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I do my best to focus on the decisions that need to be made despite the fear trying to pull me down. “Give everyone a paid day off,” I tell Milo, then turn to Smith. “Can you shop for a new laptop? You know what you need for our software. Just use the business card.”
“Of course.”
Milo hops on the phone, and Smith heads out to his truck. Okay, the shop is handled. At least today is my day off from my studio so I don’t have any appointments scheduled. I’m not going to start rearranging any of that until I see what the lawyer says since I have zero idea what to expect over the next few days.
“You don’t have to stay here,” I tell Tori and Paul. “I’ll call you after I meet with the lawyer. We really won’t know anything until then.”
Tori raises her eyebrows. “I’m not going anywhere.” She hands her keys to Paul and drops a kiss on his lips. “I won’t be home before you go to work. I made you a lunch. It’s in the fridge.”
He kisses the top of her head. “Call me if you need me. I’ll check in with you later.” He leans and gives me a hug. “I’m sorry for all of this, Ella. Oliver has everyone on his side. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
“Thank you.”
“Have you eaten yet?” Tori asks.
“No. I’m not hungry.” There’s no way I’d be able to choke anything down. “But I could use a coffee.”
“A big sugary one,” she agrees.
“Would you mind going for us? I want to go see what they did upstairs.”
“Of course.”
She accepts the credit card I hand her. “Grab some food if you’re hungry, and an iced caramel macchiato for Milo too.”
The edges of her mouth crease. “Milo drinks macchiatos?”
Despite the situation, I feel a small grin tickle my lips. Big, burly Milo with a fancy coffee made me laugh the first time too. Especially since he started out making fun of my “frou-frou coffees” until I made him try a sip.
“He does. It’s almost as shocking as finding out my best friend makes her boyfriend’s lunch.”
She rolls her eyes. “Shut up.”
I shake my head. “Tori Porter making a man a sandwich…”
Her response is a middle finger as she walks away.
I knew Oliver’s apartment would be a mess, but I didn’t expect this. I thought they would’ve scattered some papers around while hunting through them at most. Every drawer and cabinet in his place is empty. It looks like a bomb went off, turning paperwork, dishes, clothes, and random stuff into shrapnel.
All of his clothes have been yanked out of his closet and thrown over the bed and floor. The shelves are clear, the boxes they once held dumped onto the hardwood.
I’m not sure where to begin cleaning up, but Oliver can’t come home to this. And he will come home. I’m not letting myself even consider the alternative.
With a sigh, I start by gathering his shirts and hanging them back in the closet. After a few minutes, Tori’s voice makes me jump.
“Cops are such assholes!”
Alden held the same opinion. I remember him telling me when he found out Sawyer wanted to be a federal agent. It’s kind of hard to disagree at the moment.
“I don’t think anything is broken.”
“The medicine cabinet?” she calls from the attached bathroom. “Seriously? They had to swipe his band-aids and aspirin onto the floor to see there weren’t financial records in there? The fuck?”
Her outrage is comforting. I’m not alone in this situation. More importantly, Oliver isn’t alone.
“Here,” she says, handing me my iced mocha. “I had them throw in a shot of espresso.”
“Thanks. The more caffeine and sugar today, the better.”
