“I have. As soon as I get home, I’ll send you the information.”
“Oh.” She opened her purse and pulled out her card. “Here you go. My email is on there. Guess I should get new cards. No reason for people to call me for other venues now that I work here.”
“Reenie will take care of that for you. We’ll get it figured out soon.”
Brooke gave her another hug and she left, got in her SUV, tossing her binders in the seat next to her, two of them sliding off onto the floor.
Oh well. Seemed to be the story of her day.
Meredith kicked off her heels, then reached over to get her canvas sneakers. Her feet were already killing her.
There was a knock on the glass of her SUV that had her jumping and screaming, then turning her head and hitting the button to roll the window down before she realized the engine was off.
She stepped on the brake pedal barefoot, scrunched her nose and pushed the start button, then hit the button to lower the window and see what Clay had to say.
“I didn’t know if you were okay or not,” he said. “You were lying down over the seat.”
“Getting my sneakers to change into.”
He saw the sneaker in her hand. “You should have just worn them in. Have a good night.”
He turned and left before she could say another word.
At least he said to have a good night. Better than nothing.
She didn’t even get to tell him he had something on the corner of his mouth. Dark, wet, smelled like chocolate.
The fact she wanted to reach up and wipe it off with her finger told her she might be in big trouble around Clay.
She took a deep breath and pulled off the property and drove home.
She parked her SUV fifteen minutes later, grabbed her bag and binders, her shoes balancing on the top. If she was smart, she’d take two trips.
As Meredith got closer to the front of the townhouse she rented, a buzzing sound halted her steps.
Then she let out a loud scream, her heart slamming in her chest so hard she was positive it was going to rip through the skin. She dropped her stuff and ran back several feet, screaming again, her ears almost bleeding over the noise.
Her neighbor’s door swung open, Karl rushing out. “Meredith, what’s wrong?”
A shaky finger pointed toward her door, her eyes watering, white dots filling her vision as if she was going to pass out. Karl crept forward.
“Ew. Is that a dead fish on your doorstep?”
“Covered in flies,” she said. She heaved right there on the lawn twice, then twice more, then turned around and sucked in fresh air. She was far enough away from the flies that they wouldn’t land on her now.
“Who would leave that? Wish I was home all day, but I just returned a few minutes ago.”
“I know,” she said. “But I can’t get in the house either.”
Nor would she be able to clean this mess up and that was the point. Her damn legs wouldn’t even move forward toward the door now, knowing that was there.
“Can’t you go around back?” Karl asked.
“I don’t have a key to the back door,” she said.
The landlord changed the locks and then left the key for her on the counter. One day it was there, the next it wasn’t. She knew she’d moved it, but for the life of her couldn’t remember where she put it.
She didn’t want to pay for more locks again when she always came in the front. She’d paid for both front and back to be replaced when she kicked her cheating boyfriend out.
