Free Saved by the Celebutante by Kirsty McManus Page B

since she was twelve. Her skin is almost as bad as Tan Mom’s.
    “Hi there,” she says in a voice reminiscent of Mrs. Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory .
    “Uh, hi. You’re Susan?”
    “Sure am. Come in and check out the place.”
    I head into a dingy old two bedroom apartment that smells like cat pee and hasn’t had its furniture updated since the seventies. In fact, I think my grandmother has that exact same coffee table with the yellow tiles on top.
    “So have you been advertising for long?” I ask, hesitantly looking around.
    “A couple of months,” she admits. “I just haven’t found the right tenant yet.”
    I get the impression no one has ventured further than the front door in that time.
    “Do you have any questions for me?” I figure I should at least be polite.
    She looks surprised. “Uh, I guess. When were you looking to move in?”
    “Within the month. But I mean, do you want to know anything about my background? You know employment…or lifestyle?”
    “Oh, right. Um…you won’t be bringing men home every night or anything, will you?”
    I smile. “No, I’m newly separated. I won’t be bringing men home every night.”
    She almost looks disappointed. Then her face lights up. “Hey, do you happen to watch Cheers ?”
    “The TV show about the bar?”
    “Yes!”
    “It’s okay. I mean it ended over twenty years ago, so I haven’t watched it for a while. They play reruns sometimes though, don’t they?”
    “Yes! But I have the entire box set! I’ve watched it seven times and I’m just about to start on the eighth.”
    I shudder. “Wow. You must be a big fan, huh?”
    “Oh, that Sam Malone is so dishy. Do you know I once saw him in LA?”
    “You mean Ted Danson?”
    “No, I mean Sam Malone!” She looks at me like I’m crazy. “I called out to him on the street, but I don’t think he heard me. He’d changed his hair color too. Personally, I think he looks better dark.”
    “Riiight.” I realize I might not be dealing with a full deck of cards here.
    “So do you want to take a look at your room?” she asks eagerly.
    “Er, actually, I didn’t know the building was so far away from my office,” I fib. “I’m not sure this is going to work out.”
    “Oh, okay.” Her face falls. I feel bad, but there’s no way I’m moving in with someone just because I feel sorry for them.
    I shuffle backwards towards the door. “Good luck finding someone.”
    She watches me leave, her expression crestfallen.
    Back out on the street, I breathe in the fresh air. That poor woman. Thinking Sam Malone is a real person.
    I almost cancel the last appointment, but I’m only a couple of blocks away, so I figure I might as well go while I’m here.
    The last place turns out to be a house. A rather large one. I have to double check the details on my phone because I can’t believe it’s the address I’m looking for.
    I ring the doorbell and wait. Wow. It’s gorgeous. The outside is painted a warm cream with navy trims. It looks to be three stories high if you count the garage at the bottom, and there is a curved bay window on the first floor. It’s like something out of a Lifetime family movie.
    The door opens and I laugh in surprise.
    Brad was a colleague of mine at Perry Tyler.
    He looks confused for a second, clearly wondering why I’m on his doorstep.
    “Chrissie?”
    I smile nervously. “I didn’t know it was you Brad in the ad.”
    His face registers what I’m saying, and then he chuckles. “You’re here about the room?”
    “I was. But I completely understand if this is too weird for you.”
    “No, no. Come in! Hey, aren’t you married?”
    “I take it you weren’t there the day I had my little outburst at the office?”
    “I was away on vacation in Hawaii. But now that you mention it, I did overhear the tail end of a conversation between two of the admin chicks…something about a video of you at a nightclub?”
    I knew it!
    “That’s all you heard?”
    “I don’t pay