“What man?” The hair on my neck rose up.
“There was this guy who tried breaking into her apartment and left strange notes. I think she’s running away. Hazel won’t ask anyone for help, so, my boy, you’ve shown up at the right time.”
A rush of anger and frustration hit me, but before I could ask more, Hazel returned.
“Thanks for the lovely cookies, Mrs. Green. We should probably go now.” She hugged Mary and kissed her cheek. “You have my new address and number, so please call me anytime.”
“Have a great vacation. Thank you. For everything.” She gave me a pointed look.
We stepped outside, and I eyed Hazel more worried than I probably should have. Her cheerful, carefree demeanor didn’t fool me at all.
“Ready to go?”
I sighed. “Yeah, let’s move your ass out of here.”
* * *
Hazel’s new apartment was, in fact, two blocks from O’Riley’s. It was an industrial building with large windows, looking similar to a factory. The apartment could’ve used a fresh coat of paint and some improvements, but it was pretty nice overall. Plenty of light poured in through those windows, which would probably come in handy for her jillion plants.
“Who’s taking care of your ferns and figs and ficuses?” I asked, carefully taking them out of the boxes.
“Wow, you do not look like a guy who knows the names of plants,” she laughed, standing on a chair and putting curtains on the windows, revealing a little bit of skin on her lower back.
“Yeah, you can say I’m plant-based,” I said quietly.Stupid pun.
“I have an autonomous irrigation system that takes care of that.”
“Wow, for ALL your plants? You have like dozens of them here. What kind of system is that?” I asked, curious about the tech.
“It’s called Thomas,” she smirked.
“Oh, funny,” I replied, “and unbelievable.”
“What is?”
“That you’d ask anyone for help,” I said, arranging the flower pots in a neat row.
“Well, I kind of offered him to stay here if he needed to.”
“Ah, so you didn’t ask, you made a deal,” I corrected.
“Is that so bad?”
“No. Thomas seems like a nice guy,” I said, recalling our conversation this morning and the not-so-subtle threat, “but he probably would’ve helped anyway if you asked.”
She hummed quietly and sighed, leaving me to guess her thoughts.
“So, you said you’d tell me more about your friends,” she changed the subject. I was about to answer when the doorbell rang. Hazel was startled, unexpectedly losing her balance, and my hand jumped to her hip to steady her. Her palms gripped mine, and her breath hitched. It was a full second after she lost her balance, as if she was more surprised by my hands than the potential fall.
“Just in time,” I said, earning a confused look.
“I ordered more food for us,” I said, letting her go, and went to get the food from the delivery guy.
Hazel pulled a fluffy rug from one of the boxes and laid it out. She patted the spot next to me, and we settled onto it.
“Hope you love sushi. You’re not a vegetarian, right? I didn’t ask,” I said.
“No, I love sushi, just don’t do wasabi or that pickled ginger thing,” she grimaced.
