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Every word seems written just for me. I know it’s about harder loves than mine. And mine isn’t even love. How can it be, when I absolutely loathed Rhett only three days ago?
But it speaks to me so deeply that I’m weeping. Crying for how hard things got. How much hope I lost. How scared I was in that storm.
By the time the song is over, I feel cried out. Things are good. My job is back. Nothing bad happened with my apartment or my bills. And Rhett is something entirely new to me than he was before.
I wipe my face with a random Kleenex in the console and head to my apartment.
When I open the door, Maxwell sits in the middle of the dining table, eyes narrowed like he’s never going to forgive me for leaving him.
And Rhett thought Maxwell was my boyfriend.
I erupt in giggles, making Maxwell more annoyed. He turns around to show me his butt and the twitch of his tail.
“Oh, you silly boy,” I tell him and pull out the super deluxe tuna treats that I save for when I’m trying to woo him. “Come here, my sweet little man.”
He holds out for several minutes, and I’m about to put them away again when he hops down from the table and sits at my feet.
“Good boy,” I say, and lean down with the treats in my palm.
He gobbles them quickly, then off he goes, tail twitching, not bothering to look behind him.
I roll my bags to my room. The note from the pet sitter tells me that he only threw up once, and that he didn’t seem to notice the extra day I was gone.
I check my hair and add a touch more makeup to the quick face I put on with Rhett on the ship this morning.
I was with Rhett this morning!
I think for only a moment about last night, and the afternoon before, and all the times we were together on the island. I pressmy hand to my chest. That was a lot. I’ve never been like this. Nobody I’ve dated has been like Rhett.
It’s like we’re two butterflies in spring, spinning around each other in a dizzying dance.
My phone buzzes. It’s Rhett.
Parking. Come when you like. I’m going to check on the temps.
I should get up there.
I blow a quick kiss to Maxwell, laughing again at Rhett’s mistake, and hurry to my car.
When I tap my old code into the security panel at the garage entrance to the building, my body buzzes with victory. I fixed this! I’m back!
More than back. I’m with Rhett!
It’s only been two weeks since I last walked these halls, but it feels like a lifetime ago. Other companies also rent space in the building, and it’s a normal Monday for them. Workers walk near the front entrance, and the security guard watches people come and go.
I take the elevator up to the fifth floor where Rhett has his office. Dougherty occupies the top two floors of the building.
Since reception is below our floor, I assume the temps will all be down there. This level houses the executives and human resources as well as the small boardroom and the big meeting space for larger company gatherings.
I set my bag on my old desk. It’s emptier than I left it, devoid of even the basics of a pencil holder and trays. The computer monitor is dark, not even in the power save mode IT always wants us to remain in.
Rhett’s door is partially open. I knock on the outside, then step inside. He’s not at his desk but sits at the small meeting table in the front corner, all the binders from the cruise spread in front of him.
I slide onto a chair. “You got started.”
“I’m looking at the requisitions Viola brought me that day and matching them up to actual checks that were cut.”
I lean over. “What did you find?”
