Page 97 of All The Ways to Miss You

One year ago

“Put some damn clothes on. I have a surprise for you,” Linden announces when he appears at my front door. The last time I saw him, he was trying to talk me into coming back to work. Like most encounters with Linden these days, today’s sucks.

“It’s six a.m., scumbag.” I brace my arm on the door frame, blocking him.

The asshole shoulders his way into my apartment. It’s too early to fight, so I close the front door and turn to find he’s disappeared. He marches from my bedroom and tosses something at me. I catch the ball of dirty clothes before they nail me in the face.

“You want to explain what the hell’s going on?” I have a rule. I don’t dress before ten, noon if I’m extra lazy.

When Linden pulls back a curtain and peeks out the window, I hear the distinctive sound of a moving truck outside on the city street.

“Are you serious?” I make my way to the window beside him. “Did you promise someone I’d help them move in again? What did I tell you about pimping me out.”

“Shut up and watch. This is the surprise part.”

I take a closer look at the small van, plain white with no moving company logo. The back door is wide open with a narrow metal ramp descending to street level. Inside, someone moves boxes among the shadows. Stepping into the light, a woman appears with two boxes stacked in her arms. She descends the ramp.

Even though I haven’t seen her in ages, my heart lurches at the sight. I used to kiss that long pale neck. Those peach lips used to know my name. Her long legs spent hours wrapped around my waist. And those soulful eyes spoke to me without words. They told me everything I ever needed to know in life; that she was mine and I was hers.

“Cait?” Speaking her name causes an old, familiar ache to bubble up from deep inside. I press both palms onto the glass and move closer to make sure my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me. It wouldn’t be the first time I thought I saw her.

“Surprise,” Linden says.

Confused, I squint at him. She’s outside my window and moving into my building?

I turn and slam Linden into the wall, causing hanging photos to crash to the wood floor. Glass shatters around my bare feet. With the knot of his tie clenched in my grip, I spit six words into his face. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Trying to give you the life you had before you turned into a useless pile of rat shit.” He grips my shoulders and shoves me.

Hurt by his words, I take several steps away until my butt settles on the back of a chair. After Cait left, my life fell apart. I hunch over, dropping my face into my hands, and rub all the memories away, both good and bad. The same exact thing I’ve been attempting for years with little success.

Linden straightens his suit and smooths his hair as he watches me crumple into less of a man in front of him. I wasn’t sure it was possible. He places a strong hand on my shoulder. This is his way of comforting me, by trying to fix things. I wish he would leave me the fuck alone.

“Come out and meet her,” he says.

“Why’s she here? I don’t understand.”

“The long story short is I recruited her. She’s my new leasing agent. She needed a place to live, so she’s your new tenant.”

“Christ, Linden.”

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it? You’ve wanted her back, and now here she is on a fucking silver platter, waiting to fall in love with you all over again. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“She still remembers nothing?”

“She sure as shit didn’t remember me. Interviewed her personally. She didn’t talk about her past in the interview, and I suspect that’s the way she wants to keep things. So you should do the same.”

“And act like I don’t know her?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s the dumbest idea you’ve ever had.”

“We’ll see, baby brother.”

There’s a knock on the door. My heart stops, and every muscle in my body stiffens at the knowledge she’s on the other side.

Linden motions for me to dress, but I stare at the door, willing her to leave. If I see her like this, I won’t be able to function. I already want her as badly as I did the first time I saw her. I can’t help it.