Ward jerked an arm in between the closing elevator doors in the hope of stopping them. But it was too late and he pulled his hand back just in time to save it from getting smashed as they sealed themselves shut. That was all he needed, exit busted knee, enter broken hand.
Tapping his foot, he willed the elevator to go faster so he couldride it back down again and try to catch up with her. He needed to hear her voice and see her – more than he felt like he needed oxygen. But something else was wriggling its way around his brain like an invasive worm. And then it dawned on him.
How did she know where he lived?
Yes, he had a few real estate investments in the city, places he rented out, places that made him money – but she’d never visited him here. They’d always met somewhere else, taken separate cabs, left in different Ubers. Could it be just a coincidence then that she’d been there? Maybe she knew someone else in the building? And hadn’t come to see him at all, he thought despondently.
But regardless, he had to seeher.
Reaching his floor as he impatiently pressed the button to go straight back down, when he heard a noise that hadn’t touched his ears for several days.
A meow.
Ward had come to understand her various vocalisms and immediately recognized it as Pretzel saying,So where the hell have you been? I need feeding.
He’d since thrown out the untouched days-old food in her bowl and now he felt torn. Who knew where she’d been or the last time she had the opportunity to eat something? She was his responsibility after all.
‘Now of all times, you show up,’ he grunted, looking for something to hold the elevator doors open since he’d already pushed the down button. He grabbed a nearby console table and positioned it in place between them. ‘OK, hold on, but we need to be quick.’
Then dashing to the cupboard for a bag of Meow Mix, he quickly dumped some kibble into her food dish, realizing that witheach passing second, he was losing the chance to catch up with Hannah. He dropped the bag of food on the floor resolving to deal with it when he got back.
But as he moved the console table out of the way and back alongside the internal door to the hallway, something else caught his attention, a piece of paper beneath it.
A note.
He snatched it up, and got back into the elevator, noticing Pretzel watching with interest as he waited for the doors to close, ignoring her food. He wondered idly if she’d been using it for one of her jaunts, but then dismissed the thought, feeling like an idiot. While Ward loved the fact that he could just jump on and off directly through to his place and it kept him from having to interact with other residents, cats couldn’t push buttons, could they?
He recognized that everyone else thought he was aloof and he had a reputation as a bit of a curmudgeon, which he didn’t do anything to dismantle because it ensured his privacy. That had been a saving grace, in recent days, especially when the media had been throwing him around like a tidal wave. Freshly impatient even as the car made its descent, he stabbed again at the L button for the lobby, one of only three on the panel – L, P for Penthouse, and E for Emergency.
Feeling fidgety he glanced at the note, opening it up and scanning it as he waited. He didn’t have time for this now but was always curious as to what his neighbour had to say.
While he’d been initially peeved at the idea of a celebrity influencer moving in next door, especially one who seemed to court the media attention he himself detested, he’d graduallycome to enjoy their interactions, and also grudgingly come to the conclusion that the girl next door wasn’t such an airhead after all.
The kid was nice actually, and Ward had been grateful that she seemed equally happy to keep things anonymous. Despite his initial suspicions, he soon discovered they had much more in common than he’d thought. Intrigued by some of her earlier correspondence and attempts to win him over, he’d looked up her socials and found that she was actually quite cool, into financial stuff like himself and not just some vacuous poser.
Like Hannah always said, appearances could often be deceptive.
As he scanned through the page, his eyes widened when Courtney mentioned something about leaving. It couldn’t be because of him, could it? Had she seen or heard something about the fight with Kendrick maybe, and become spooked about having him as a neighbour after all?
Then Ward stood frozen, as he zeroed on some of P-2’s other words.
And alarm bells exploded in his head.
A place to stay... romantically involved with a client... idiot ex... stalking... big event... a fight in front of all of the cameras... current (now former) client...
He felt himself breathing faster as suddenly rapt, he pored over every last line. Until he came to the biggest bombshell of all.
I’m leaving because I messed up – again. I’ve fallen in love with someone else I shouldn’t have.
Time stood still.
But before he could ponder it any longer, the elevator doors opened and while he had only left this space mere minutes before, it felt as if the world had tilted on its axis since he’d seen Hannah exit through the spinning doors ahead.
None of this made sense.
‘Not possible,’ he muttered to himself. ‘You’re projecting, you’re going crazy.’
Striding briskly through the lobby, note still in hand, Ward headed straight toward Bruno standing near the entryway.
