C7 7

I shake my head. “Maybe I’m too picky, but . . .”

“I saw there’s a small house on Crawford for rent,” he says. “It’s close to the park.”

I stifle a shudder at the memory of the rat-infested two-bedroom on the east side of town. “Saw it. Hard pass.”

Ava comes out from the kitchen, smoothing her skirt down around her baby bump