Home Sweet Home - Ch.48 - Surprising Developments (Patreon)

The situation with Robin's ghost ended up haunting me for the next several days. I couldn't help feeling sorry for her, but at the same time there wasn't really anything I could do to help her. And as Erin reminded me when I told why it was bothering me, it wasn't my responsibility to do so.

There wasn't anything Jessie could do about the situation either. She had professional obligations, she couldn't just stop everything and drop the case. Even if she could, someone else would take over. Or at best the property would sit abandoned until the town stepped in. It might take a year or two, but eventually they'd seize the title because of unpaid property taxes, then the place would be auctioned off and someone else would come along and tear it down or fix it up.

So Ms. Vaughan moved ahead as planned, and the following week the house was emptied then cleaned. She also had someone clear up all the fallen leaves so the outside was presentable. Then I was called back in the middle of November to take all my pictures and get the listing set up.

As expected we went with the fixer-upper angle, with a somewhat low asking price due to the condition. I tried to put a positive spin on the wording though, in hopes of attracting a first-time homeowner who'd keep it as-is and just do some repairs. Rather than a developer who'd probably tear it down.

Still, I was a little surprised when the first offer on the place came from Michelle Roslovic. I knew she'd been interested in renting the house, but I didn't expect the young college student to have the finances to actually buy it.

And sure enough she didn't. Unlike some of the other supernatural clients I'd worked with, the necromancer didn't just conjure up a certified cheque out of nowhere. And her offer wasn't for the full price, she started at about seven percent below asking. Which was a much more normal and mundane sort of opening bid.

When I spoke with her during the negotiations I found out she'd already applied for all the government grants and assistance programs available to first-time homeowners. She also told me how she convinced her parents to help her with the down payment. And her dad was even prepared to co-sign on the mortgage.

The only hurdle was by the time Miss Roslovic had all her paperwork and financing in order there were a couple other parties interested in the property. And both of them had deeper pockets. Neither of them were first-time buyers though, they were both in the fix-and-flip business.

Fortunately it wasn't too hard to convince Jessie to go with the first offer. She agreed it was better that the house went to someone local who actually cared about the place, rather than some greedy speculators.

So everything was over and done with by the end of November, when the goth necromancer came by the office to pick up the keys. It was just past noon on the last Friday of the month when she arrived all bundled up in a long black cloak like she was on her way to a funeral.

"Here you go," I smiled as I handed her the little envelope. "Congratulations on your new home."

"If I may ask, what are your plans for the place? And for its resident ghost?" I added quietly.

Michelle slipped the keys into her purse then shrugged, "I'm heading straight over there now to let Robin know what's happening. Then tomorrow and Sunday I'll be moving all my stuff in. I figure we'll take some time to get used to each other, go from being roomies to friends. Then maybe come spring I'll see if we can't bring in another roommate, assuming Robin's ok with the idea."

I hesitated, "You're not talking about Bartholomew are you? Or some other ghost?"

She laughed, "No! I mean a living roommate, someone to help cover the mortgage and all the other expenses. I don't live with Bart, he was more my uncle's buddy than mine. He just likes going to parties with me. The old horn-dog's into the music, and he likes checking out the pretty girls on the dance floor."

"My dad's going to help with the expenses for now," she added as she got serious again. "But long-term it'll be my responsibility. In my parents' words, they're treating this as an investment in my future."

I smiled, "That's really nice of them. Anyways, congratulations again on your new home. I hope everything works out for you, and for Robin."

With that Michelle headed out, and I got back to work again. Not that I was terribly busy now that we were heading into the winter months. The real estate business never really died down, but it was certainly quieter at that time of year.

Part of it was due to our town being in the 'snow belt', which meant there were some practical concerns just getting around at times. That in turn meant prices tended to dip during the colder months of the year, because it was harder getting people out to see the properties. And even when you did get people out to a showing, places generally didn't show as well hidden behind a meter and a half of snow as they did in the summer when the lawn was green and the garden in full bloom.

So things were relatively quiet around the office as we headed into December, and I knew that would be the trend right up until the end of March when things started to pick up again for spring.

In the meantime there was lots of other things going on to keep me busy, and living with a genie meant my life was never that dull. Although to be fair Jenna was a lot less unpredictable than when I first met her.

My girlfriend remained focused on her college program, and she stuck with her goal of not using magic at school. As time went on her friend group gradually expanded from just Ashley and Ember to include a few more of her fellow students, both supernatural and human. She never got over her fear of Cassandra Underwood though, so Jenna kept avoiding both the demon goddess and the other students who hung out with her.

Speaking of friends, Jenna and I continued spending time with Erin and Sherry. In fact the two of them asked my girlfriend and I to join them for xmas this year. We'd already made plans for the twenty-fifth, that was going to be a special day for just the two of us, so we went over to my boss's place for the twenty-fourth instead. And the four of us had another big holiday dinner like we'd done for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun, then after dinner we all sat by the fireplace and exchanged some small gifts.

We were back at Erin and Sherry's place again just one week later, to celebrate new years with them. That was a party rather than a quiet sit-down dinner. There was lots of snacks, plenty of sparkling wine, and good music. We danced and drank and talked, and at midnight we all watched the celebration on TV.

Unfortunately twenty-twenty-three opened on a slightly embarrassing note, when Erin refused to let me drive home after the party because I'd overindulged a bit. Then once I handed over my keys she and Sherry opened another bottle of wine and got the party going again, on the grounds that I wasn't driving so why not? Things got a bit fuzzy after that, but we all had a really good time. Good enough in fact that the following morning everyone agreed that whatever happened at new years would stay at new years.

January was probably the slowest month of the year for me at work, and things remained slow through February. It was quiet enough that when Erin took Sherry away to the Bahamas for a three week vacation Jason and I barely even noticed the added workload.

In fact work didn't really start to get busy again until around the middle of April, which would have been fine except that's when Jason booked his own two weeks off. I'd almost forgotten how much of my time was spent covering for him back before he had his 'epiphany' as he called it. It all came back to me though, when I ended up having to deal with all his calls and emails right when my own work was starting to take up most of my time.

So I was more than a little harried by the end of the month, and found myself looking forward to my coworker's return when the last Monday of April rolled around. Jason was late getting back though, which meant things were still busy when a stranger wandered into the office at half past nine carrying a box of donuts and a paper tray with three cups of coffee on it.

I looked up from my computer but before I could say anything I found myself staring in surprise at the attractive demi-human who was approaching my desk. My initial thought was 'catgirl', except something made me hesitate.

Their ears and tail were feline, and the curves just noticeable beneath their clothes suggested a femme figure. But their gait and body movements seemed more masculine, as did their outfit. They were dressed in dark slacks with a belt, a dark grey unisex tee, and a pair of black sneakers. Even their hair seemed androgynous, in an off-the-shoulder style that I thought worked for both men and women.

I'd guess their age at somewhere between mine and Erin's, maybe twenty-three or twenty-four, and they looked to be about the same height as me. Their skin was smooth and fair, without any hint of stubble on their face. Their feline eyes were a pale blend of amber and green, with vertical pupils. Their hair colour matched the fur on their ears and tail, which was a dark mottled black and brown pattern with some lighter streaks that immediately made me think of tortoiseshell cats.

"Uh, welcome to Rhodes Real Estate," I finally said. "How can I help you?"

The catkin grimaced as their cheeks took on a pink hue. They held out the box of donuts and the tray of drinks as they greeted me in a voice that sounded slightly more femme than masc, "Morning Vikki. Help yourself to a donut, and the coffee on the left is yours. Is Erin in yet? I uh, figure the three of us need to have a little talk."

My eyes probably bulged partway out of my head as I gasped, "Jason?! Is that you? How...?!"

He cringed slightly while his ears folded back and his tail tucked down low behind his ankles as he nodded, "Yeah it's me."

About a minute later we were both in our boss's office, and Erin looked just as shocked as I felt.

Jason and I were sitting in the guest chairs, and I couldn't help staring again as my coworker threaded his tail through the gap in the back then wrapped it around to rest on his lap. The whole thing happened naturally, as if he'd been doing it all his life. Except I was having a really hard time reconciling the attractive young catkin next to me with the middle-aged man I used to hate working with.

"Thank you for the coffee and the donuts Jason," Erin finally addressed our coworker. "I'm sure you know Vikki and I are both curious, but please don't feel pressured. Having said that, you did ask to speak with us both, so why don't you get us started?"

His feline ears were folded back again and his cheeks were still pink as he nodded, "Thanks Erin. So um, you both know that Layla and I spent the last two weeks on vacation together? It was kind of a second honeymoon, to celebrate the fact that we'd officially got back together again. We were doing the romantic thing, we got a nice suite down in Niagara Falls, we even did some winery tours and a bit of sight-seeing."

"Anyways," he grimaced again as he looked down then started idly playing with his tail, "Halfway through the vacation Layla said she had a surprise for me. She got us something, matching gifts. Then she gives me this little keychain plushie shaped like cat? She had a matching one, they were a pair of little plush torty kittens. They were cute, but I didn't really get what the point was? Then Layla said they were magic..."

Jason's voice trailed off for a moment as he continued fidgeting with his tail. His blush got a bit deeper when he continued, "Layla explained what they were and how they worked. She said they'd let us turn the clock back, make us both younger again. And fix up any health stuff we had going on? Basically they were supposed to give us our perfect ideal bodies."

"We'd both been hitting the local wines pretty good that night so I didn't entirely believe her," he admitted with a little cringe, while the fur on his tail puffed up a bit. "I mean, magic plushies? It sounded pretty crazy to me, but Layla seemed convinced so I went along with it."

Then he shrugged, "Anyways she said we should do it together, and I wanted to make her happy. So uh, yeah. Next thing I knew my wife and I were a pair of tortoiseshell cats? Like actual cats, four legs and fur and everything! Then we used the magic plushies again, and poof! Layla's a cute hot twenty-something catgirl? And I'm uh, suddenly confronting a lot of things about myself I'd spent most of my life suppressing or ignoring."

My coworker paused there for a couple gulps of latte. Then after a deep breath they said, "Anyways long story short, I'd appreciate it if you two could start calling me Jay? And uh, my pronouns are they and them."

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Meg, who commissioned it! **