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“Who the fuck are you?”
“Ryan? Is that dinner?”
I heard Alina’s voice from somewhere in the apartment, calling out to this guy, Ryan.
Was this asshole Ryan? The ex-schmuck who had used her then cast her aside when she was no longer useful? And she had run back to him? What the actual fuck?
Alina appeared in the hall behind him, a sight for sore eyes. It had been only weeks since I’d seen her, but somehow her true beauty had failed to fortify in my memory of her. I guess it wasn’t the only thing I hadn’t gotten right when it came to Alina.
“No, it’s not the delivery man,” he called back over his shoulder as she came closer.
“Who is—” Her words failed her when she spotted me, my eyes holding hers in a moment only the two of us could share.
“Callum? What are you doing here?”
“Can we talk?” I asked her, nervously shuffling from one foot to the other, swallowing down the bile rising in my throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that idiot, Ryan, looking between Alina and me and back again.
Thankfully, Alina pushed past him, and I stepped back, making room for her in the hallway.
“I’ll just be a minute. You can get started without me, right?” She didn’t wait for Ryan’s answer as she lightly pulled the door to her apartment closed behind herself.
“Why are you here?”
“I was in the area,” I joked, trying to ease the nerves eating away at me from the inside. The butterflies in my stomach had become ravenous carnivores.
She didn’t even show a glimmer of a smile.
“I drove here to talk to you,” I started again, wishing,prayingshe’d give me a chance to talk after knowing how far I had come just to see her. “And… I miss you.”
“Okay, but why are youherenow? Did you hit your head over the last few weeks and forget our last conversation?”
My stubborn little vixen crossed her arms in front of her, unwilling to budge even a little but willing to make me work for her forgiveness. It didn’t matter how long it would take. I wasn’t leaving here without it.
“I said some things I shouldn’t have. Things I didn’t mean, and I’m sorry.” And I was. More than she could ever know, but I was willing to try to show her.
“It’s not a good time right now.”
I should’ve known just turning up at her doorstep wouldn’t be the most welcoming option, but given the circumstances, the element of rejection with any other possibility was far greater.
“Yeah, of course.”
I shouldn’t have expected her not to have moved on. There was always a chance she wouldn’t be alone.
I mean, how could I think she’d want to pine over me like I had done for her? I’ll let you get back to…” I didn’t know what to call it, a date? The relationship with the man inside? “Your…” My hand waved toward the door she’d just exited.
I gripped the banister before taking the first couple of heavy steps down the stairs. I’d already decided I wasn’t giving up. I just needed a better plan.
“It’s a work thing, you know. That’s all.” Her sweet voice carried down to me in a quip. “In fact, I can barely stand him. Will you be coming back?”
Her words were rushed and had me freezing in motion on the staircase. The anticipation that was entwined with them gave me hope.
“Always.”
From the top of the landing, I saw her chew her bottom lip. She was weighing up her options. I could tell from her nervous tell. “Give me an hour?” she pressed.
* * *
Sixty minutes.
