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Getting in the elevator, I force myself to be grateful that the buyer wants a quick settlement. They’re buying both condos as-is, furniture and contents included. My realtor said the new owner will occupy Unit 312 part-time, and the condo I’m in will be an investment property.
My grandparents are happy, and this way I can start figuring out what to do with my life full-time. Once I’m done in Lovers’ Peak, I’ll have a lot more freedom to make a plan. I can come back and tell Mia exactly how I feel—no, I canshowher how serious I am.
I won’t be a customer anymore. I won’t have to sneak off in the middle of the night. I’ll have a place by her side, where I belong. Plus, as soon as her ex-husband is gone, Mia will be calmer. She’ll have more time. We’ll be able to connect like we did over Thanksgiving. Everything will be okay. By the end of the weekend, I’ll be able to call Mia and apologize properly, and she’ll have the bandwidth to hear it.
I’ll give her the space she needs, but I’m not leaving her.
When I get to the third floor of my building, I’m surprised to see the realtor standing outside Unit 312—and I’m even more surprised to see her standing beside Mia’s ex.
“Des!” Samantha exclaims, smiling wide. She’s wearing a bright pantsuit with her silver pixie cut styled in sharp spikes. “This is Colin. He just wanted to check a few things in the condo to see what he needed to buy before moving in. We cleared it with Maude.”
Her words stop me short. The hallway stretches and stretches and stretches before me, like some awful, stomach-churning optical illusion. Mia’s ex turns to face me in slow-motion, his brows arching when he recognizes me.
It feels like five whole minutes tick by, second by agonizing second, but really it must only be a moment. My gaze bounces between the two of them and lands on Samantha. “Thisis the buyer?”
She frowns. “Um… Yes? Is there a problem?”
YES, THERE IS A BIG FUCKING PROBLEM.I swallow the words down. “No.” Glancing at Colin, I say, “I didn’t realize you were planning on staying long-term. Mia said you were only here for a week.”
His eyes light up, and I don’t like the curve of his lips. “She didn’t tell you?”
I think of the tension in her body just now, when I hugged her in her barbershop, how it felt like she was holding back from telling me the whole truth about her dinner—and how she never answered my text last night.
This is what she was hiding. This is what she didn’t tell me. Is this why she didn’t want to tell him I was with her today? Because she knew he’d be sticking around?
Even though I already know the answer, I grit out, “Tell me what?”
Colin spreads his arms. “I’m staying.”
Two little words, and my whole world blows up. “You’re staying.”
“Yep.” He jingles the keys and turns the lock. “I want to get to know my daughter. She needs a decent father figure.”
“And that’s supposed to be you, the man who abandoned her before she was born?”
Samantha clears her throat, tugging at the hem of her suit jacket. We both ignore her.
“Who even are you?” Colin sneers. “When I asked Mia, she said she wasn’t seeing anyone.”
I must make a face, because Colin’s expression clears, and he starts laughing as he pushes the front door open. He holds it ajar with his foot and shakes his head. “It was you that was with her earlier, wasn’t it? You were the customer in her shop she was talking about.” He glances at the realtor. “This shouldn’t take long. I just need to see what I need to buy so I can live in this place.”
Samantha nods politely. “Of course.” She glances at me, then at the apartment’s closing door, catching it before it latches. I can tell she wants to say something to me, and I don’t want to hear it. I stalk by her and turn into the other condo, closing the door behind me with a dull thud. Then I lean against it and press the heels of my hands into my eye sockets.
Her ex is staying—and she didn’t tell me.
Then my phone rings. I see the name on the screen and think about my genius plan to prove myself to Mia…and I know there’s no going back.
I’ll have to go to Lovers’ Peak and finish what I started, whether or not Mia wants me at the end of it all.
34
MIA
Everything is totally fine.Everything is great. Everything is going to be okay.
Those words have been on repeat for a week and a half, ever since Des told me he was leaving. I’m a Stepford Wife, smiling blankly at the world as it goes by, pretending everything is A-okay in my little fucked-up world.
“The two condos are on Seventh Avenue. Apparently the old couple was desperate to sell. I got an amazing deal. It’s a great investment.” Colin shoves more food in his mouth and keeps telling me how smart he is.
