Lou ignores him. “This place was a disaster when I first saw it,” he says. “Pigeons living in the back room, cans everywhere, even one very suspicious mattress.”
I make a face.
“But the bones?” Lou says, knocking his knuckles against one of the beams. “Perfect. Big windows. Good floors. Plenty of space for you to yell at ballerinas.”
“I don’t yell at ballerinas.”
Lou snorts. “You absolutely will.”
I look back at Jax, my voice barely a whisper. “Why?”
“Because you were running out of reasons to stay.”
My throat tightens. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Yeah,” Lou says immediately. “He did.”
Jax glares at him.
Lou grins. “I mean, the man would not shut up about it. He woke me up once at three in the morning to look at a fucking building permit.”
I look at Jax and he suddenly looks very interested in the scuffed floorboards.
I turn back to Lou. “So… are you gonna help me?”
“With what?”
“With this,” I say, gesturing around the room. “If I’m doing this, I’m going to need a partner.”
Lou blinks. “You’re hiring me?”
“I’m thinking about it,” I say, looking around again, a real smile finally breaking through.
Lou studies my face, his own expression shifting. “Wait,” he says slowly. “You’re serious.”
“Yeah.”
“You mean… like a real job?”
“Well, you are gonna need to find us students,” I say.
He laughs, a bright, happy sound, then stops. Lou looks around the room again and I see he wipes under his eye quickly.
“Are you crying?”
“No,” he says immediately.
“You are.”
“You started it.”
I laugh even though my eyes are answering for me.
Behind us Jax shifts. “Why are you both crying?”
“Anyway,” Lou says loudly, clapping his hands. “We celebrate now.”
“With what?” I ask.