Page 19 of Fierce-Ivan

Keeping This Quiet

The next day Ivan was walking around his house to make sure it was clean enough.

It wasn’t cluttered because he’d have to have more possessions for that to be the case.

He’d left Fierce after working with Kendra for about ninety minutes, came home and did some more work and then texted her and asked if she wanted to come to dinner tonight.

He was thrilled she was on the same page as him and they were keeping this quiet. He just had to make sure she didn’t feel like they were sneaking around because he was embarrassed or anything like that.

He’d been slightly stunned that she didn’t think she was good enough for him and wanted to make sure she didn’t continue to feel that way.

When the doorbell rang at five, he was there to open it. Something told him she’d be right on time. His guess was she was normally early like him, but wouldn’t be today. She wouldn’t be late either.

“Hi,” he said. “Come in.”

“Shoes on or off?” she asked.

He looked at her tan casual sneakers. She had jeans on and was pulling her jacket off, letting him see the cotton shirt she had on with it. Just a Nike shirt with a zipper in the front. He had a few of them himself.

“You can keep them on,” he said. “I’m not really fussy about those things.”

He took her jacket and hung it up in the closet off the entryway.

“This is a big house. I wasn’t sure what I expected you to have. I don’t think I thought you’d live in a development like this either.”

“Because I’m cheap,” he said, letting out a laugh. “Come on now, I know you’ve heard them all say it.”

“There is nothing wrong with being frugal with your money. I’m the same way,” she said primly and then grinned.

“I’m frugal, all right. I just don’t like to be wasteful either. As for this house, it took me a long time to find it. Paying rent is wasteful to me. Might as well open your wallet and put a lit match in it.”

“I feel the same way. I’ve never rented.”

“You own your own home?” he asked. He wasn’t sure her age, but he was guessing she was younger than him.

“I do. It’s an income property. I live with my mother. Or I kind of do now. It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time,” he said.

“I’ll tell you in a bit,” she said. “It took me a few years to find the right place. Good price, location and perfect for my mother’s needs. She lives on the first floor. I rent out the second, which is as big as the first, and then I’m on the third floor, which is a converted attic. It’s a little more than half the size of the other two places, but it’s fine for me.”

“The rent help pays your mortgage,” he said. That was exactly what he would have done. What he’d thought of doing.

The only problem was, he didn’t want to be a landlord. He knew he wouldn’t live there forever and it was a responsibility he didn’t want to have with everything else going on in his life.

The life many said was boring, but it suited him and dealing with tenants didn’t.

“It does. Not all of it but enough. My mother shouldn’t live alone, but she doesn’t need twenty-four-hour care either.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That has to be hard to deal with.”

“Yes and no. Aside from being legally blind, my mother is healthy as a horse.” She laughed. “She wouldn’t appreciate me saying that, but it’s the truth. The saying she was a horse comment. The blind part is true.”

Kendra seemed young to him so he was guessing her mother might be too. “Was she born that way or did it happen later in life?”

“Later in life,” she said. “She has a rare genetic disease called Stargardt Disease. It normally happens to children and they will slowly lose their eyesight, but it can happen later in life. In this case that is what happened to my mother. She had no clue she had it, but little by little she started to struggle to see in front of her. Then colors weren’t as sharp. She said she had hazy spots too. She’d gone to the eye doctors and they realized what was wrong. There is no cure. This happened after I was born. She was still able to drive and do most things until I was a teen and then driving became more dangerous.”

“She’s not completely blind?” he asked. “You said she struggled to see in front of her?”