Avery closes her eyes and crinkles her nose. “No. I forgot again. I apologize. I’m usually more responsive and don’t forget as easily.”
I reach out a hand and gently hold her arm. “You’re fine. You’ve had a lot of changes in the past week or two.”
“I will put those together and get them sent.”
Instead of going through Oliver, it might be easier to work with me on it. I need to tell her who I am soon, before things get too far and she resents me. I don’t want her thinking I’m trying to hurt her because of my secret.
“If I can see your phone, I’ll change the email. If you send it to me directly, I can get some things processed.”
She tilts her head to look up at me, curiosity in her face. “What do you need the invoices for?”
I reveal a slow smile. “To reimburse you.”
She blinks once, then twice, as if it’s taking a few moments to register. “Your company is going to pay me back for what I put into remodeling the space?” Her lip quivers, and she looks like she’s holding back tears.
“Hey,” I say, tugging her toward me. I wrap my arms around her and hold on for several moments as she sobs into my chest. “It’s okay.”
She quiets down and pulls back a bit, wiping the tears away with her fingers. “Why would they do that?”
“Because that’s how the owner works. You should’ve been given the chance to put that money into the equipment you need and not the walls and plumbing.”
“I hope to meet your boss someday. I want to say it’s okay and all part of doing business, but that would be a huge relief to me and my shop.”
“Why did you turn down the tip I tried to give you after you helped me get gas?” I ask. I still have my arms around her, but we’re leaning back enough to see into each other’s eyes.
She shrugs. “It was the right thing to do, and it didn’t take long from my day. If I’d driven by, you would’ve been walking for at least another hour or more.”
It’s then that we break apart, and I glance around.
“I feel like we’ve just walked into a dental office,” Avery says with a straight face.
“I can picture that,” I say.
“Let’s eat anyway, unless you’d rather go to my apartment and put up with five teenage girls.”
“Here is great.” Not that I mind Lila, but this is the most time we’ve had alone for conversation, and it feels almost like a real date. It would’ve felt more so at the restaurant, but it’s nice to have some quiet so we can actually hear one another.
She walks over to the table. “Did they give us any forks in the bag?”
“I hope so, because I’m not sure if we have the kitchen put together completely yet.” I pull out the Styrofoam containers. “Looks like there’s no silverware.
“We should just be grateful they had Styrofoam containers.”
“That’s so true,” I say, just now thinking about it. With the chaos in that kitchen, it’s a miracle they were stocked with a lot of things.
I walk over to the drawers and pull them out, happy to find a utensil drawer.
We sink into the overly stuffed chairs, sitting side by side. I don’t sit for long because something pokes my backside. I scoot forward so that I’m not sitting all the way to the back. Avery notices my expression immediately and says, “What’s wrong?”
“I think I sat on something, and it poked me.” I stand up and turn around, rubbing my hands softly on the cushion. There, near the middle, is the poke again, and I pull back as a small bead of blood wells up in my palm.
I hold it up, and Avery says, “Yikes. What is it?”
“Looks like a pin,” I say, pulling it out and showing it to her.
She stands up and runs her hands along the seat. “This seat is clear.”
“Maybe we should’ve gone to your place. I’m wondering what other hazards I’ll find in this furniture.”
