The manager of the complex exited the farthest bedroom he’d sworn would make a plush office when he’d learned I didn’t have kids. Another office. Yay. He’d stepped away and taken a call. I’d let reality sink in and rob my good mood with it.

“Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. Kurt was a nice guy. He hadn’t given off any creepy vibes. And I’d been watching for them, since I was a single woman looking for a place to live where I wouldn’t be the only one with access to the front door.

“No problem. It’s nice.”

He strode through the room, his stockinged feet sinking into the high-quality carpet. “The third-floor units really are the best. We can utilize the area around us better without running into another unit.”

I agreed. But there were still three other units around me. One next to me, one across the hall, and one playing heavy bass music under me.

I missed my house.

Kurt was oblivious to the noise. For an apartment, it was minor. The place I’d lived in when I’d met Aiden had been party central for anyone around drinking age. My neighbors had been nice guys, but they’d loved company and drinking until my alarm clock went off in the morning.

Kurt dug into a folder he carried with a clipboard. “The application process is all online nowadays, but I’m old school.” He flashed a congenial smile. “I’ve printed off the application so you can read all the fine print.”

And so I had a sheaf of paper floating around that’d keep me from forgetting this apartment was available for half my salary. Kurt was nice, but he was still a salesman of sorts.

It was a fine place though. The building had an elevator and was close to the gym I was considering joining, though I couldn’t yet bring myself to do more than purchase daily passes.

Foolish optimism, or abject denial. I couldn’t decide.

He pulled out a three-page document that was stapled together. “We do ask for references.”

I held in my groan. What was I going to do, have Aiden tell him that I was a decent roommate? That I paid for my half of the grocery bills? I stuffed the panic down. It hadn’t been that long since I’d lived in an apartment.

“Another reason why I print out the application,” he continued. “It’s a lot of information we don’t have at our fingertips if we’ve lived in one place for a while.”