Okay, short chapter, kind of filler, kind of not. The next chapter should be out soon. (I'm a stupid author that works on fifteen stories at a time, be patient with me.) Thanks for your comment and support and stuff, you're awesome. You guys make my day.
Franco’s POV
“She left me her house?” I asked, baffled, “Me? Not Mikey?”
Louis nodded, “You have full legal ownership of the house now. Actually,” he went into the pocket of his charcoal gray suit and pulled out a set of keys, “These are yours. I’m sure Michael can show you what each one goes with.”
Michael looked over my shoulder at the keys and nodded, “I know where they go to,” then went right back to watching his cartoon, his eyes glazed over.
I chuckled and took the keys, “Okay, so I guess we should take a look around the place at some point.”
Louis nodded in agreement, “And she has two funds set up. One for Michael and one for the both of you. Michael’s fund is for college to get him into any university he likes and the second is simply for you to use as you deem necessary. Upon her death, the rest of her monetary assets were added to the second fund. All of the objects left in the house is left to Michael except for a snow globe and a picture album that are to go to Katherine if she chooses to appear.”
“Do you think she will?” Louis grunted questioningly, “Appear, do you think she’ll appear?”
“Maybe someday,” Louis admitted, “But we’ll cross the bridge if it ever comes.”
“Right.” It made sense for Katherine to come at some point, seeing how her mother had died. I was surprised when I heard that she wasn’t even at the funeral. Back when we were dating, she wasn’t all that close to Mrs.Owens. I had only met her once when picking Katherine up for a date.
I rang the doorbell and glanced around, half expecting some old man to pop out of the bushes and kick my ass. Her house was a large, white, two-floor house with daffodils planted in the front yard. I glanced down at the lilies I brought along, a last minute choice encouraged by Troy’s sister, Rachel. It didn’t exactly match my plain white t-shirt and baggy jeans and inked arms but it would improve my image somewhat.
The door finally creaked open, revealing an aged woman with hazel eyes and blonde hair with streaks of gray. She looked me over and frowned, adding to years of frown lines on her face. Her voice was hesitant yet suspicious as she asked, “Can I help you?”
I scratched the back of my neck nervously, “Yes, I’m Kate’s boyfriend, Franco Rodriguez. I was planning to surprise her with a date.”
“Oh,” she didn’t seem surprised, “I see. Please come in.”
I followed her into the house. She led me into their living room and sat me down.
“You just,” she hesitated, her hands moved restlessly, “Stay here, I’ll get Kate.”
“Oh, um, ma’am,” I sprang to my feet and held out the lilies, “These are for you, actually.”
She flinched at the sudden movement but caught sight of the flowers and smiled. Her expression went from tired and weary to lively and vibrant. “For me?”
I nodded wordlessly.
“How sweet,” she took the flowers and smelled them, “I know that smell. They’re fresh from the nursery, aren’t they? How darling of you, Franco, was it?”
I nodded again.
“Oh, not much of a talker, are you? I adore that. Men talk too much these days, always have something to say as if we all want to hear it.”
I chuckled, “I’ve always said that silence is a virtue.”
She laughed, “It is. I know this might sound hypocritical from a babbling old lady but,” she was interrupted by Katherine’s shouting.
“Mom, who are you talking to?” Katherine came stomping down the stairs, her blonde hair flowing down her shoulders. She frowned when she caught sight of me, “Franco? What are you doing here?”
“Oh, your new boyfriend is such a darling, Katherine,” Mrs. Owens pinched my cheek playfully, “Look, he brought me flowers. Aren’t they lovely?”
Katherine didn’t respond but stared at the flowers with pure spite. Then she glared at me like I did something wrong, “Franco, you’ve already gotten into my pants. You can stop trying now.” With that said, she left out the door.
I stared after her in shock.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mrs. Owens sighed, “This was a very kind gesture, Franco. I’m glad Katherine has finally discovered a boy that doesn’t think he owns the ground we stand on. I hope you come again.”
“I’ll try,” I assured her, “Bye, Mrs. Owens.”
“Good bye, Franco.”
“Franco?” My attention snapped back to Louis, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” I smiled to reassure him though he didn’t seem to believe it, “I just zoned out.”
“Oh, well,” he stood up, “I’ll be going.”
“Bye, Louis,” Michael jumped into his arms, “See you later, alligator.”
I could see how painful it was for Louis to reply to the childish phrase but he said it anyway just to make Michael happy. “After while crocodile.”
I knew it was already painfully embarrassing for him but I laughed anyway. His face immediately lit up in an uncharacteristic blush as he glared at me. I stood up, still grinning, “I’ll walk you to the door.”
“No need,” he said briskly.
“Don’t sulk,” I chuckled.
“I’m not sulking,” he argued unconvincingly.
“Oh,” Michael’s eyes widened with discovery, “Louis is sulking. Grandma said sulking is for children.”
“I’m not,” he cut himself off irritably, “Fine. Franco, would you please walk me to the door?”
I grinned, “It’d be my pleasure.”
He rolled his eyes before heading towards the door with me at his heel. I jogged ahead of him to open the door. He shot me a glare that I responded too with a bigger smile.
“You’re teasing me,” he concluded correctly.
I huffed with fake indignance, “I’m just being hospitable. My mama always taught me to treat my guest-” He continued to glare at me so I gave up and admitted, “You’re adorable when you’re embarrassed.”
I noticed that the first thing to become red was his ears, “Is that why you kissed me on the lips?”
I shrugged, “Nah, I just thought you deserved it.”
Then the red seeped into his cheeks, “I see... Actually, no, I don’t really get it. How did you figure that?”
“Well you apologized first and the kiss on the cheek was a really sweet, timid move on your part.”
He tried to cover his face but that just diverted my attention to how even his neck was becoming red. “You’re a really strange guy, Franco.”
I chuckled, “Thank you. So I guess I’ll be seeing you later?”
“Of course,” He smiled softly, “Bye.”
“Bye.”
YOU ARE READING
Treasure Box
Romance(Spin off of Not so Bad, Just Violent) Franco was twenty-six and single. Not single by choice, single because he always managed to screw up his relationships in one way or another. Then he became single with a nine year old kid. And with the nine ye...
