Disclaimer: Same as before—I don't Lost, nor Damien Rice's lyrics! Lyrics still from "Dogs."
He lives in a little house
Inside of a little hill
Desmond hadn't thought of how it might seem to others when he asked Claire to help him look for a house. He knew that he didn't want to stay in the little apartment he had rented, and he didn't want to go look for a new place alone. Although he knew that Claire had a crowd of people in her life, he didn't really have any closer friend than what she had become to him. When he asked her to help him look at real estate one day, she cheerfully accepted. He came to pick her up at ten in the morning and was surprised when she came out with Aaron's carseat. He had thought that she would probably get a babysitter for him, but he certainly didn't mind having the baby along. He did hope that Aaron wouldn't get too fussy during the day. Desmond mentally shortened the length of time he expected to spend looking that day.
He realized that he might have been presumptuous to ask Claire when they walked into the real estate office and the real estate agent immediately began cooing over how beautiful his "family" was.
"Ooh, what a darling baby! I can see where he gets his good looks." She smiled at Claire and Desmond, her eyes going over both of them equally. Desmond gawked, but Claire just laughed sweetly.
"Claire is… my friend. She's just keeping me company today. This is her son, Aaron." Desmond ran a hand through his hair, feeling truly awkward for the first time in quite a while.
"Oh, I see. Well, they're still beautiful," the realtor chuckled. "Shall we go?"
The first house that the realtor showed them was a large condo, full of light, angles, and clean lines. It was a good size, and quite pleasant, but both Desmond and Claire were oddly reticent in their praise of it.
"It's nice," Claire said, shrugging as best she could with Aaron on her hip. "It's… neat."
"Yes," Desmond replied hesitantly. "I just think it's missing a little… character."
"Yes, exactly. It's not quite you, I think."
Desmond smiled for sheer pleasure in having someone even think that they knew him well enough to determine what was "him" or not.
"Would you like to see something a bit more unique?" the realtor asked solicitously.
"Sounds good!" Claire said cheerfully, then giggled. "I mean, if you want to, Des. Since you're the one buying the house, after all."
Desmond returned her grin. "Sounds good to me, too."
The next house was in a quiet neighborhood, nestled against the side of a small hill. It was older than the condo, and only a little bigger, but Desmond loved it from the moment he saw it. It was painted ivory, with a glossy red front door and shutters. Inside, its carpet was thick and dark green, like a forest floor. The master suite had deep blue carpet and huge windows with a diamond-shaped pattern in the panes. The house seemed to be filled with austere light and cozy corners.
"It's so lovely," Claire sighed when they had finished walking through it. "I would love to live here."
Desmond took a final look around, his gaze catching for a moment on Claire's starry eyes. "So would I."
The deal was closed quickly, and Desmond drove Claire home. They both spent the entire car ride enthusing about the new house.
"I love the carved ceilings. And it looks like you could have a garden if you wanted one," she said, halfway turned in her seat to keep an eye on Aaron. The position made her lean close to Desmond's shoulder, which seemed to be developing a twitch from its proximity to her.
"You should come visit sometimes. I mean you, and Charlie and the baby, of course. You've had me over often enough. I need to return the favor."
"You coming over is a favor," Claire said, patting his steering wheel hand and almost making him swerve the car.
When he reached her house, she invited him in. "Do you want to go through Charlie's record collection? He's just had it sent over from his old place, and it's huge! I'm planning on gorging myself on new music until he comes home."
Desmond accepted, although he said that he could really only stay for a few minutes, and he soon began to enjoy the task of praising, criticizing, and sampling Charlie's music. He realized that the reason that Claire's house was so lovely was the fact that it had so many distractingly pleasant things. Aaron, the music, the blue light that seemed to fill the room as it was refracted through the cobalt vases that sat on each windowsill. The orange tree, the Stargazer lilies in a vase, and always, always Claire herself. There was no room for bad thoughts when there were so many happy ones waiting right in front of him.
"I just remembered," Claire suddenly exclaimed. "I was going to try to make Charlie dinner tonight. Try being the operative word. I'm so horrible in the kitchen!"
"I can help if you'd like. I'm no gourmand, but I've had practice cooking for myself, at least."
"Would you really? You could stay and eat whatever you make."
"Oh, I don't want to intrude. I'm sure you were planning a romantic supper. Wouldn't want to ruin it."
"Romantic? With Aaron throwing peas across the table? Not going to happen. Come on, let's cook." She hopped up from the spot where she had been sitting in a circle of records and headed for the kitchen.
Desmond's good mood lasted exactly until the moment after dinner when he heard Charlie and Claire talking in the kitchen as they washed dishes and he watched the baby in the next room.
"Did you spend all day with Desmond?" Charlie asked as he wiped a plate.
"Well, not all day, just the afternoon, really."
"Are you sure that he… isn't getting the wrong idea?"
"What do you mean, Charlie? Oh…" Desmond winced at the lengthy, astonished pause. "No, it's not like that. You know he's still crazy about Penny. He needs someone."
Desmond felt even worse. Was Claire only his friend out of pity?
"Besides," she added, her sweet voice so low that he could barely hear it. "He makes me happy."
Desmond saw Charlie's questioning head tilt out of the corner of his eye, and Claire quickly added, "You know, we're friends," making her statement sound more casual.
Desmond remembered a Bible verse, out of the Nativity story, where Mary treasured up wonders to ponder in her heart. At that moment, he felt like he could ponder the blessing of making Claire happy for quite a while, and he treasured it in silence as the clinking of dishes went on.