MAXIM

On our way to the mall, Derek said he wanted to drive by a certain house that was for sale.

“Why?” I asked. “Are you thinking about moving?”

“No. I’m thinking about fixing and flipping it.”

“Flipping it?” I looked over at him, confused.

“It’s where you buy a house that needs work, do the work, and then sell it at a profit.”

“Ah. I see. Have you done this before?”

“No. It was an idea I had while working on my house. I really enjoyed the work, and missed it when I was done.”

“You definitely have a talent for it. And a good eye for design. Your house is so beautiful.”

“Thanks.” He was quiet for a minute, one hand at the top of the steering wheel, one finger absently rubbing just beneath his lower lip. “I’d have to cut back my hours at work, probably. If I wanted to be really hands on, which I do.”

“Would that be a problem?”

He frowned, dropping his hand to his lap. “Probably. I think my dad wants to retire and he’s looking at me to take over.”

“But he would want you to do what would make you happy, right?”

“Not necessarily.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“The thing is,” he went on, “I’ve been thinking. Ever since you asked me if my job was my passion, it’s been bothering me that it isn’t. There’s nothing about it that inspires me. Nothing creative or meaningful. I make good money, and I’m good at making deals, but it’s not fulfilling in a way that working on my house was. And I see you coming here all fired up about chasing a dream and kind of wish I had something like that. It’s inspiring.”

The idea that anything about me inspired him was beyond crazy. “And I look at you and everything you’ve done, all the beautiful things you have, your home, your car, all your success, and I think, ‘That’s what I aspire to be.’”

“There’s more to life than a home and a nice car. Those are only things. I feel like…” He shook his head. “I don’t even know what the fuck I’m trying to say. I guess I feel like I’ve lived a very safe life. It’s comfortable for sure, and I’m grateful for everything I have, but I haven’t taken very many risks. I’m starting to think that matters.”

“So take one now. It’s not too late.”

He slowed down and leaned toward me to peer out the passenger side window. “It’s that one. With the Spanish Revival architecture.”

I looked at the white house with the red tile roof. “It’s nice.”

“It was built in 1925 and still has a lot of the original features. But it’s in pretty rough shape.”

It was? Other than an overgrown lawn and some missing roof tiles, I didn’t think it was that bad, but Derek’s standards were different than mine. “Can we go inside?”

“Not today. I didn’t make an appointment.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Traffic coming. Gotta move.”

With one last glance at the house, he pulled forward. “I wanted to be an architect once upon a time.”

“You did?” I looked at him in surprise.

“Yeah. But my dad said there was way more money in property development and I should go to business school.”

“So you went to business school.”

“Yes.”

“If you could go back, would you do it differently?”

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he thought. “Hard to say.”

“Is it too late?”

He laughed a little. “Yes. I’m not going back to school now. But if there’s a way I can flex that creative muscle a little and turn a profit at the same time, I’d jump in. Maybe.”

“Do you think you can turn a profit on that house?”

“Yes,” he said confidently. “They’re asking too much, but I could get the price down. It will still be expensive as fuck, but I have experience in financing real estate, a lot of knowledge about property in this area, and I’m not in a rush. I’d take my time and do it right.”

“It sounds like you’ve given this a lot of thought, and not just in the past few days.”

“It’s something I’ve thought about for a while,” he admitted as we turned into the parking lot at the mall. “I guess you reminded me of it.”

“Why do you think you haven’t done it yet?”

“Well, fear, for one thing. Making money isn’t guaranteed. And houses around here aren’t cheap, even the shitty ones. I didn’t want to get in over my head. I’ve seen it happen where guys tried to move too fast or hired the wrong people or made bad decisions or totally underestimated costs, and before they knew it, the project was completely out of control and they lost everything.” He pulled into a parking space and turned off the car. “I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to fail.”

“Derek. Trust me. You are not that guy.” I wish I had more words to convince him to take the risk, because it was obviously something that would make him happy. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I truly believe that anything you did, you’d do it right. Go see the house, and see what your gut tells you.”

He looked over at me and smiled. “Because your gut is never wrong.”

“Exactly. Your gut is like the universe telling you what to do.”

“Oh, Jesus.” He opened his door. “Come on, let’s go.”

I decided not to tell him my gut was saying he needed to buy that house. For whatever reason, Derek had been holding himself back from things he really wanted his entire life. Maybe it was a fear of failure or of disappointing his father, but I felt like he’d never allowed himself to be the person he was meant to be. And if he didn’t listen to his heart and his gut, the real risk was that he could wind up unhappy, always wondering what if, regretting the choices he’d made.

The more I learned about Derek, the more I wanted to help him.

I felt like he’d just shown me the way.

* * *

“This can’t be right. One hundred-twenty-five dollars for a pair of shorts?”

Derek gritted his teeth. “Okay, will you please stop looking at price tags? Just stop.”

I felt bad for being such a pain. We’d been at Nordstrom for an hour already and I hadn’t even tried anything on. “But I—”

“Look, it’s necessary. Clothing is necessary.”

“But not clothing this expensive. Ellen was telling me about this store with nice things for not much money called T.J. Maxx?”

“That would be cheaper, yes, but the quality won’t be as good. Things will wear out faster, and you’ll spend more money in the long run. Look at it as an investment in yourself.”

I shook my head. “My butt is not worth hundred-dollar shorts.”

“I disagree. You’re going to try those on, and if they fit, I’m going to purchase them for you, along with a few other things to get you through summer. Then we’re going to get lunch, because I’m hungry and if you keep freaking out over price tags, I might actually starve to death.”

An argument was on the tip of my tongue, but I stopped myself. Derek had said that it made him feel good to do things for me, and I knew what he meant, because I liked doing things for him, too. I wished there were more of them I could do. I nodded, but I felt really uncomfortable that someone else had to pay for my clothes, and didn't know where to look when he was swiping his credit card.

Derek understood. “Here,” he said, handing me the bag. “And don’t say a word. I know how you feel, okay? I’d feel the same way. But this is an investment in the future.”

When he phrased it that way, I felt better. “Thank you.”

We went to lunch, where I ordered something called mac and cheese, which I’d never heard of but Derek assured me was delicious. He was right. I could have licked the plate.

While we ate, I made him practice his Russian words and taught him two more: pozhaluysta, which meant please, and spasibo, which meant thank you.

The best part was paying for lunch. I insisted on doing it, and although Derek put up a fight at first, he eventually relented. It cost me almost forty dollars, but I’d never been happier to spend money in my life.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said as we walked to the car. “You should be saving your money. You saw how much that laptop costs.” He was referring to the computer I’d drooled over in the Apple store.

“I saw. And I’ll get there, because I do plan to be very careful with money. But there are so few things I can do for you, and you’re doing so much for me, I really wanted to treat you.”

A couple minutes later, we got in the car and he put a hand on my leg. “You’re doing a lot for me, Maxim. More than you know.”

No words could have made me happier.