AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Long time no speak,” he greets warmly.
My body involuntarily sinks into my bed at the sound of his voice. I miss him, I miss his voice. I can almost smell him over the phone.
“So, it’s sold? I’ll sure miss this place.”
“The buyers are a young couple. Nice enough. Anyway, they want to move in next month.”
Add more stress to my growing ball of stress twine. “That’s quick. I’m half packed I guess, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” I respond calmly.
There is an awkward silence, and I hear a shuffle over the phone. “So how have you been?”
“Good,” I reply. “And you?”
“Yeah, good. I’m seeing someone,” he admits quietly.
“I figured. You’re something special, it was only a matter of time.” I smile into the receiver.
He laughs, and it’s familiar and comforting. “And you?”
I had thought about telling him about the baby but decided against it. It doesn’t matter anyway. He has moved on. Sooner or later he will find out, but as for now, I’m downright exhausted and just can’t find the energy to have that long-winded conversation which will probably end up with me in tears.
“No, still single. Just working and stuff.”
We talk for another hour about work, family, and life. It’s like visiting an old friend, and during the conversation it becomes even clearer to me that we made the right decision. He hasn’t changed one bit, but that’s Jason. Happy to live in the same bubble, just screwing someone else instead of me.
In my mad rush to find somewhere to live, Vicky comes to my rescue. She has a friend living not too far away who has a room available. Her name is Kate and she’s renting the apartment from a friend. I call her first thing on Monday and have a long chat about the room and apartment. She’s super nice, even with her British accent—because of which I sometimes have no clue what she’s saying.
We agreed to meet at her apartment later that afternoon so she could show me around.
“So that’s the kitchen, and just over on the right would be your room.”
Kate opens the door to a sunlit room with a view of a small park. It’s furnished with a double bed and dark wooden dresser that match the floors. There’s a walk-in closet that’s the perfect size to fit all my clothes in. Not that I have many now, since I morphed into a hippopotamus.
“It’s gorgeous. But I wouldn’t be here for long, Kate. With the baby and all, I’ll need to find my own place.”
“That’s totally fine. The room’s always been vacant. The only time it gets used is when my mates from L.A. fly over, but even then the lot of them prefer to stay at the Waldorf so they can have a gander at the cute bellhops.”
I wasn’t quite sure what gander meant, but I laughed anyway because the bellhops were indeed cute.
We sit in the kitchen and talk for a bit, getting to know each other. Kate is from Manchester and moved here permanently a few years back. She is head of the division in her company and is completely career-obsessed, which she blames for her lack of relationships.
“So no boyfriend?” I grin, taking a sip of my tea.
“Uh . . . I wouldn’t call it that. It’s complicated.”
“It always is, trust me.”
“It’s only complicated because I’ve been . . . involved . . . with my best friend’s brother.”
“And let me guess, she doesn’t know?”
Kate shakes her head. “He doesn’t know. And he doesn’t exactly get along with his brother, so I’m fairly certain he would go barmy on me.”
Note to self: Google “barmy.”
“I guess if you’re having fun and it’s not serious, you could keep it on the down low.”
“Trying to hide something from Eric is like Mission Impossible. He has a radar on everything; he could just look at you and tell when you last had sex. Lying to him is exhausting. I’ve been telling him that I’m screwing this guy at work.”
