I've hung my curtains and my paintings it will feel more like home. Most of all I'm looking forward to filling the closet with my clothes. After 2 weeks of living out of suitcases I'm excited to be able to use my full catalogue of clothes.

"where do I sign" I ask happily.

My new Landlady hands me a contract which I sign immediately. "rents due on the 1st of every month, we're already 2 weeks into this month so you only need to pay 550 now."

I pull the cash from my purse and hand it over.

I sit on the bed and look around, I can't believe this is my life. I have 5 hours before I need to go to bed so I jump up and start to unpack. I'm just unpacking my last box when I hear a door slam downstairs. I guess I'm about to meet one of my new housemates.

I peak my head around the door and can hear two women speaking. I head down the stairs and find the women sat on the sofa with water bottles in their hands. One of the women is very small with curly black hair, the other is my height with very short blonde hair.

"oh hi you must be rose" the short woman says as she spots me.

I wave awkwardly and move toward them "hi"

"come sit, it's your house too. Don't be shy" she says sweetly.

"I'm Debra and this is Anna" she says, I catch a slight Southern accent but it's very muted .

"are you already unpacked" Anna says speaking for the first time. Anna sounds like a a typical valley girl.

"yeah just, I didn't realise I had so many clothes"

"so you work in Beverly Hills, so do i" Debra tells me.

"tomorrows my first day, where do you both work"

"I'm a yoga teacher, I work at a gym just up the road" anna tells me and to be honest I would have guessed that she was a personal trainer or a yoga teacher as she's very athletically built like my sister.

"I work in a candy shop in Beverly Hill, it's nothing fancy but I love candy so it's my perfect job" Debra tells me.

"I'm gonna be working at the Kate Lewis store"

"we were just going to order some sushi, do you want to join us" Anna asks.

"yeah great"

Everything so far is going great, their really making me feel like I'm at home. They tell me about the rules they live by which are pretty standard. Mostly the rules are be considerate of your housemates if you come home late or bring a guest back and don't eat anyone else's food. Debra tells me this is an important one before she shows me the small mark on her arm from where Anna had thrown a fork at her when she ate her chicken. I have a shelf in the refrigerator, freezer and a full kitchen cupboard so I'm pretty sure I won't resort to stealing anyone else's food.

I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy it here.