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“Or not stable.”
“Stop. You know that’s not Kayden either. He was nice. He was super nice. He always treated you so well, and I really liked him! I’d seriously hoped you would get married and have adorable little babies that looked just like him. I mean, also like you.”
“Thanks.”
Sadie laughs, and I have to smile despite the crazy day, horrible night, and my morning coffee being ruined by Mr. Godbody out there himself.
“Okay, well, if he’s back, are you sure it’s about revenge? It sounds to me like he never moved on. He’s probably looking for some kind of closure.”
“He did say that, but then why buy the place where I work? Why buy the house next door? He could have just shown up and asked for it.”
“Yeah, but that way, you could have slammed the door in his face. This way, you have no choice. You have to face him.”
“I could quit.”
“No way. You’ve put in tons of time there, working your butt off. You’ve spent eight years climbing the ladder, and you pretty much gave up all of your twenties to spend every minute you had at work. You refused all offers to have fun, and you also never dated. You practically wrapped your whole life in toilet paper, so you can’t just flush it away now.”
“Ugh. Thanks for that and the reminder about my wasted youth.”
Sadie giggles, and even though I facepalm myself, I’m still smiling reluctantly. Only Sadie could get away with saying shit like this to me. I mean, it’s the truth, but I can only stand to hear it from her.
“He probably knows that, though. He would have looked into you before he bought the place. Any place. If he made that calculated of a move, he obviously hired someone to find you.”
“Yup. He pretty much told me as much. Shamelessly.”
“Hold on. I need to write this down. I’m getting a good idea for a story.”
I roll my eyes. “No! Come on. My life is not an inspiration for some messed up novel.”
“Who says it has to be messed up? I think it’s kind of romantic in a stalkerish way.”
“Sadie!”
“I’m just saying! I mean, come on. The guy never got over you. He tells reporters that. He can’t get his shit together because you haunt his freaking life, and he looks you up when he’s at his wit's end. He then spends millions investing in the world of toilet paper and buys some run-down house next to yours just to be close to you. That’s really romantic if you look at it the right way.”
“Or extremely horrible and creepy.”
“Do you think talking with him would help? Maybe if you did, he’d get whatever he came for and leave.”
“He bought an office building, a factory, and a house. Do you think he’s just going to leave?”
Sadie huffs. “Well, you never know. You could save yourself a ton of trouble and just try to find out.”
“What if I give off the wrong message? What if he says he’s not leaving here without…without me? What if that’s the kind of closure he wants? Or what if he just came to ruin my life? That could give a person closure too.”
“He doesn’t seem like the type, but you never know how heartbreak and vengeance will turn a person crazy.”
I grab my now stone-cold coffee and take a sip. It’s no better cold. My stomach still burns like the fiery pit of hell itself. Or maybe it’s not because of the coffee. Maybe it’s the stress of everything that’s happened in the last oh, eighteen hours or so.
“I need a plan. I’m going to call in sick to work so I have time to think.”
“Wouldn’t it be a direct tip-off that something is wrong?”
“Well, I did go to the dentist yesterday. I could say something went wrong, and my face is all swollen. That kind of sick. It’s believable.”
“Do you need me to come over and work on a game plan with you?”
“Yes.” I sink down in my chair, the feeling of relief so great that it nearly liquefies me. “Yes, that would be really nice.” I can always count on Sadie to have my back. Not only has she been my best friend since the second week after we met, but she also moved to Amarillo with me after I got a job offer. We lived in a shitty apartment together for over two years before I had enough money to buy a house, and she saved up enough to buy her own condo.
“Okay. Be over in an hour?”
“Thank you. Seriously.”
“No problem. I’ll bring coffee and doughnuts. I’m pretty sure we’re going to need them.”
I mumble a thank you, hang up, and glance over at my neighbor’s house. That house used to be benign. It was owned by an older couple who, unfortunately, both lost their jobs, though the house was run down long before that point. I felt really bad for them, but then they up and disappeared in the middle of the night. The house was foreclosed on and put up for sale, empty for two years. Everyone in the neighborhood hoped someone would buy it and either fix it up or tear it down because it was kind of an eyesore. I really hoped so, too, seeing as it was right beside my house, and having a derelict building didn’t bode well for property values.
