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“Just on my way out.”
“Good. Maybe it would be best if you didn’t come back.” Angry gray eyes stormed under thick eyebrows, glaring at me. Behind the human wall known as Carl was an entire restaurant full of people who were silently watching our exchange.
“Carl, he’s fine. We were just talking.” Rae snapped at him, pushing past us both and heading behind the counter. “And you know you can’t kick him out, you don’t have the right.”
She focused on me, her hands on a few plastic menus. “You should go though, Davis. I have to get back.”
I gave her one last look before turning and pushing through the glass door.
27
RAE
Grippingthe underside of the box, I heaved it up on top of the cluttered counter, letting out a string of curse words. That was only the third box that I had carried in, but they were heavy—full of Nora’s design books. The previous one was of all her mother’s old dishes and pans. The one before that was all her shoes. She had way too many.
“Oh my gosh, I’m already tired.” Nora dramatically swept inside and fell onto her secondhand sofa. It was decent looking once we’d flipped the cushions to hide the stains. Most of the furniture was purchased online at different sales and swap sites, but Nora made it all work with the right accent lamp or pillow. All in all, her new place was cozy and cute, and all hers. I was insanely jealous of the fact that not only did she qualify for a home loan, thanks to a slew of online designs she’d been working on for some time and a portfolio much larger than I initially realized, but she snagged the house and closed within just a few weeks’ time.
Once Nora had gotten over her aversion to the next-door neighbor—her resolution involved tall shrubbery and a fence that would go all the way to their shared mailbox—her entire purchase moved along quickly.
I was beyond happy for her, but while she was busy moving and closing on her first home, I was busy burying my feelings and trying to pretend they had never existed in the first place, as well as dodging the man who was like a second father to me. I’d had a heart to heart with Carl regarding his strange comment about Davis asking about some girl, when he could have easily warned me that it had been me he was asking about. He apologized, saying he just wasn’t sure what to say, but it still left me feeling raw and a little guarded.
“What are you doing?”I asked, popping a carrot into my mouth as I moved around the kitchen. Nora was in the living room, standing on her tiptoes with a sheet, trying to cover the window.
“I don’t want him to see inside. Come over here and help me.” She grunted as her body stretched along the expanse of the wall.
“Oh my gosh, you’re being ridicul—”
“Shut it, Rae, and come over and help. It’s almost dusk. What if he goes for a run or something and sees inside?”
“He’ll probably just keep running.” I wiped my hands on my jeans and took my time getting to her.
“You’re so funny. Now hold this up and hand me a tack.”
I gripped the edge of the dark purple sheet and did as I was told. “You’re using tacks?”
Nora’s left foot landed on her side table, while her right balanced on the edge of the sofa.
“I really don’t think you understand how desperate of a situation this is.”
Was she sweating?
Standing under her, to support her and prepare for the tack, I asked curiously, “Did something happen between you two since you got here? Because you’re acting a little unreasonable.”
She grunted to herself. “Go into the wall, dammit! And to answer your question—yes, he saw me.”
“Got it!” she yelled, jumping down and heading to the other side.
From the outside, this was going to look ridiculous. If I hadn’t pushed Davis out of my life, I could probably call him and ask him to come over and help put up the shades, then I could go home with him and snuggle in his bed and wake up to kinky morning sex.
“What happened?” I needed to stop thinking about Davis. What I had done was the only option I had in front of me, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t ripping me to shreds.
Nora continued busying herself with the sheet, using her teeth to keep the tack arranged, then grabbing it and smashing her thumb into the back to pin the fabric in place. Once she was done, she let out a big sigh and jumped down.
“He saw my ass from over his side of the fence. It was the first night I slept here.”
“When you stole my sleeping bag?”
Clicking her tongue, she rolled her eyes. “You can obviously have it back.”
