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Nor did I want to bring Albin into the mix and blur the lines between us.
Again.
A landlord who was dodging my phone calls was something I could handle.
Once the waitress materialized, in a red and blue uniform, sporting a bright smile, I took out my phone and sent the landlord a message. Then I set my phone down on the table and tried not to stare at it for the rest of the night. Jimmy told us stories in between bites of his pizza, and Albin hung on his every word, making the swarm of butterflies in my stomach erupt into a frenzy.
It was getting harder and harder to remember why I was keeping Albin at arm’s length. Spending time with him while he got to know Jimmy was one thing. Going out to dinner with another, and I had underestimated how potent the feeling was going to be. For the first time since he was born, Jimmy had both his parents in the same place at the same time, and I was overwhelmed with emotion.
Was Albin right?
Was this how it could be all the time?
After dinner, Albin drifted closer to me and brushed his hand against mine. A familiar jolt of electricity raced up my spine as he helped Jimmy into the backseat of his car before holding the door open for me. I tilted my head back to look up at him and held his gaze. His lips lifted into a half smile, and my stomach gave an odd little dip. In silence, Albin drove us back to the apartment building. The road ahead was clear, with only a few cars driving underneath the light of the moon.
By the time we pulled up outside my apartment building on the other side of the city, I had convinced myself to tell him that I’d changed my mind. Half of me wanted him to turn around and take us back to his place. The other half waited until Albin was parked before I shoved the door open with a little more force than necessary. Jimmy skipped out of the car, and I held him to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement, and a moving truck pulled up behind us.
Albin came to a stop in front of us and raised an eyebrow. “I guess you’re getting new neighbors. It’s strange that they’d be moving in at night, though.”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
Albin crouched in front of Jimmy and held his arms out. After a brief pause, Jimmy launched himself at Albin. All too soon, Albin stood up and ruffled Jimmy’s hair. He gave me one more meaningful look over his shoulders before he left. Then he peeled away from the curb, and I watched him leave. Jimmy laced his fingers through mine, and we skipped up the stairs, coming to an abrupt halt in front of our apartment door, which was left wide open.
A group of movers was coming in and out of the apartment.
I gripped Jimmy’s hand tighter and tucked him behind me. “Excuse me, what’s going on?”
A short brown-haired woman in jeans and a loose t-shirt emerged, her face covered in sweat and dust. “Hi, we’re the new neighbors. Sorry about the noise. The landlord told us we could only move in at night.”
“I think you’ve got the wrong apartment.”
She frowned, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper. After scanning it, she handed it to me, and I held it up to the fluorescent lighting. The movers continued to rush past me in either direction, carrying boxes and other items. I read through the entire contract twice, heart hammering against my chest before I handed it back to the woman.
“He tricked us,” I told her. “I just moved here a week ago, and he gave me the same contract.”
The woman paled. “You’re kidding. He made us pay two months’ rent in advance and a security deposit.”
I swallowed. “He did the same to me.”
The woman beckoned a man over, and the two of them drifted off, heads bent in conversation. With trembling hands, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tried the landlord. I heard the new neighbors try the same with similar results. A short while later, I handed one of the movers my phone, with Anne on the other end, and watched, my mind racing at a million miles a minute. While I couldn’t believe the landlord had screwed me over like this, at least I had a fallback plan. The couple who had just moved in looked like they were ready to punch a hole through the wall.
And the woman looked like she was ready to burst into tears.
Once Anne was done, the mover handed me my phone back and hurried inside. In a flurry of movement, they began to move my boxes out and load them up. I tucked Jimmy into my side, drifted over to the tenants, and offered them a grim smile.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got somewhere else to go.”
The man wrapped his arm around the woman’s shoulders. “Are you sure?”
I nodded and patted Jimmy’s hair. “Yeah, don’t worry.”
“We’ll get this sorted out,” the woman promised, lifting tear-stained eyes to mine. “I’m sorry.”
“Neither of you should be apologizing. It’s the landlord’s fault.”
And when I figured out a way to get my money back, he was going to pay.
Having been forced to dip into my savings to move out, I hated having no choice but to go back to Anne’s. Although I knew she was happy to welcome us back, it felt like a step back for me. Still, I waited until the few boxes I had were loaded up into the van before ushering Jimmy into the front.
