"Thank you for meeting us like this," Michonne said to Tyreese as they stood in one of the kitchens of one of the nearly finished houses in the small development.
She was trying to remain focused on the fact that she was here for Carol and Carol's needs, but it was difficult. Carol was off, wandering around in the house, and Tyreese was looking even more handsome than he had when she'd seen him working. He was cleaned up and the t-shirt he wore was almost too small, hugging around his neck and his arms. Michonne was grateful that none of the houses they were looking at had air right now so the Georgia summer gave her an excuse to absentmindedly fan herself with one of the brochures that he had brought.
"It's no problem," Tyreese said. "I'm thrilled any time there's any interest in the houses. I love building them, but selling them is the key."
Michonne nodded at him, noticing that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. She regretted, a little, that she'd rushed to Carol's apartment so quickly that she hadn't paid any attention to what she was wearing. She was sure that her bleach stained jeans weren't much to look at it and during a quick inspection in one of the bathroom mirrors she realized that one of the girls had apparently sneezed carrots on her earlier without her even noticing. She could only hope that he thought the specks of orange carrot splatter were part of the design of her lovely t-shirt that she'd gotten for free at one of the street fairs.
Carol made her way back into the kitchen where they were standing, looking a lot lighter than she had when she was rolling around in snot and sorrow in her bathtub.
"You can see," Tyreese said, "that a lot of the finishing touches haven't been put on yet. The countertops, and the island, they're all going to be granite. If you have a particular interest in one of the floor plans, though then I could easily see to it that it's customized. You could pick your colors, especially if you're not looking to move in for at least a month or so. Same goes for the floor tile."
Carol smiled at him, glancing quickly at Michonne. Michonne turned away from her a little and pretended to have a sudden interest in the molding around the door frames.
"It's beautiful," Carol said. "They're going to look like little storybook houses."
Tyreese smiled, glancing around the kitchen.
"That's the idea behind it, I guess. I didn't want them to be too big, and I didn't want them to be too little. Just the right size for your average family," he said. "Nothing so big that it wouldn't fit with the whole idea of Sweet Junction, right?"
"The lots," Michonne asked, "are they all the same size?"
"Give or take," Tyreese said. "A few of the corner lots are a little bit larger, but really the lawn area isn't as nice on some of them because of the way that the sidewalks are being put in. Are you looking for a house together?"
Carol laughed.
"No, I'm just looking. Michonne's just been suckered into driving me around. I don't have a car," Carol said.
"I live not too far from here," Michonne said. "Straight off the main road out there. If you've passed it you've probably seen my house. It's the one where the lawn is dead. I don't know what happened to it. One day I had grass and it seemed like the next day I didn't. I'd say it was my ex-husband who did it, but he never paid enough attention to the place to even kill the yard."
Tyreese chuckled a little.
"Probably just a grub worm problem," he said. "Had a bunch of trouble with that in a development I built outside Atlanta. They ate almost all the yards before I figured out what it was. I could take a look at it sometime, if you'd like."
Michonne smiled and nodded a little, pretending not to notice the owl eyes that Carol was making from behind the man.
"I'd appreciate that," Michonne said. "Let me know when you have a little free time. You've got my number, don't you?"
Tyreese nodded.
"Well your work number," he said.
Michonne walked over to one of the counters and rested her purse there, digging through it. She wrote her number on the back of a business card and crossed the kitchen again, handing it to Tyreese.
"This is my cell," she said. "It's always on me. I'm home most every evening and during the weekends."
Tyreese smiled and nodded a little, slipping the card into his pocket.
"Well, what do you think?" He asked Carol.
"I like it," she said. "It's a little hard to imagine, though, what it's going to look like with so much left to be done."
"Why don't we walk over to my house?" Tyreese offered. "It's a little messy, but it's finished and you can get an idea of what the space looks like once everything's in place, and once you start moving some furniture in."
"Oh we don't want to put you out," Michonne said quickly. She noticed Carol flapping a little from her spot.
"It wouldn't be any trouble. Just don't judge me for the mess," Tyreese said, smiling.
"That would be great," Carol said. "It would help a lot in picturing what the finished product will look like."
"Great," Tyreese said. "I'll tell you what…I'm going to head on over there and at least try to hide some of the mess while you ladies finish looking around and you can just come on over when you're done." He reached in his pocket and fished out a key ring. He removed one of the keys and offered it to Michonne, brushing his hand against hers for a moment. "Just lock up when you're done here, and I'll see you in a few minutes."
He nodded at both of them and disappeared out the front door of the little house. Michonne turned to Carol and Carol was grinning at her like a mule eating briars.
"What was that?" Michonne asked Carol when she was sure that Tyreese was gone and out of earshot.
Carol grinned.
"What? I want to see the finished house," she said. "And while we're in there we can see if Mr. Adonis is married or not, and whether or not little Timmy exists yet."
"We're supposed to be looking for your dream house, Carol," Michonne said. "Not stalking Tyreese Scott."
"I like the houses," Carol said. "And seeing what one looks like done will help me make up my mind. It's just a bonus if we find out more information on your mystery man, right?"
"Come on, Gidget," Michonne said, starting out the door. Carol giggled at her and followed behind her. Michonne locked the door of the house back and started down the rough area they were marking off to be a walkway. "So what about your mystery man?" Michonne asked.
"What are you talking about?" Carol responded.
"Why did you really break it off with Daryl Dixon?" Michonne asked.
"I told you, Michonne. He's not interested in me for anything but sex," Carol said.
"So? Who says I'm interested in Mr. Adonis for anything but sex?" Michonne asked. "Sometimes that's how things get started. You've got to have a square one, Carol. Nobody falls straight from 'hi' to 'welcome home, honey'."
"If it's just a sex thing then you never make it past 'hi', Michonne," Carol said. "Besides, I mean I'm just getting out of this thing with Ed. I don't even know what I want."
"Sounded like you knew what you want in your bathtub," Michonne said.
"I mean that's what I want eventually…but I feel like there's so much out there. I mean Ed and I barely did the dating thing. We went straight into getting married, and then you know what happened there. It's like it went from zero to shit in a quarter mile," Carol said.
"So Daryl Dixon actually said to you, 'thank you Carol for fucking me until you couldn't walk straight and I guess I'll see you around'?" Michonne asked.
Carol snickered.
"No, Michonne, that's not what he said. Not exactly. He doesn't know what he wants, Michonne. I don't think he wants a relationship. If he's like is brother then I don't want to live like Andrea. It's better just to move on now, not drag it out," Carol said.
"Really, Carol? Move on to the greener pastures of assholes like Shane Walsh? If I remember correctly your Daryl Dixon was willing to go to jail for you, and that was even before you took him out joyriding," Michonne said.
"What's with you?" Carol asked. She stopped on the sidewalk and turned toward Michonne, shading her eyes with her hand. "Have you got some special interest in Daryl or something? I thought you were the one that told me to keep the whole thing under covers."
"I'm just saying that you seemed happy, Carol, for the little bit of time that you were entertaining Daryl. It might not be a bad idea to see if this can go somewhere. If nothing comes out of it, you haven't lost anything, have you? I mean were you waiting in your bathtub for some hot dates that I don't know about?" Michonne asked.
Carol sighed.
"Michonne, I basically told him nothing was going to happen. I don't think he's coming back," Carol said.
"He lives across the hall from you, Carol, not on Mars. I think you could see him again if you wanted to," Michonne said. "Even if you gave it a try and it didn't work, and you just ended up being friends, is that so bad? Are you rich enough in life that you can afford to throw a friend? Even if it is just a rough ass redneck?"
"You might be right," Carol said. "I'm not getting my hopes up, though."
They started forward again, nearing Tyreese's little house.
"No, we wouldn't want that," Michonne said, a little sarcastically. "Come on, let's go and see if we've found something that will work to be your dream house. If you love it, then you can put a down payment on it as soon as the first check from Ed clears."
Carol smiled a little at her and nodded.
"At least there's that, right?" Carol asked.
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Carol wasn't sure why she found the whole thing thrilling, but she felt a little like a detective as they started looking through Tyreese's house. She was already sold on the houses in general. She loved them. They were perfect. Each one of them had three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living area with a small fireplace, and even a little breakfast nook with a bay window. They were perfect little homes and she could already imagine herself standing in the kitchen in the morning, having her coffee over the sink and looking out the kitchen window.
Carol felt like she'd already lived for an entire month in the little house in her imagination. She didn't have to see anything else to know she wanted one to call her home. It would be hers, too, and she could decorate it like she wanted. She'd paint the shutters green and see about a little picket fence that would go around the yard where she could plant flowers.
Now the only thing that was going to kill her was going to be waiting for everything to be finalized. Michonne said this was going to happen quickly, but she didn't know how quickly exactly. She knew she'd be holding her breath the whole time, afraid that things would fall through with the divorce and she would never rake up enough money for the little home that she'd already moved into.
She tried to push the negativity out of her mind, though, and focus on the fun of scouring the man's home. From what she could see, as they passed room to room with him awkwardly following a few steps behind them, was that there was no Mrs. Adonis. This house was not the house of a man who was married. It wasn't that the house was disgusting, not by any means, but there were no womanly touches anywhere and Carol was certain that a woman wouldn't leave quite so much laundry in the bedroom floor.
In fact, nowhere in the house was there any indication that a woman even frequented the home. Carol paid special attention to the extra bathroom and there were no toothbrushes or hairbrushes there. He hadn't even bothered with stocking the shower.
There was no little Timmy either, and there wasn't a dog. There was a very fat goldfish in a bowl by the kitchen window, but that seemed to be as far as pets went in this household.
After they finished the tour of the house, Carol thanked Tyreese profusely for allowing her to see the ones that they were building and for letting her see what the finished product looked like. She promised to be back in touch with him as soon as she knew anything about the money that she hoped to come into, and Michonne assured him again that it would be soon.
Tyreese, being the gentleman that Carol had decided he was, told her that she was welcome to come and see the houses again if she had any doubt and that his offer still stood should she wish to customize one that wasn't so well on its way.
She noticed, after bidding him farewell, that he lingered a moment, smiling and talking to Michonne, under the pretense, of course of being concerned about when he might come to clear up her lawn. Carol thought, though, that there was a heavy amount of flirtation going on for both sides there. Michonne had clearly been spurred on a bit by the realization that Tyreese was a single man.
Carol pulled the door of the car shut and buckled her seatbelt.
"So you like the houses?" Michonne asked.
"I do," Carol said.
"So we're coming back when you get the check and you're putting a down payment down?" Michonne asked.
Carol nodded and sighed.
"I just don't want to get my hopes up over nothing, Michonne," Carol said.
"Stop that," Michonne said. "You're getting money and you're getting the house. I'll help you paint your stupid shutters myself. So no more bawling in the bathtub about the house, right?"
Carol snickered a little.
"Fine, no more crying about the house," Carol said.
"Good, see? Life isn't as dire as you thought it was. And you're going to talk to Daryl, right?" Michonne asked.
"What do you want me to talk to him about?" Carol asked.
"Hell if I know, Carol. What do rednecks talk about? It doesn't matter what you say, just that you start talking. Don't push it or anything, just let whatever's going to happen, happen," Michonne said.
"Just like you're going to do with Tyreese?" Carol asked. She looked at Michonne and a hint of a smile crossed her lips.
"Whatever's going to happen will happen," Michonne said. "Besides, the fourth of July celebration is coming up and nothing says romance quite like artery clogging food and people blowing shit up. Am I right?"
Carol laughed at her.
"I wasn't really planning on going this year," Carol said.
"Carol Ann, that stupid street celebration is about the biggest damn thing that happens in Sweet Junction. Everybody goes. Of course you're going," Michonne said.
"What about Ed?" Carol asked.
"If he's there he's got to stay away from you. Besides, the police will be there, everyone will be there. Ed's not coming anywhere near you. Besides, you have to go. I'll have the girls and I could use the help," Michonne said.
"And Tyreese will be there," Carol said, smiling.
"And Daryl will be there," Michonne said.
"You're not going to give this up, are you?" Carol asked.
Michonne smiled at her.
"Not any sooner than you are," Michonne said.