“No, Dr. Edenhoff,” she sighed. “I'm so sorry, we haven't heard anything. We saw you out there on the monitors, and your doctor tried to call your brother, but all he got was a voicemail.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Would you like to wait inside? I can still buzz you in,” she offered.
Landon quickly shook his head. He didn't want to see the other patients.
“Nah, thanks.”
“Want me to call a taxi?”
“No. I'll wait a little longer and if he doesn't show up, I'll call for a ride myself.”
“Okay, Dr. Edenhoff. And if you change your mind, you come right back in and I'll make sure you get some breakfast.”
Landon managed to smile at her, then he turned and walked out of the building.
There was a decent driveway to the front gates, and he took his time walking up to them, lighting a cigarette as he went. He only had three left, he realized. If Liam didn't show up before he ran out, he'd kill him.
While he walked along, pulling his luggage behind him, he exhaled smoke and let his mind wander. It was the middle of May. The sun was shining, he was on the coast of California, everything should've been glorious.
And it kinda was, in a way. He'd accomplished everything he'd set out to – he was a changed man, somewhat. He'd always be surly and quiet, it was just his nature. Liam had inherited the personality, Landon the brains. But now he'd learned to embrace it.
He just wished ... he wished he could see her. One last time. Wished she could see what he'd done. He'd actually gone out and gotten help. Asked for it, needed it, wanted it. And it had been given, and not in vain, either.
He was proud of himself, but mostly, he wanted Tori to be proud of him, too.
She would be. I know she would. She was impressed when I saved a life in Bali. Now I've saved my own.
He nodded at the security guard as he skirted around the parking arm. The tour bus he'd seen driving in the distance was now stopped on the side of the road, right at the end of the drive he was on. A boat tour company was about a hundred feet to the right of the clinic and tourists were scrambling over to it, excited to get out on the blue water and soak up the warm sun.
He stared at the side of the bus, greedily sucking on the cigarette till it was nothing but a butt. He leaned over and flicked it into a trash can by the guard stand, then he started pulling out another fresh cigarette. One down, two to go.
While he patted down his pockets, searching for his lighter, the door to the bus closed. The brakes hissed as they were depressed, and the large vehicle started to chug forward. He finally pulled out his Bic and was struggling to strike it as the bus pulled away and rumbled off down the road.
He had one hand cupped around the end of his cigarette, trying to shield the flame from the wind. He glanced at the road to see if any cars were coming, then did a double take. The clinic owned the small parking lot on the other side of the street, and it mostly sat empty, save for a couple of vehicles in the front row. Across from him and two cars down, there was a familiar looking silver sedan.
Landon stood upright, his unlit cigarette clenched between his lips as he stared. A woman was leaning back against the trunk, one arm crossed in front of her waist. The other arm was bent at the elbow and she was holding some sort of small package in her hand. Her hair was bundled up into a messy ball on top of her head, and suddenly, Landon realized he was smiling. He finished lighting his cigarette, then he slowly walked across the road.
“I feel like I've seen this in a movie,” he said as he approached her.
“It's very 'Sixteen Candles',” she agreed, nodding her head. “The bus was a nice touch. Does that make me Jake Ryan?”
“Jesus, if so, then that makes me Samantha Baker.”
Landon came to a stop in front of Tori Bellows. The sun was behind him and she had to squint her eyes to look up at him. She wore a plain white polo shirt and a pair of jeans, probably the most demur clothing he'd ever seen her wear. Her blonde dye job had grown out quite a bit, exposing her brunette roots. She'd lost a little bit of weight, he thought, but was still as full figured as always.
Still so perfect.
For the first time in three months, it felt like his heart started beating again.
“What are you doing here?” he blurted out.
“I heard you needed a ride,” she replied.
“Liam?” he asked.
“Liam,” she nodded.
“He's an asshole,” he chuckled, and she nodded again.
“The absolute worst. C'mon, it's a million degrees out here.”
She popped the trunk, then got behind the steering wheel while he stored his luggage. By the time he got in the passenger seat, she had the air conditioner blasting.
It wasn't until he was adjusting his seat that he realized it was the same car as the one they'd said goodbye in, so many months ago. He ran his hand over the side of the door.
“I can't believe you're here,” he breathed.
“It's just a Corolla,” Tori teased.
“Shut up.”
“I brought you something,” she ignored him and tossed the package she'd been holding into his lap. Only it wasn't a package, he quickly discovered. It was a large stack of mail. Envelopes, held together by two large rubber bands. He glanced at the one on top and frowned as he recognized his own handwriting.
“He gave these to you?” he asked, swallowing thickly. They were the letters he'd written while he'd been in rehab. Every single one, by the look of it.
“Well, they're for me, aren't they? They're addressed to me.”
“Yeah, but I told him not to. I told him you didn't want to be a part of this,” he grumbled. “I was trying to do the right thing.”
“And you did,” Tori assured him. “He didn't give them to me. Ayumi did, about two weeks ago. I guess she found them when she was cleaning their apartment.”
“Great. I'm gonna have a meddling sister-in-law some day,” he groaned.
“There could be worse things,” Tori pointed out, then she started backing out onto the road.
They drove in silence for a long time. Tori seemed completely at ease, with one hand on the wheel and the other propped up against the window. She rested her head against her fist and let a small smile play on her lips.
Landon, however, was pretty sure he was going to throw up. He felt nervous. Confused. A little angry, and a lot hopeful. For her to show up and then cut him off again, that would just be cruel. Surely this had to mean she wanted to be a part of his life, wanted to be his friend.
God, I can't be her fucking friend. I can't be like Liam and just be friends with someone I have feelings for. I'd go insane.
He shook those thoughts away. He'd be willing to take anything she was willing to give him, and that was the bottom line. He'd learned to be grateful for small favors, recently, so he would damn sure be grateful for this moment.
“Thank you,” he broke the silence as they finally entered the suburbs of San Francisco, maybe half an hour after they'd started driving.
“For what?” Tori asked, startled at the sound of his voice.
“For being here. For helping me do this,” he said. She smiled, then reached over and squeezed his hand.
“Anytime, doc.”
TORI WAS ACTING COOL, but really, she was far from it. She hadn't been cool in over two weeks.
Oh, who was she kidding? She hadn't been cool in three months.
Sure, she'd kept herself busy. She'd gone back to work for Liam and back to live at the Twin Estates, but other than those two things, her life was vastly different.
Gone were the drunken pity parties. She volunteered a local heath clinic on the weekends, and two days a week, she took classes in counseling and psychology. And on top of all that, she was helping her best friend plan a wedding, and she was re-learning how to cope with her reality.
She got the feeling that sometimes her friends missed the old Tori. The always-down-for-a-good-time
-girl, the chick who always had a spare second to get a drink and help her buddies sort out their problems.
But she couldn't be that girl anymore. She was growing up and she was moving on. Thankfully, though they may have missed the old her, her friends seemed to embrace the new her, too.
Liam was especially delicate with her, acting like she was broken for a long time. Katya was somewhat similar, tip toeing around her and being overly doting. Thank god for Ayumi, who acted like nothing was different at all. When they'd run into each other the first time, the small, quiet woman had simply shaken her hand and asked how her vacation had been, then she'd shown her how to use the new POS system at the club.
Tori was shocked to discover she liked Ayumi. A lot. She was a woman of few words and she hardly ever laughed, but she was like an oasis of calm in Tori's somewhat hectic life. They were awkward around each other the first couple times, but slowly they developed a friendship. A bond. It helped that in different ways to both of them, the Edenhoff twins were very important. They were able to laugh and cry over the two men, share stories and feelings that no one else would understand.
So when Ayumi had gone out on a limb and risked Liam's wrath by giving Landon's letters to Tori, it hadn't been too much of a surprise. Ayumi was Team Tori, all the way. She'd fully admitted to outright stealing the letters, had warned Tori that neither of the boys would be happy about it, then she'd left her alone.
God, those letters. Some long, some short. Some angry. Some happy. All heartbreaking. She had some of them memorized.
Tor -
Day one sucked dick. Day two was like pissing glass. Day three and I already know which people I'm going to murder. I wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for you.
Landon
That one had made her laugh out loud. It was so Landon, she could actually hear his voice in her head as she read it.
Tor -
Week two. Withdrawal was bad, but this ... this is worse. I feel like a horror movie, those scenes where a man painfully transitions from human to wolf. Fangs growing, bones breaking, skin tearing. Like I'm changing from the inside out and by the end of this, I won't be the same species anymore.
And it scares me. Will you like whatever I turn into? I mean, anything has to be better than a monster, right? But I'm still scared. You knew this monster, you loved this monster, so he couldn't have been all bad.
Landon
Some she hadn't been able to read without breaking down in sobs.
Tor -
I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I never gave you the credit you deserved. I just took and took and took. Even in the end, in the car, I took from you. It isn't fair, because you're the one who deserves everything.
I didn't deserve you, but I'm thankful every day for you. I couldn't do any of this without you, I wouldn't even want to. But knowing you exist somewhere out there, that you're walking around and breathing and smiling, it makes every moment in here worth it.
Thank you for making me a better man.
Landon
A day hadn't gone by without missing him, but the letters changed something. Reminded her of his words from Bali – how he didn't always need help, but sometimes he just wanted it.
Well, Tori didn't need Landon.
But she wanted him.
As she parked the car a couple blocks down from the Twin Estates, Tori snuck a glance over at Landon as he climbed out of his seat. He was wearing a scowl, like always, but it kind of endeared her to him.
Like him, she'd been afraid to find out how much he'd changed. Without drugs or a ton of emotional baggage holding him back, would he even care about her anymore? Would he be the same person, at all? Sure, he'd been an asshole, but she'd grown to like that about him. Wasn't sure she could handle him any other way.
Then, while she was still watching him, he shouted obscenities at a truck that rushed past way too close to their car.
Yup, same ol' Landon, that's for sure.
She laughed to herself and while he got his luggage out of the trunk, she offered to carry the bundle of letters and his messenger bag. Then they locked up and headed back towards building one.
“Liam said I got one of the open apartments,” he started, and she suddenly remembered he didn't know where he lived.
“You're on this side now,” she replied, holding open the door to the building for him, then hurrying around to catch the elevator just as another resident left it.
“At least I'll get a different view, I guess,” he said, following her into the small space.
They got off on the top floor and while he waited, she fumbled with a key ring till she found the correct key and slid it into the lock. After struggling with it for a second, she got it turned and she gently kicked the door open.
“Welcome home, Dr. Edenhoff.”
He laughed as he walked in the door, but then stopped abruptly as he looked around.
“What's going on in here?” he asked, turning in a circle.
Tori bit back a smile, trying hard not to laugh at the confusion and annoyance in his voice. The place was a total construction zone. There was plastic sheeting everywhere and exposed drywall on some walls. Fresh paint coated the ones that were still intact.
“Well,” Tori sighed as she gently sat the letters on his suitcase before setting down his messenger bag. “It was dark in here before, you know? All the windows were at the front and at the very back, hiding in all those rooms. Liam's apartment gets so much light, it's awesome, and it's because he got rid of all those pesky rooms.”
“So he made this apartment into a loft, too?” Landon asked. She smiled to herself and chose to ignore his question.
“It's not a loft. There were two bedrooms at the back, but they turned them into one big master bedroom. They did that first, so it's all finalized,” she explained, and she started walking towards the front of the building. “Now, remember those gorgeous bay windows in Liam's house? Yeah, this apartment has them, too, they were just hiding in a pointless formal dining room. But who really needs a frickin' table? Oh! And instead of those two dinky bathrooms that Liam has, a huge en suite was added to the -”
Landon strode across the room while she was speaking and he roughly grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around. She let out a started squeak, cutting herself off mid-rant.
“I'm sorry,” he growled. “But let's cut the bullshit. Today has been kind of stressful for me, seeing as how this is my first time leaving rehab in three months. What's going on here? Why did Liam decide to remodel right before I came home? He's had three fucking months to get this done.”
Tori wanted to snap back, but instead, she stared at him. Realized he wasn't upset because she was stressing him out, or because of the construction, or anything like that. He was scared. Scared of his new environment, and what it all meant.
“Liam didn't do this remodel,” she spoke slowly.
“And what's that supposed to mean?”
“It means Ayumi wanted to move in with Liam. Brighton wanted to live with her big sister again. I needed a place to live. You needed a place to live,” she explained.
“You're doing this amazing thing where a lot of words are coming out of your mouth, but you're not actually saying shit,” he swore at her.
“I only have one rule,” she kept going, trying to ramble through him. She was surprised at how nervous she was.
“Rule?”
“No smoking.”
“What the fuck?”
“No smoking,” she repeated herself. “In the apartment. I never told you before, but I think it's really disgusting, and if I'm going to live here, then you can't smoke inside.”
There was a pause and she watched a myriad of emotions cross over Landon's face. Confusion. Elation. Wariness. Fear. Doubt. Then resignation.
“Tori,” he groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. “I can't ... I can't be your roommate. I just can't. Seeing you and hearing you and not being able to touch you, when all I think about is touc
hing you ... it'll have me using in like the next couple hours,” he explained. He sounded like he was being tortured. “You said you didn't want anything to do with me, said I needed to do this on my own. So I'm trying to do the right thing here. I'm trying to be the good guy.”
Tori chewed on her bottom lip and stared up at him. At his unkempt hair and five o'clock shadow. His angry glare and firm mouth. In the depths of his eyes, she could see all the problems he was going to have, all the issues he was still carrying with him. All the guilt and pain and anger he was holding onto over what had happened between them.
Fuck it. I never made good decisions before, so why would I start making them now?
“Landon,” she said, speaking slowly. “I don't want to be your roommate, either.”
“Good,” he sighed. “I'll find a hotel room, or see if I can crash -”
“Jesus, are you dense?” she finally snapped. His eyebrows shot up again.
“Excuse me?”
“You think I made Liam renovate this whole place, give it only one bedroom, just so you and I could be roommates?” she snorted. “For a doctor, you're so fucking stupid, Landon.”
“Probably because dealing with you kills brain cells,” he growled at her.
“Well, then you better get used to being dumb, because I signed a year long lease. I'm not going anywhere,” she warned him as she met him glare for glare.
“Hey, I'm the one who's sick and homeless, so I'm not going anywhere,” he countered.
“Good!”
“Great!”
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” she snarled. “You're such a baby, you know that? Just a gigantic whiny baby. God, I thought rehab was supposed to fix people, not make them worse.”
Anyone else, and she knew Landon would've torn their head off. But this was her and this was him and this was them together. He barked out a laugh, then grinned down at her.
“Goddamn, Tor, I missed you.”
“Yeah? Good. Remember how it feels, because if you do anything to fuck this up again, I will leave you so fast, you won't be able -”
Neighborhood Watch Page 23
