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“He’s surprisingly mobile. He can chase a ball like a champ.”
“Oh, I’d love to see that.”
I glare at Tessa, chastising her for fraternizing with the enemy again, and she rolls her eyes in reply. I don’t care if my best friend thinks I’m being mean to the nice man. After twelve years of dealing with all manner of people on long flights, I’m exceptionally good at reading people; and my flight-attendant instincts tell me Augustus Vaughn one-hundred-percent called that tow truck. He might also have crashed into me on purpose,too, in order to spill the hot coffee in my hand, but I’m admittedly not positive about that part. Either way, I’m not inclined to forgive and forget, no matter what Tessa wants me to do.
I do concede, however, that my sworn enemy’s three-legged rescue pup is awfully cute. Also, the fact that Auggie took on his grandma’s fur baby is ateeny-tinypoint in his favor. I also admit, begrudgingly, that Auggie has some physical appeal, despite him not being my usual type. If I didn’t loathe him, Imightbe inclined to say yes to a date, if he asked, simply out of curiosity. But since I do loathe the man, it’s a moot point.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Auggie says, jerking me from my wandering thoughts. He’s addressing me. Leveling me with those stunning blue eyes of his. “I didn’t get my dream internship today, thanks to our run-in. As it turns out, being twenty minutes late for an interview isn’t a selling point.”
I snicker. “That’s karma for you, baby.”
“Karma? I did nothing wrong.”
“You called the tow truck.”
He scoffs. “I didn’t. But if I had, it wouldn’t have been wrong of me. Youchoseto leave your car parked with its ass hanging out,baby. Nobody, including me, put a gun to your head.”
He’s not wrong. But I’d never admit that to him.
“Anyone could have called that tow truck,” Tessa interjects, as we come to a stop in front of my door. “You were blocking traffic in front of a bunch of stores and businesses, Charlotte.”
She’s also not wrong. But still, I’m not willing to let the boy bander off the hook that easily. I frown at Auggie. “Why did you stop here? You’re not coming inside, for fuck’s sake.”
Auggie shrugs. “I just want to peek through the door. I’m curious.” When I look annoyed, he adds, “I’ve heard some rumors from the building manager about this unit.”
My stomach flip-flops. “Rumors?”
“About it being in less than stellar condition. Was the former owner your family member? If so, I’m sorry for you loss.”
“No, I didn’t know the guy. I bought the place in an online auction, sight unseen. The owner died without an heir.”
“Huh.”
After making his vague grunt of a comment, Auggie doesn’t move from his spot in the hallway. Apparently, he’s determined to be a looky-loo. And so, with a deep exhale, I turn to the door, position my shiny, new key, and slide it into my shiny, new lock.
Click.
“Here we go,” I whisper to Tessa, as butterflies whoosh into my belly.
“It’s gonna be fine,” she murmurs back, patting my shoulder.
I try to open the door wide, but something blocks its movement, midway, from the inside. My brow furrowed, I poke my head through the gap and shriek when I behold the chaos on the other side of the door. There are stacks of random stuffeverywhere. And I do meaneverywhere.On every surface. Covering every fucking inch. Also, the place smells terrible.
“Oh, god,” I blurt. “It’s a hoarder’s paradise in here, Tessa. Fucking hell.”
I yank my head from the doorway, feeling dizzy. I figured I’d need to do some deep cleaning, of course. Also, since the unit came furnished, that I’d also need to haul away some gross, out-of-date furniture. I’ve foreseen needing to paint and pull up old, stained carpeting, too.Butthis? It’s going to take me weeks to clear out the place before I can even begin to deep-clean and figure out what else needs to be done to spruce it up. Which means—oh, God—there’s no way in hell I’ll make Carlo’s deadline now. No freaking way. The only question now is: should I try my best, even though I already know my best isn’t going to be good enough, or flee right now and go into hiding?
“Let me see,” Tessa says, nudging me to the side. When I make room in the doorframe for her, Tessa pokes her head into the gap and blurts, “Whoa. How did he live here? Every nook and cranny is jam-packed. Ugh. It smells awful, too.”
As she’s peeking, I slide my back down the hallway wall, ultimately coming to a rest on my ass on the floor. I’m vaguely aware that Auggie is now peeking through the gap in the door and repeating the gist of what Tessa said, but I’m too upset to care or reply. I’m at the end of the line. The end of my rope. I took a huge gamble in an effort to fix a massive mistake, and it didn’t pay off. It’s as simple as that. In fact, it’s now clear my gamble has failed miserably.
All of a sudden, a warm, furry body climbs into my lap. A wet tongue licks my hand where I’ve just wiped away a salty tear. It’s exactly what my beloved childhood mutt, Candy, used to do to comfort me when I cried, so I break down, hug Lucky to me, and let my tears flow.
“Aw, sweetie,” Tessa says. She sits down next to me on the floor and pats my arm. “It’s going to be okay, my love. I just texted a guy I know and asked him to bring a crew in here ASAP and get everything hauled away and cleaned in record time.”
“I can’t let you do that,” I murmur from behind my hands.
“I already did.”
