“It just surprised me. I didn’t think you liked performing in front of a crowd.”
“I don’t,” I assured her. “That’s why I got very drunk.”
She nodded and then laughed. “You really did.”
I took a relieved breath. We were fine.
She tapped the edges of the papers she still held on the counter, then set them down next to the collection of things I’d compiled to properly care for my mom. “What time are you leaving?”
I looked at my smartwatch. “In like thirty minutes. We’re hoping to beat rush hour traffic. But seriously, Tara, please call me if I need to come back. I can always jump on a flight in an emergency.”
“You won’t need to,” she said. “Just have fun. You deserve a break.”
I wasn’t sure this weekend was going to be much of a break. It would just be a different kind of work. But at least it was work I chose and with people who appreciated all I did.
CHAPTER 32
I drove, since it was my trip and I had a hybrid car, making it the cheaper option. Elijah was easy to road-trip with, I decided, as we approached three hours in the car together. He selected good music. Only playing “Mamma Mia” once and mimicking some of my dance moves from the karaoke experience. But when I backhanded him playfully on the arm, he laughed and changed the song.
“How long has it been since you’ve been home?” he asked now, as the traffic slowed in front of us.
“Six weeks? Seven?”
“What are you looking forward to the most?”
“My bed,” I said.
“Really?” His voice went low and throaty with the word.
I reached over and squeezed his leg. “Not like that.” Well, that too, if I was being honest. “My childhood mattress is shit, and I’m ready for my actual mattress.”
“Your childhood mattress is shit? It seemed fine to me. Comfortable, roomy.”
I laughed. “Room to spare even.”
“Exactly. We could’ve invited another guest.”
“Is that what you wanted? Another guest?” I asked, my brows going down.
“No,” he said quickly. “It was just a joke. A bad one.”
“It was funny,” I said. What I really wanted to say wasWhat are we doing? Whatdoyou want from this? From us?But I didn’t because I wasn’t even sure I could answer those questions. Or maybe I was scared of his answers. For now, even though it was completely against my nature, I could live in the moment. Let whatever was supposed to happen, happen. And have fun while it was happening. Because he was making everything better right now. And seeing as howeverythingwas a lot, I needed this. Him. Even if only for a little while.
I held my key tightly in my fist as we walked down the hall of my apartment complex on the way to my fourth-floor apartment, nervous. We’d parked in the covered parking garage after a longer-than-average trip. We had not, in fact, beaten traffic. Or maybe I had forgotten how bad traffic was here.
“I didn’t expect to be gone this long. And I was supposed to have someone checking on my place while I was gone but…”
“He broke up with you instead?” Elijah guessed when I didn’t finish my sentence.
“Yes.”
“Were you two living together?” he asked.
“No, but I didn’t prep for a completely abandoned house.” Was it going to stink of rotting food? Was there going to be a moldy sink and a black-rimmed toilet? Why had I invited Elijah along on my first trip home?
I slid the key into the lock and turned. No smell greeted me when I opened the door, which was a relief. The only thing I’d packed when leaving my mom’s house earlier was a tote bag with my toiletries, knowing I had an apartment full of clothes I hadn’t worn in weeks. I swung that bag onto the entryway table and made my way into the main living area, a small room with big windows and a brick fireplace. It was attached to a decently sized kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.
I opened the long curtains on the windows to let in the last light of the day. The sun was going down fast. A plant sitting on a table between the windows was completely dead. Its soil cracked and dry, its leaves brown and crispy. I picked up the pot and brought it to the kitchen, where I set it in the sink and turned on the faucet.
