It was weird to walk into their house and see it mostly intact. It almost seemed like there should be ashes and scorch marks—scars of some disaster that had left the place barely standing.
But… no. It was as immaculate and structurally sound as it had been the night they’d taken me into their bed. There were boxes here and there, with a bunch of collapsed ones leaning against the couch, waiting to be assembled and filled. I hadn’t looked very hard at the décor—I’d been a little preoccupied—but I swore there were some empty spaces on the wall that hadn’t been there before. He must’ve taken some things down and packed them already.
I’d sent him photos and dimensions of my spare room so he’d know how much space he had to work with. There were some boxes in the hallway outside his and Selena’s bedroom, all marked “condo,” so we started by carrying those out to my car. Fortunately, I had a decent-sized SUV and he had a Jeep, so we’d be able to carry most of his things to my place in one or two tripsapiece. Later, we’d put what was left into a U-Haul and unload it at his storage unit.
Gazing at the boxes stacked in the hallway, Eric sighed. “I still can’t believe I’m doing this.” He turned to me, his expression somehow equal parts numb and full of pain. “I’m supposed to be having my bachelor party tonight.”
I grimaced. “Shit. That’s rough.”
“Yeah.” His voice came out hollow and his gaze drifted to the boxes again. “I told my best man I’m sick this weekend. Better to just skip the party and recover so I’m good in time for the wedding.” He paused, seeming to let his own words sink in a bit, and then winced. “Fuck, what a mess.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, because I had no idea what else to say.
Eric shook his head. “No. I’m glad you told me. It fucking blows, but… better now than after the wedding.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought he shuddered.
Then he cleared his throat. “Anyway. We should get to work. This shouldn’t take too long.”
He was right—in just a couple of hours, we’d staged everything for the storage unit in the garage, and everything he was taking to the condo was packed into our cars. Once everything was where it needed to be, Eric stared at the stacks of boxes in the garage just like he had in the hallway earlier. It was hard to read his shell-shocked expression. If he was just overwhelmed by everything, or if he was wondering if he forgot something.
After a moment, he shook himself and turned to me. “I guess that’s everything.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s head over to the condo, then.” I hesitated. “Oh. Uh. I definitely should’ve mentioned this sooner, but… do you like cats?” Aw, fuck. He wasn’t allergic, was he? I really hadn’t thought this through. Not that I’d thought much of anything through since this whole debacle had kicked off.
Fortunately, an adorable smile cracked through Eric’s miserable shell. “I love cats. You have one, I guess?”
“Two. And one really likes the guest room, so he might join you.”
The smile held. “I don’t mind at all. I’ll leave my door cracked for him.” He paused, and his voice turned a little sad as he added, “The company might be nice.”
Seriously, Selena. How could you be so evil to this guy?
Eric followed me over to the condo. I’d given him a parking pass, so he pulled into the space beside mine, and we each carried a box up the stairs.
Of course, my cats greeted us at the door.
“In,” I told them, nudging them back with my foot. “Come on. In the house. Let’s go.”
They protested but reluctantly went back into the condo, giving us enough room to come in and shut the door.
Eric put down the box he was carrying and crouched to say hello. Both cats immediately strode up to him, having apparently forgotten that I existed at all. Ingrates.
“Hi, guys,” he said with a ridiculously cute smile. “You’re friendly, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, they are.” I put my own box aside. “The gray tabby is Clyde. The black one is Chili.”
Eric cocked a brow. “Shelter names?”
“Clyde, yes. Chili?” I rolled my eyes. “Heearnedit.”
“Oh yeah? How did?—”
Right then, Chili slapped Clyde across the face, glaring at him with airplane ears as he growled.
Clyde drew back, eyes huge, as if to askthe fuck did I do?
“Chili, you’re such a dick.” I scooped up Clyde. “Come here, buddy. I know, I know. He’s mean.”
