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Jamie gently nudged my chin up. “Eyes up here, lass, at least until Henry leaves."
I blinked at Jamie, loving the fact that despite his teasing words, he looked flushed and just as frustrated as I felt. Finally tearing my gaze from his, I looked at Henry.
“Did you need to talk to me about something?” I asked casually, even though I already knew why he was here. My rent was late, but I was hoping that I’d get a few jobs this week and would be able to catch up soon.
From the corner of my eye, I sensed Jamie scooping up the cymbal and once gain holding it strategically in place. Instead of heading back into his apartment, however, he simply stood leaning against his doorway, watching Henry and I with interest.
“Don’t you have your drumming to get back to?” I hissed.
Jamie shot me an amused grin. “I was beginning to think I might be doing a different kind of pounding right now, but I’ll settle for hearing what Henry has to say. What’s up, Henry?”
“Uh, hello, Jamie. How you doing, Tessa?” Henry fidgeted uncomfortably by the elevator.
“Just fine,” I said, trying not to act like we were having a conversation in front of my near-naked neighbor.
“Been at the gym?” Henry asked.
“Yes,” I answered, wishing he would just get on with it. I didn’t want him to ask me about my late rent check in front of Jamie, though, so I reluctantly asked him, “Do you want to come inside?”
Weirdly, I sensed Jamie tense at my words. Henry’s expression turned frightened, and I glanced at Jamie to see why, but Jamie’s expression was smooth and he just winked at me.
“Uh, no, that’s okay, thanks.”
“Okay, well maybe we can talk later, inprivate,” I said, but Henry just talked over me.
“Do you have any big plans this weekend?” he asked.
That was weird. Why wasn’t he talking about my late rent? Was he actually going to ask me out? He was cute, although I’d never considered him to be my type. Curly blond hair, dimples, a nice suit, if a bit on the cheap side. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go out with him, but maybe I should be more open to the idea.
“Um, no, I guess not. Did you want to, um—”
“No flights to see a sick relative or something?” Henry interrupted.
Not sure I’d lead off on asking someone out with mention of sick relatives, but to each their own. “Nope.”
“No funerals?”
Ew. “No.”
“And you’re not sick, right?” Henry asked.
Umm… “Umm…” My mind was having a hard time figuring out what kind of date would require these pre-requisite questions. “Maybe a little bit of a sore throat in the mornings sometimes,” I answered, growing more and more confused.
“But not like cancer or anything like that?”
Henry fidgeted with a folder I hadn’t paid attention to before. Henry always had folders.
“No,” I said, slowly, “no cancer or anything like that.”
Henry sighed and smiled. “Good,” he said, pulling a piece of paper out of the folder and handing it over to me. “I always hate giving eviction notices to people with cancer. Makes me feel so terrible, you know?”
I stared down at the piece of paper stamped in red ink. Okay, so I’d been partially right. He had come up here to talk to me about my late rent, but not just to give me a warning like he had in the past. Numb, I barely felt Henry pat my shoulder.
“Okay, then. We’ll use your last month’s rent, which gives you thirty days until you have to be out. I’m sorry.” His voice was kind and gentle and his smile sweet.
I watched him get into the elevator and press the Down button.
I stood there, embarrassed and struggling not to cry, when I heard a sound. I turned back to face Jamie, but instead saw his door quietly closing shut. After a few seconds passed, I heard the drums start back up, louder than ever.
