Page 31 of Score Her Heart

I shook my head. “Sorry, what?”

“Do you need some time?” he asked again.

“Uh huh,” I answered noncommittally.

“Are you okay?”

“Nope!” I admitted with a shaky laugh.

He cleared his throat on the other line. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“I don’t think I can keep my apartment,” I blurted.

“Oh…okay? Are you sure?” he asked.

Now I wasn’t so sure if this was a good idea, but I knew there was no way I could stay here and sleep in this bed if I knew what Eric had done in it. To be honest, I also wasn’t sure I could afford the rent on my author pay either. Riley didn’t sound relieved like I thought he would, though; he sounded uncertain. My heart tightened in my chest. Now I was even more unsure about what I was about to do. Did I just invite myself to move in with Riley when we were already uncertain if we were going to stay married or not? Fuck, I should have gone back to Katie’s. But Riley called my name again, and I blurted it all out.

“I think he fucked someone in my bed. After I told him to get out and he told me he would find a new place.”

I cringed at the string of curses that flew out of Riley’s mouth. I had to hold the phone away because of how loud he was yelling. “Okay, you have boxes?” he finally asked.

“Uh…” I looked around and then walked into the living room and searched the hall closet. “That’s a big nope.”

He sighed. “Okay, hang tight, I’ve got this. Get together what you can, and I’ll be there soon.”

The phone clicked, and I stared at my phone as the call log blinked. I then marched out of the apartment and down to the landlord’s apartment on the first floor. She was a nice old Asian lady, who loved me but straight up hated Eric, so this was going to be hard.

“Fiona!” Mrs. Lee greeted me, and then her face turned down into a frown. “I’ve heard. But good for you. I never liked that man.”

I sighed. “Okay, then you’re not going to like what I say next.”

“What is it?”

“I’m moving out, but Eric isn’t. I know everything is in my name, but can we sign new lease papers so I can sign it over to him?” I asked.

“For you, I do. Otherwise, I would say no,” she answered. Her black-brown eyes darted to my wedding ring. “You’re wearing a wedding ring even though he didn’t show up?”

Shit. “Um…I married someone else. When in Vegas, right?”

She barked out a laugh. “Come in and tell me all about it. Then we’ll draft up those papers for you.”

I really didn’t want to explain the whole thing to my landlady, but she was a lonely old lady, and she had always been nice to me. I also really needed to get her to agree to this so I could get out of the lease without paying her any rent for the next month. So I sipped on green tea with her and told her the whole messy thing. Mrs. Lee was awesome about it when I angry-cried, and she patted my hand and gave me more tea.

“You know, I had an arranged marriage,” she told me and sipped on her tea.

I cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?”

She nodded. “My parents were immigrants, very traditional Chinese, so they picked my husband. He was a good man.”

“Did you love him?” I asked, genuinely curious. My landlady never talked about her husband; he died before I became a tenant.

Her eyes crinkled at her temples when she smiled. “I did, eventually. At first, we had to learn to be with each other, and the love stuff came later. You said you are friends?”

“The best of friends. We grew up together.”

She smiled at me and patted my hand again. “I think you two will be fine.”

I hoped she was right.