AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I kept myself busy until dusk fell over the apartment. Still too nervous to eat and too restless to do nothing, I made myself comfortable on the couch and tried to watch reruns ofFriends.
When Blake finally knocked on the door, it was past nine. Nervous anticipation coursed through me as I crossed the room to let him in.
Hands trembling, I reached for the handle and opened the door.
Blake and I couldn’t change our past.
But could we finally rewrite our future?
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Penny
“Hi.”Blake’s eyes lit up as I opened the door and stood face-to-face with him.
Dark shadows circled his eyes and wondered what had happened in the few hours we’d been apart.
“Hi.” My heart fluttered as my body remembered last night.
“Can I come in?” He smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Of course.” I stepped to the side so he could enter, trying not to jump to any conclusions.
I’d waited all day to see him, but now all I could think of was what he would think of my apartment since he didn’t see much of it last night.
I closed the door behind us and turned to Blake. He looked around the small space but his pensive expression gave nothing away.
At least The Oriental Garden was closed, which meant the usual smell of egg rolls wasn’t lingering.
“It’s not much, I know,” I said quietly.
I didn’t know the extent of Blake’s living arrangements, but Anthony Weston was one of the richest men in all of Columbus. I doubted he lived in a shitty apartment like this.
When his eyes settled back on me, he looked ready to say something but closed his mouth again. His lips drew into a thin line.
The air turned thick. Unbearable.
But finally, he broke the silence. “How long have you lived here?”
“A couple of years.”
“And before here?” His eyes started roaming over my modest furnishings again, and the pit in my stomach churned wider.
“I had a room in the University District.”
His brow arched. “A room?”
“Yeah, in a shared house. It was very crowded.”
That was putting it mildly.
It was disgusting but I’d needed somewhere to stay so I responded to an ad on Craigslist. The house belonged to two guys who attended Ohio State. It was trashed most of the time from their all-night parties and days spent on the couch eating cold pizza. I lasted five months before I managed to find this place.
“I don’t understand,” Blake whispered to himself more than to me.
What did he mean he didn’t understand?
Was it that hard to comprehend that I couldn’t afford to rent somewhere nice?
I folded my arms around my waist, the jaws of shames nipping at my heels.
