"So, what do you think?" I asked the girls as I wiped the paint off my hands a few weeks later. "Do you like it?" I'd just finished painting the big bedroom down in the cellar for Zee, and I thought the new gold color looked amazing in there. I couldn't wait until the furniture arrived and made the room's look complete. Karma and Swiftie wandered about, sneezing as they got a little close to the wet paint.

The pair exchanged a look before they both smiled. "She's going to love it," Jashanna assured me. "Honestly, we might steal the room once she moves into yours."

I grinned at them but could see their point. It wasn't like Gracie's room was small, but this one would have more room for two people, and the bathroom was still very nice, so they wouldn't lose anything. If Zee did indeed move into my room with me some time in the future, then it would make perfect sense for them to have their own little area down here. The bar near the pool table could hold snacks and drinks so it would be like a mini apartment with walk out access to the pool. There wasn't a stove, but that wouldn't be an issue since I didn't want them cooking unsupervised!

And both couples would have a lot of privacy.

"If that happens, then I'd be fine moving you down here." I fixed them with a glare. "But just because you'd have easy access to come and go doesn't mean you could sneak out or host parties!"

"We wouldn't!" Gracie said quickly. "We don't even go to parties now, we're not in the popular crowd and Hollie told us about the ones she went to, so we're in no hurry."

"Hollie did what?" To the best of my knowledge, Hollie had never been to a party either, so this was news to me. "When did she go to a party?" Their eyes widened, and they shared a panicked look.

"A college party!" Jashanna blurted. "It was up there, like just a few months ago. She told us all about it."

"Really? A college party, eh?" I gave them each a stare, and they couldn't even look at me. "Don't worry about it. I can't say I'm shocked that she did that, I just don't know when. If you do want to go to one, just let me know and we'll do it right. Just based on the story I heard at work, I'm not sure you'd want to go."

"Oh no. Was it that bad?" Gracie asked hesitantly.

"Let's just say that a young girl is having a baby thanks to a party, and she doesn't know who the father is," I told them. "As much as I know that you two would protect each other, I'd want to give you tips about drinks and how to avoid any predators, ok?"

They both nodded quickly. "Okay!"

"Actually, now that you're juniors, if you do find people that you'd like to have a small party with, here might be a good place to host it. I'd prefer no boys, but if you wanted to have a few dozen people over to swim and do movies, that would be fine. Maybe we could do it for New Years if you know some people by then, and the pool heater will keep the water warm. If not, there is no rush."

"We'll think about it," Gracie assured me. I knew that they'd started looking into clubs after school, so maybe that would help meet more people with similar interests. They weren't into sports like Hollie had been, but they could still find their niche.

"Believe me, I'm not in a hurry to have a party here, but I'd trust the people here more than somewhere else. But it isn't a bad thing to go and have the experience, so you understand it later."

Getting the room in order was making me feel guilty though, because it was right next to the big game room, which was then next to the home gym. The same home gym I hadn't used in over a week because I'd been too sore after Elliot messed me up, and then was just supremely unmotivated to use. I really needed to get back into it, because with Hollie gone, I was the only one using it. The younger pair had the lovely high metabolism of youth, whereas I had to keep working at it to keep myself in better shape. A shape that Zee would find desirable.

But maybe that would be tomorrow, as I was a little worn out from all the painting.

In the meantime, there were other things I could do. For instance, the long distance toys that I'd ordered for Zee and I had arrived, and those needed to be charged and paired with my phone. I'd gotten two different colors, purple and coral, and I liked them both, so I'd be happy to give Zee whichever she liked better. I got them up and running, though I didn't use them since I thought Zee should have a new one, even though they certainly looked and felt like they'd get the job done!

I had one more week before Zee arrived back with Hollie, and the furniture in the room downstairs was supposed to be here several days earlier. I had all the bedding, and once the paint was completely dry, I could work on getting the drapes up. If I did a little every evening, I'd have the room ready for Zee without wearing myself out. And then I just had to hope that she'd agree to stay. I felt out of control every time I tried to back off, and it was definitely worrisome. But how could I stop? As much as I knew that she could be a player, maybe that was in her past. And everything I'd seen of her was so good, that I just had to take the risk.

Right?

Right.

I just hoped that in the end I wouldn't get my heart broken if it turned out that she wasn't as ideal as she seemed. That was a given going into any relationship, but this one just seemed one of those high risk, high reward kind of situations, and I really needed it to pan out, or end before I got too attached to her. Not that I was attached or anything by turning my lower level into an apartment for her or anything. Yep. Completely normal first step for a new relationship. The worst part was, I couldn't even rationalize that I was doing it because she was joining the company as an intern, because I certainly had never offered up my house like this before to any of the previous ones!

In other news, I hadn't had a nightmare about Elliot for several days now, and therapy had certainly improved both my mental health and my wellbeing. Maybe the new locks had also helped, or perhaps the support of all of my friends and family being there for me had done the trick. It was probably a combination of all of those things, and when Monique had contacted the police about him violating the restraining order, he'd ended up having to pay a $1000 fine, and more charges were added to his file. Did he really think we wouldn't do that? I mean, that was what the restraining order was for, to keep confrontations like that from happening! Hopefully, that did the trick and showed him I was serious about him staying away from me.

To the best of my knowledge, he was back up in Orlando now, or at least that is what he told Elizabeth once he bailed himself out of jail again and paid the fine. She hadn't heard from him since. Maybe he was too embarrassed about the whole situation. I didn't care though, I just wanted him out of here. Being several counties away was fine with me, though I'd prefer him to be in a different state.

On the good side, his visit to the office had made it easy to get people on board with the new key cards that we were now using to get into the building. Not everyone had been there when he had had it out with me, but enough had seen it, or the video, that the rumor mill was crazy and nobody griped about it at all. It was a little bit of a hassle getting people cards when they were typically on the road, but we made it work. It still wasn't going to be 100% effective, but it was another layer of security, and if anyone else was going through something like I had, then it would help them too.

Hell, we could even use it in client pitches, so we could show that we were more secure, and so would any of their data that we needed in order to do our jobs. Not that I'd tell Elliot, but in the long run, his little $1000 fine would help us make more money. I guess it was a bit like alimony paid back to the company instead of me. Since he hadn't done shit for the company in months, it was right that he finally contributed, even that tiny amount. It might have earned him his paycheck.

But he'd never know that he'd done it because I certainly wasn't going to tell him.

I didn't want to make a big deal of the visit, Will had been there to keep me safe after all, but everyone found out anyway. Once more, Elliot had used his one call to see if Elizabeth would bail him out again, which she refused again, and then she mentioned it to me when she came for a visit and the girls heard, and then it seemed like the whole world knew.

Harlow had already told me she'd come back, and Quinn had stopped by three nights in a row, while Elizabeth came over to cook too. Their continued support wasn't lost on me, and they all got some big hugs, even if the one for Harlow was virtual. But the different regional offices all got their security beefed up too, and everyone was fine with it. It would make it easier for them to visit our office, since the badges would work at any of them, though those visits were infrequent.

Overall, things had gotten better.

When the bedroom furniture arrived two days later, I was almost giddy with excitement. I had the delivery people bring it downstairs, and I set it up like I wanted it if it were my own room, hoping that Zee would like the same aesthetic. I even got a nice 50" smart TV and put that on the dresser and then connected it to the Wi-Fi so it could stream whatever Zee liked.

The room was still bare of art, but that could be added as Zee found some. I'd be paying her for the internship and would make it clear that the room was hers to do with as she pleased in terms of decorating, so she could make it her own. The girls still had their little plushies for her, so that would help too. Even Karma and Swiftie gave it their seal approval, snuggling with me in her bed, while wishing she was there with me. Hey, I had to test it out to make sure it was comfy!

But the room was gorgeous, and I hoped that when she arrived it would be her new home.