Free Nerds on Fire by D.R. Grady Page A

to work.
    In a relatively short amount of time,
he had a stack of finished work when Trixi called him to eat. He
sat down at the table, very content he wasn’t leaving here any time
soon. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Trixi alone in this house.
It just didn’t rest well with him.
    Yet he wondered if his presence
prevented Trixi from finding a mate.

Chapter 10
     
    “ Hello, this is de
Vosse.”
    “ Yes, Dr. de Vosse, this is
Louise from Derry Realty.”
    “ Hi Louise, and please call
me Mark.” The woman spanned somewhere between his mother and
grandmothers in age, so she certainly had earned the right to call
him by his given name.
    “ Thank you, Mark.” Papers
rustled on her end. “I’m calling about 145 Colebrook
Lane.”
    The place he hoped to settle on in a
few days. “Yes?”
    “ I’m afraid the current
owners have pulled it from the market.”
    His heart stuttered. “What?
Why?”
    “ This is highly unusual,
but the man’s current employer countered his new offer, exceeded
it, in fact, so the couple decided to remain here. They’re not
moving now, so there was no need to sell.” She ended on a rush of
words.
    “ This is . . .” Words
failed him.
    “ It’s unusual, but does
happen in this business. He and his wife were certain his employer
wouldn’t counter, so they intended to leave. However, his employer
more than compensated. As expected, they accepted the new
offer.”
    Mark stared at the blank wall across
from his desk. There wasn’t anything else to say. Except, “Where do
we go from here?”
    “ I hope to set up a few
more showings for you. There are new homes being listed every day.
We’ll just have to think outside the box for you.” Louise chirped
with enthusiasm.
    He hated that cliche. And this left
him living with Leo, the current owner of one barely working
toilet, sink, and decaying shower.
    “ I’m in a hurry, Louise. I
really need to find something.”
    If things got bad, he could go live
with his parents, but as a grown man, every cell of his being
resisted the notion. Ditto on living with his grandparents, who
were retired. That meant extra time to devote to running his life.
He shuddered.
    “ I’m aware of your living
situation. I’ll look through every single listing and then arrange
for us to visit the most suitable.” A slight edge of desperation
colored Louise’s tone now.
    “ Thank you.” He rubbed a
hand over his face. His future housing situation loomed with a big
fat question mark and it wasn’t nice.
    For some reason the image of concerned
silvery-blue eyes mollified him. They snuck into his thoughts on a
regular basis. Trixi Duvall crept into his brain and ruined his
concentration more often than he was comfortable with.
    He was a neurosurgeon. They needed the
ability to focus.
    Still, he smiled a little as he
thanked Louise and disconnected the call.
    It was a little disconcerting to be
homeless though.
     
     
    Absently, Rylan answered the phone
late in the afternoon a couple of days later. “You can pick me up
at six o’clock darling,” Chrissy twittered.
    Rylan looked at the receiver in his
hand in disbelief. “Chrissy, I think you have the wrong number.
This is Rylan.”
    “ I know. You’re who I’m
dating.”
    “ No, I’m not. We broke up
on Tuesday. Remember? We were standing in the foyer of your house.”
A decision he didn’t regret as he had discreetly poked into the
identity of her male guest.
    His suspicions were confirmed, as a
few people knew about the man. They had continued to be seen
together throughout Rylan’s involvement with her.
    “ You said we weren’t
engaged any longer.”
    “ I said we don’t love one
another. Meaning I have no intention of dating you either.” He
began to suspect Chrissy truly didn’t understand.
    “ This is about your
daughter, isn’t it?”
    “ What are you talking
about? It has nothing to do with either of my
daughters.”
    “ You have more than one?”
she yelped.
    “ Yes. Trixi