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CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Chloe stood amid the chaos of her mother’s small, furnished studio apartment, wondering where to start. There was stuff everywhere. Discarded underwear littered the scuffed hardwood floor. Glitzy dance costumes were flung across the open and unmade sofa bed like sequined pillowcases. Dozens of fashion magazines were stacked up against the walls like unpruned vines. Used tissues and scrap pieces of paper lay crumpled in every corner. A moldy, half-eaten sandwich sat on the counter of the tiny galley kitchen, beside a pile of unwashed plastic dishes. “Holy cow,” the building supervisor exclaimed when he’d unlocked the apartment door to let Chloe inside. “Garbage chute’s down the hall,” he’d added without prompting. “Good luck.”
Her first thought was that robbers had broken in and tossed the place, then vandalized it when they could find nothing of worth. Her second thought, which came to her when she stumbled over an empty vodka bottle, was that no robbers had been necessary. Her mother was more than capable of making a mess like this on her own.
And leaving it for someone else to clean up.
Still, Chloe couldn’t remember any of the places she’d grown up in ever having beenthisbad. This waslike a tornado had swept through,as she’d described it to Paige, texting her in horror as soon as the super left, adding,I’ll be here all night.
I’d come help you,Paige had texted back immediately.But I’m giving this online dating one more shot, and I’m on my way to the hairdresser at this very minute, followed by a mani-pedi and a bikini wax.
You go, girl,Chloe had messaged back. She’d removed her own picture and profile from the dating sites she’d joined to check on Matt soon after posting them. Maybe one day, when her divorce was final, she’d work up the courage to actually try them. Right now, even the thought of dating terrified her. Matt had been the only man in her life since she was fourteen years old, the only lover she’d ever known. What would it be like to have another man’s hands on her body, to feel another man inside her?
“Oh, God,” Chloe said, banishing the thought and setting her mind to the task at hand. She started with the kitchen, emptying the fridge and the cupboards and drawers of their contents, and throwing everything that couldn’t be recycled into one of the heavy-duty plastic bags she’d had the foresight to bring with her, garbage bags being one of the few items her mother didn’t seem to have lying around. She dragged the bag to the door of the apartment and openedit.
The door across the hall opened almost simultaneously. Chloe found herself staring into the sleep-filled eyes of a skinny young man wearing precariously low-slung sweatpants and no shirt.
“Hey,” he said with a smile, running a hand through his almost shoulder-length brown hair.
“Hey.” Chloe estimated the boy’s age as maybe nineteen or twenty.
“I thought I heard someone rattling around in there,” he said.
“Sorry if I disturbed you.”
“That’s okay. You a friend of Jennifer’s?”
“Not exactly. I’m her daughter.”
“Mothers and daughters can’t be friends?” he asked with a smile, as if no answer was required. “I can see a resemblance, now that you mention it. I’m Ethan.”
“Chloe.”
“Nice to meet you, Chloe. I really like your mom. She’s cool.”
Chloe nodded, unsure how to respond.
He rubbed his hairless chest. “Haven’t seen her in a while.”
“She’s in Las Vegas.”
“Yeah? Another one of those dance competitions?”
“Actually, she got married.”
“No kidding! Wow. Does that mean she’ll be moving out?”
Chloe nodded. “I’m here to pack up her things.”
Ethan peered over her shoulder into Jennifer’s apartment. “Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
Chloe’s phone rang. She pulled it from the side pocket of her jeans and checked the caller ID. “Excuse me,” she said to Ethan. “Matt, hi.” He was scheduled to pick the kids up from day camp this afternoon and keep them overnight. “Is there a problem?”
“No problem. Just checking to make sure Josh is good to go.”
“Yeah, his earache seems to have cleared up.” She smiled goodbye to Ethan, stepping back inside her mother’s apartment.
“Do you want some help in there?” he asked as she was closing the door.
