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“All right, well, I’ll see you later, man.”
“See you later.”
The call disconnected, and the music I previously listened to resumed playing through my speaker. This was my Saturday morning cleaning playlist. It was filled with some of my parents’ favorite music, an ode to them of sorts.
Every Saturday morning, my mother would have Bella and me up, cleaning the whole house. We knew that time was when Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman” came blaring through my father’s stereo. Even though the song wasn’t about cleaning, it was just like a wake-up call. Since I was about to help Pasha move into her place, I needed to get in a cleaning mood like I did when I cleaned my own house.
Ten minutes later, I pulled up in front of the apartment building. It was located in a semi quiet part of town, close to the university. I assumed mostly college students dwelled here since almost every person I saw walking in and out carried a backpack. I climbed out of my truck and headed inside to the tenth floor, where Avyn said she lived. I counted the numbers on the door until I came to ten twenty-one. Taking a deep breath, I knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened, and Avyn greeted me with a smile.
“Hey, Callum. Come on in.”
She opened the door wider to allow me entry. Stepping in, I noted how spotless it was. Everything was neat, organized, and color coordinated.
“You have a nice place,” I said.
“Thank you.”
“Baby, I think we can play Tetris with this furniture—Callum Ellis.”
I grinned when I realized the voice belonged to a good friend at the police department.
“Malcolm Holbrook.”
He came over and shook my hand. “What the hell are you doing in this neck of the woods?”
“You two know each other?” Avyn asked, folding her arms.
“We go back a few years,” Malcolm answered. “How are you, man? How’s the family?”
“Bella is good. Precious is growing like a weed and spending all my money.”
He chuckled. “Admit it. You love spoiling her.”
“I do. That’s my lil’ baby.”
“How do you know my lady?”
“He’s actually a friend of Pasha’s,” Avyn answered. “Say hello to your help for the day.”
He shook his head. “I forgot... You don’t do manual labor.”
She smirked. “I’m glad you know this. Anyway, Pash is downstairs doing some last-minute cleaning. She wanted the place spotless before we moved anything.”
I raised an eyebrow. “She’s moving downstairs?”
“Yes. An apartment became available, so we hopped right on it. It works out since we carpool to work together.”
“That makes sense. I’m glad she accepted your help.”
“She didn’t have much of a choice. I can be quite pushy.”
“That’s an understatement,” Malcolm mumbled with a sly smile.
“I can also be petty,” Avyn said firmly.
Malcolm kissed her cheek. “I’m joking, love.”
“Mmm-hmm. Why don’t you take Callum to the guest room, and you two can figure out how you will move everything.” She grabbed two huge rolling suitcases and headed for the door. “She’s in apartment eight seventeen. Don’t get to chitchatting and take all damn day.”
