“That’s what I’m hoping for,” he responded gruffly. “I just… I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.”
Lace scoffed. “You’re kidding me, right? You’re already better for her than the people she lives with who won’t even accompany her to the hospital.”
Vincent looked momentarily uncertain.
“What?” Lace asked. “You are, you know. Without a doubt.”
He sighed. “Yeah, but… There’s one piece of the puzzle I haven’t figured out yet.” He spoke, tentatively.
“What’s that?”
So far, Lace couldn’t see anything wrong with his plans.
“I…don’t have a place of my own to live, remember? As much as I love my parents,” he rushed on, “I don’t want their house to be regarded as my primary residence.”
“An apartment then?” Lace asked.
It wouldn’t take him too long to find a place to lease, but…
Vince shook his head
“No. I’ve decided that doesn’t feel right. I want to buy arealhouse; a place where a child will feel welcome, and have room to play.”
Lace knew he purposely wasn’t saying Inez’s name, but that’s who he was thinking of.
“How long will that process take? Buying a house and getting it vetted by the foster agency, I mean?” Lace had no clue about that, either.
He gave a self-deprecating scoff.
“Too long, probably, to get myself set up to foster anytime soon. I haven’t even started looking yet,” he admitted. “When I get home today, my mother is going to help me make a list of things I’m looking for in a home, and hopefully we’ll get the ball rolling.”
“Do you want a small house or a big one?” Lace probed.
“Nothing too big,” he responded, and disappeared into his head for a moment, as if picturing something in his mind’s eye.
Lace knew all about doing that, but Vince, unlike her, didn’t get lost, because he continued.
“Something older probably,” he mused. “With character. At least three bedrooms. Maybe a big deck off the back, surrounded by trees. And a yard large enough to have a swing-set, and maybe even a dog.”
Lace couldn’t stop the words that seemed to overflow from her mouth like a fountain.
“I have a house, Vince. Come live with me.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Vince wasn’t sure his ears were working correctly.
Come live with…?
“What did you just say?” he finally managed to ask.
Lace was already shaking her head.
“Never mind. It was stupid. I must have just been caught up in the moment.”
Vince wasn’t so sure about that.
“Say it again,” he requested raspily.