“No,” I say, before handing over my documents.
34
The next day, Sunday, is a gorgeous one: cloudless blue skies and just a taste of early autumn in the air. I peer out of my apartment windows. It’s my favorite kind of day. And it’s supremely unfair that I should have one of these when everything is in shambles.
I march to my coffee machine, slippers shuffling along through the boxes in my living room, and go through the motions, making myself some liquid fortitude.
I sip from my mug and take in my apartment. The symbol of my first chapter away from my mom. Breaking free… Maybe not as cleanly as I thought. But I loved it. It loved me back. Right now, though? I don’t feel anything for this place other than a twinge of nostalgia. This apartment was once home. That’s all.
I check my phone. Jack hasn’t responded to a single text. I toss it down and settle on the sofa, half-heartedly committed to reading the rest ofThe Pirate Duke’s Revengeand then doing what I need to do.
I’m rereading the same page for the tenth time when my buzzer sounds. I set my mug down and unfold myself from my couch cocoon, frowning as I pad to the intercom.
“Who is it?”
There’s no response, so I don’t buzz whoever it is into the building. Last time someone did that, we had a fun package thief make off with tons of stuff.
I’m about to settle back onto the sofa when there’s a knock on my door. I open it, and my heart goes supernova.
Jack.
I open my mouth but can’t seem to get any words out. Instead, my eyes dart everywhere, frantically taking in every feature, from his furrowed brow to his fingers flexing at his side. The eye patch is gone, which causes me a moment of sadness, as do the shadows under his eyes.
“Before you say anything, I need to tell you something,” he begins.
“You didn’t answer my texts.”
“Damn it, Penny, I said before you say anything. You’re throwing me off my— No, I didn’t answer your texts, although I didn’t know yousentany until you just said so. I fucking packed my personal cell in one of my moving boxes and didn’t realize it until everything was ready to go and then it was too late. And the thing died, so of course I couldn’t even hear it ring. I didn’t have your number in my work phone. Or Margie’s.”
“Who doesn’t have iMessage set up on their laptop?”
“I—damn it, Penny—I needed to tell you… Well, what I’m trying to tell you. So I went to La’s, but she called me a dickhead and kicked me out.”
“I need to tell you something very important,” I interject, growing uneasy. I want to delay whatever it is he wants to say to me. “About the whole argument about your sister, and…and more.”
He rubs at the back of his neck and looks so aggravated it’d be comical if I hadn’t spent the past week aching for him, if I wasn’t so scared that I’ve cured him of his affection for me. I want to pull him to me and kiss that expression off his face. I want to hear him tell me he wants me back. I want to hear him tell me he cares.
“Wait your turn. You’re making me go all out of order.” He heaves a frustrated sigh. “My sister is back with that asshole. I didn’t want her to hurt your friend, because I’ve had to go collect Anna’s stuff from more than one rebound’s place. I never once considered you and her to be the same. That isn’t you. And I wasn’t trying to control things… I mean, in this case I was, but it was because Avery matters to you, and he seems like a good guy, and honestly I was just tired of… But I should’ve let two consenting adults make their own mistakes. It’s not my job to fix Anna or always act as clean-up crew.”
“So you were white-knighting the situation,” I cut in. But he was doing it for me. For my friend. And, I guess, for himself, too.
“Y— Wait. Okay, please, just, like…shut up fortwo seconds? So I can say my piece?” He pauses. “I can’t remember what the hell I was saying.”
“You have something to tell me.”
“Right.” He rubs at his temple and then pushes past me, turning to face me from the center of my living room. “So, I took a page out ofThePirate Duke’s Revengeand… Well, I’ve commandeered your vessel.”
I stare at him, blinking slowly. “I don’t have any clue what you’re saying.”
“I bought your apartment.”
“You bought—”
“You love this place. I couldn’t let you lose it just because your raise hasn’t come through yet. So I signed the papers for it. You can unpack your boxes. But I’m not being heroic. This is piracy. I’m claiming this space for me, too. I’m going to live here. With you. I mean… I mean, of course you have a choice, but I was kind of hoping I could move in with you. I’m currently on the couch of a WWII shrine, and Moth doesn’t smell as nice as you.”
Jack rushes back out to the hall and bends to pick something up.
A plant.
