Gypsy king

“It’s adorable.” I smiled up at Dash, pretending to be the happy couple. When the realtor stepped up to the door, I squeezed his fingers. “Don’t you just love this porch, honey?”

“Uh . . .”

This guy. I’d held his hand and his brain had short-circuited. I rolled my eyes and mouthed pretend.

“Right.” Dash’s tense arm relaxed. “It’s perfect, baby.”

The realtor stood and pushed the door open to let us inside first. Then she flipped on lights behind us as we let ourselves wander.

“This is three bedrooms, two and a half baths. Open concept, as you can see. It was built six years ago and has only had one owner. She took incredible care of the place, and the seller is interested in selling it furnished.”

“That might be great, wouldn’t it, sweetie?” I asked Dash.

He threw an arm around my shoulders. “Sure would be. We’ve been wanting new furniture. That couch looks a hell of a lot nicer than ours.”

I faked a laugh, stepping out of his hold to look around. My eyes searched for pictures, any clues to Amina’s life. It wasn’t easy with the realtor hovering, but luckily, her phone rang.

“Would you mind if I stepped out onto the porch to take this?” she asked, already moving that way. “Feel free to show yourselves around. I’ll catch up.”

Dash closed the door behind her and we both watched as she walked toward the park, her phone pressed to her ear.

I hustled over to an end table and opened the drawer. Empty. Then I hurried to the next, doing the same. It only had the remote for the television. The kitchen was my next stop and I started with the drawers in there too.

Dash followed, glancing over his shoulder to the front door. “What are you looking for?” he whispered.

“Anything that might tell us about Amina.”

“’Kay.” He went to a drawer, but I stopped him with a glare.

“No. You stand guard.” I waved him away. “If she comes back, distract her.”

He scowled. “How?”

“I don’t know. Smile at her. That seems to make most women fall at your feet.”

“Except for you,” he muttered.

I stayed focus on my search, not bothering to correct him. Dash didn’t need to know that his smile was just as lethal on me too.

The kitchen didn’t have anything other than typical kitchen stuff. There wasn’t even a junk drawer with old mail. Maybe the daughter had come and cleaned things out already? Maybe Amina was a neat freak?

I bolted up the stairs, glancing left and right to get my bearings. Then I went right for the master bedroom. Downstairs, there had been no pictures. Nothing framed on end tables or above the fireplace mantel. And the same was true here.

There wasn’t a hint of the life lived inside these walls. I wasn’t completely surprised, but I had hoped for a photo here and there.

I checked the drawers in the master bedroom and bathroom for good measure, but all were empty, as I’d expected. I was finishing up my loop through the guest bedroom when I heard Dash’s voice carry up the stairs.

“Nope. No kids. Thank God.”

Really? Was that last part necessary? It was a good thing I was only using him for sex. Even pretending to be a couple was exhausting. First the hand-holding. Now the aversion to kids. Yes, it was a very good thing this was sex only.

I put on a smile and brushed a fallen lock of hair off my face as I came into the hallway. I went right to Dash’s side, wrapping my arms around him. “It’s such a beautiful home. I can see us living here. Having babies here. Lots and lots of babies.”

A visible grimace crossed his face.

“If you two would like some time to talk over an offer, I’d be happy to meet you back at my office.” The realtor beamed with dollar signs in her eyes. “You don’t have a buyer’s agent, correct?”

“That’s right,” I said. “But I think we’ll need a little more time to discuss. Maybe over lunch. Could we call you later?”

“Absolutely.” Her card came flying out of her hand, faster than a poker cheat with an ace up her sleeve.

We followed her out of the house, lingering on the sidewalk as she got into her car. She was on the phone again before she even slid into the driver’s seat. The moment her car was gone, I took a healthy step away from Dash.

“That was unproductive.” I frowned. “I hadn’t expected it to be listed so soon. And for all the personal touches to be erased. Amina’s family must have cleared it out fast. I didn’t see a picture or anything.”

“Me neither.”

“Damn,” I muttered, pacing the sidewalk just as a woman pushed a stroller around the corner. I didn’t think much of her until she walked up to the house beside Amina’s.

“Excuse me, miss?” I waved as I approached. “Did you happen to know your neighbor?”

“Amina? Well, sure.” Her shoulders fell. “I was so sad to hear what happened to her.”

“Me too.” I held out my hand. “My name is Bryce. I’m a journalist and I’m writing a piece about her. A memorial of sorts.” Not entirely a lie.

“Oh.” She shook my hand. “That’s nice.”

“We just came by to see where she lived and get a glimpse into her life. It seems like this place fits her. It’s charming and beautiful.”

“She was both those things,” the young woman replied. “We loved having her as our neighbor.”

“Was it just Amina? She lived alone, right?”

She nodded. “Her daughter visited occasionally. She came last week to clear out her mom’s stuff. Poor thing. She looked heartbroken doing it all by herself.”

“Oh, that’s awful. There was no other family?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Amina didn’t have many visitors. Just her daughter a couple of times a year and the boyfriend who’d visit on the occasional weekend. But it was normally just her. She made me enough meals for two weeks when the baby was born.”

“That’s lovely,” I said, though my mind was still stuck on one word. “I didn’t realize Amina had a boyfriend.”

“Oh, yes. Except maybe boyfriend isn’t the right term. I don’t know how serious they were. But he was here every now and then.”

“Do you happen to know his name?”

“Sorry. Amina didn’t talk about him much. And when he came, they kind of kept to themselves, if you know what I mean. He’d get here late on a Friday night. Leave Sunday morning before church.”

“I see.” Sounded like Amina had had a booty call, not a boyfriend. Was it Draven? Had they been sleeping together for a while? “Well, thank you. And I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Good luck with your memorial. Amina was the best.”

I waved, stepping away but paused. “Can I ask you one more question?”

“Of course.”

“Do you know what he looked like? The boyfriend?”

“He was probably her age. Older. About the same height as him.” She pointed a finger at Dash, who still stood in front of Amina’s house. “I only saw him two or three times and always as he was leaving. Like I said, Amina didn’t talk about him much and I didn’t want to pry. I have a feeling that he was from her past and came with some memories.”

“Why do you say that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because she never talked about him. Like never. I even asked her once if she’d had a nice weekend with her company and she just smiled without answering me. It was almost like they were hiding something. I always wondered if maybe he was married.”

“Maybe.”

The neighbor’s eyes got wide as she realized what she’d just said. “Oh, God. No. That’s not what I mean. Please don’t put that in your story. Amina was so kind and sweet and generous. I don’t want you to think she’s some kind of home-wrecker or mistress. I was just talking out loud. I’m sure he wasn’t married. She wasn’t like that.”