“Says Santo on the order form,” the other one said around a screwdriver as he glanced at me. “Paperwork’s on the kitchen counter.”
I stayed looking at them for a few moments longer before I turned on my heel and marched to the kitchen. I stopped in shock when I saw that half of the kitchen cupboards were gone and a huge fridge stood in their place. Facts I hadn’t noticed when I ran into the apartment. It looked ridiculous in our tiny kitchen, and as I spun to demand who had ordered this, I saw the new sofa. A corner sofa and a ridiculously large television.
Ash.
Trust fund jerk. That’s what he was.
Digging frantically through my purse, I found my cell and was calling Ava as I studied the paperwork.
“Hi, Mee, you okay?” Ava’s bright and cheery voice automatically made me smile.
“Yeah, Ava, your boyfriend’s cousin is remodeling our apartment.”
“Oh shit, I forgot to tell you, Gray said Ash needed to change my mattress or something.”
Ha.
“Did Gray tell you what else he’s changed?” I asked her as I gave the evil eye to a dude who walked into the apartment whistling as he carried something in a large box.
“No, Gray’s not big on specifics.”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered as I stood back for the old bed frame to be taken past me. “I think you need to come home.”
“Serious?”
“Deadly.”
Thirty minutes later, Ava stood beside me, her mouth hanging open. “What . . .” She turned around to look at the fridge. “Why . . .” I watched her walk down to her room and come to a standstill as she looked into her completely changed bedroom. “How?”
“But they cleared the mattress with you, right?” I asked sarcastically.
Ava was looking around her room and flattened herself against the wall as the delivery guys squeezed past her to go into her room again. With wariness, she approached me as I stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, still glaring at anyone who dared look at me.
“When did this happen?” Ava asked me as she eyed the mammoth fridge in wonder. “How did it even fit through the door?”
“Oh, we took out the window,” one guy said to her with a friendly smile.
“See,” I snapped. “They took the window out.”
Ava looked at me with concern. “I’m sorry, MeeMoo.” With a grunt, I snatched a bottle of Coke out of the fridge but kept my words to myself. Ava was studying the delivery note and chewing her bottom lip. “I could talk to him?” Ava suggested.
I shot her a look, and she blanched as she hurriedly looked away from me. I watched her turn slowly to take in the new changes — the television, the sofa, the monstrosity of a fridge.As she walked down the hall, I watched her look in her bedroom with awe. She had a new bed, a new desk and chair, and a free-standing clothes rail, which I was actually jealous of, but I would die before I mentioned it to him or anyone.
“They don’t get how over-the-top they are,” Ava tried to defend them, and as I glared, she ducked into her bedroom out of my sight.
I heard a muted conversation and then an “oh shit” and a quiet laugh. Two seconds later, Ava’s head popped out of her bedroom.
“Err, Mee?”
“What now?” I could feel my gut clenching, waiting for the next bombshell.
“You ever heard of a wet room?” Ava asked me cautiously. Seeing my look, she hurried on. “It’s a bathroom where the flooring is essentially a drain, so there’s no shower stall or bath.”
“What?”
“So, you like, um, run the shower, and the whole bathroom is the shower.”
“Like sprinklers?” If I frowned any harder, I would get wrinkles.
