by Sherri Hayes
As soon as she stepped over the threshold, he brushed past her as if he owned the place and went straight to her kitchen. She stood stunned for a few seconds. How did he know her place so well? Elizabeth fought with her nerves once again before following him. Of course, he knows the layout of your apartment, she told herself. He lives upstairs. It’s probably the same. That’s all.
He turned, catching her off guard, and she stumbled backward, but he managed to catch her in time. As soon as she was upright, however, he released her as if she were poison, shoving his hands roughly into his pockets.
“If you don’t need anything else then,” he said, already walking to the door.
She watched his retreating back, not understanding what had happened. When he’d touched her it had felt, well, odd. Not unpleasant, just strange. But he’d acted like she’d hurt him. His eyes had held a pain that she didn’t understand. It didn’t make any sense.
She had no idea how long she stood there just looking at the closed door before making herself move. She put all of the groceries away and made her air mattress look as inviting as possible before deciding to go ahead and get ready for bed. It was early, but she had nothing else to do. She didn’t have a television and she had no friends here.
Sinking down into her makeshift bed under her new sheets, she rolled over to watch the last of the sun fall below the horizon outside her bedroom window. She could see the tops of a few trees, but not much else. The view was so different from the view from her old bedroom window where she could see nothing much more than the house next door. One day was behind her. Tomorrow she would find some furniture and after that, look for a job. Even though she didn’t need one thanks to Jared’s careful planning and his life insurance settlement, but it was something she needed for herself.
This would work—her new apartment, her new life. All she had to do was avoid her new neighbor and pray no one figured out who she was. She could do that.
She hoped.
Chris sat in his office two days later, more frustrated than he thought possible. He couldn’t seem to find anything!
Tara, his assistant—former assistant—was always able to find whatever he needed quickly, but for some reason nothing was where he thought it should be. He had to get payroll done today, and it took him three hours before he finally found the paperwork.
He’d offered to get a babysitter for Terry’s wife if she could come in for a few days, but their kids were sick, and she didn’t feel comfortable leaving them. Chris understood, but it didn’t help his situation. There was filing to be done, mail to sort through, messages to return, and the list was growing.
Terry did manage to get the drywall delivered this morning, so that was a move in the right direction. His foreman had even offered to stay late tonight and help him, but he’d turned him down. If the kids were sick, Jessica would need him at home.
No, it was up to him to figure out this—whatever this was—by himself.
By eight o’clock, he’d reached his limit. He was hungry and tired, and the rest would just have to wait until tomorrow. Besides, he had to finish a bid waiting for him at home.
Locking up, he drove home.
He should have known he’d never make it up to his apartment unnoticed. Jan was waiting for him as soon as he came through the front door, her arms folded with a look of disapproval on her face. “I’ll bet you haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”
“No. I haven’t,” he admitted.
Jan shook her head. “I won’t take no for an answer, young man. You look dead on your feet.” She ushered him into her apartment and pointed at her table. “Sit. I’ll bring you some food.” Chris was too tired to argue. He may be thirty-two years old, but Jan, much like his mother, had a way of making him feel like a naughty child, so he did as he was told.
It wasn’t until he got a whiff of what she pulled out of the microwave that he realized he’d missed lunch, too. As soon as the plate was put in front of him, he ate with gusto. Jan was a great cook, even better than his mom, if he was being honest, and she just watched him eat while shaking her head and clicking her tongue.
When he finished, he pushed the plate away. “Thank you, Jan. That was delicious.”
She came over and sat across from him, still not looking all that pleased. “You’re welcome. I promised your mom I’d look after you, but what am I supposed to tell her when you aren’t even eating?”
In truth, Chris felt a little guilty. After his divorce, his mother had been beside herself with worry, begging him to move down to Cincinnati to be closer to them, but his business had just started gaining momentum. Moving in with Jan and Charles had not only worked for him, but eased his mom’s mind as well.
He gave Jan a grateful smile. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
Chris had meant to lighten the mood, and thankfully it did. A slow smile spread across Jan’s face, and she shook her head in amusement before getting up to put his empty plate into the sink. “You’re not too big for me to turn over my knee, Christopher Daniels.”
He laughed deeply and soon Jan was laughing just as hard.
As she wiped tears from her cheeks, she said, “Okay. Maybe you are, but you do need to take care of yourself.”
“I know.”
For the next twenty minutes, he talked about his day and his business, and Jan shared the latest gossip from her bridge club. After the week he’d had, he was enjoying the downtime, but unfortunately he couldn’t put off work forever. When he noticed it was nine o’clock, he knew he had to excuse himself.
“Thanks for the dinner, Jan, but I really have to be going.”
“Do you think you could find the time this weekend to look at the kitchen sink on the second floor? Elizabeth said the water is slow to drain.”
At the mention of the new tenant’s name, Chris felt a lead weight in his stomach. He’d been doing his best to forget about her with the chestnut brown hair and curves that made his fingers itch no matter how much she’d tried to cover them. Why did it have to be her apartment and why so soon? She’d just moved in.
“Sure. I’ll make some time tomorrow.”
They said goodnight, and he headed up the stairs.
As he passed Elizabeth’s door, he cursed whatever had brought her into his life. He knew what he’d felt when he’d seen her, touched her, how his body had responded, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t need the complication of a woman again. Carol had taught him that much.
He liked being single. There was no one telling him all the things he did wrong or acting as if she loved him when in reality she was screwing his best friend. He didn’t want or need a woman. She was just someone living in the same building, and she would stay that way. No matter what his body was telling him.
Elizabeth was feeling pretty pleased with herself. In the last two days, she’d filled her place with furniture. Rush delivery had cost her a little more, but it was worth it. The space was really feeling like hers now.
There were splashes of color everywhere. Her curtains were a deep red, which matched the rug she’d found for the living room. Bowls and flowers in shades of yellow and blue accented the room. The colors made her feel alive, and she never wanted to be without them again.
The only thing not yet delivered was her bed, and that was coming today. She wasn’t a picky person, but sleeping on an air mattress wasn’t something she wanted to repeat in the near future. Every time she moved, it made a squeaking noise that would wake her up.
It was Saturday, so she took her time making a big breakfast for herself. Cooking relaxed her. There was just something satisfying about it, and it reminded her of her mom.
As she washed out a dirty bowl, she remembered telling Jan about the slow drain. It wasn’t anything major yet, but it could turn into something more serious, and she wanted to catch it quickly.
There was a knock on the door. Her bed! A smile lit her face. The delivery guys hadn’t called, but maybe Jan had let them in.
&nb
sp; She rushed to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it, but it wasn’t the men with her new bed staring back at her. It was her upstairs neighbor. He was just as big as she remembered from their first encounter, but instead of the refined dress shirt and slacks, he was now dressed in faded blue jeans and a black T-shirt that pulled tight against his chest. He’d never bothered to introduce himself, but she’d heard Jan refer to him as Chris.
Without thinking, she took a step back, and he must have taken her action as an invitation because he pushed his way into her home. She stayed where she was, unsure of what to do as he walked into her kitchen, stopped, and turned to face her.
“Jan said your sink needs to be fixed.”
That was when she noticed his tool belt, and she tried to push away her fear. “Y-yes. She said she’d get someone to fix it,” she whispered feebly.
“And here I am.” He sounded impatient.
She was at a loss. When Jan had told her she’d get someone, Elizabeth had assumed a plumber would be called. Why would her upstairs neighbor be here to fix her sink? “I-I just thought—”
“Look, I don’t have all day. Do you want your sink fixed or not?”
All she could do was nod. The moment Chris turned his back, she practically ran into the living room. She didn’t feel comfortable being in the same room with him and his tools, but didn’t think it was a good idea to leave him alone, either. This way she could still see him, but he was far enough away that she didn’t feel crowded. Plus, there were things she could easily use as weapons if she needed them.
She picked up a book and pretended to read. Over the top it, she watched as he took different tools from his belt. She relaxed a little. He seemed to know what he was doing, and if he was helping her, he couldn’t be all that bad, right?
It’s not like you could stop him if he wanted to hurt you anyway.
Chris was trying very hard to keep his mind on what he was doing. What in the world had that woman been thinking opening the door looking like that? Her hair looked like she’d just taken a tumble between the sheets, and even though she’d thrown a loose-fitting shirt over her yoga pants, it didn’t lessen the effect. She still drove him crazy.
All he wanted to do was fix this drain of hers and get as far away from here as possible. He didn’t need this type of distraction, especially from his neighbor. His body was just going to have to learn to live with denial because there was no way he was getting involved with Elizabeth Marshall. Normally he would work from home on Saturday, but today he was willing to make an exception. As soon as this was done, he would grab his things and leave.
Immediately.
Just as he was finishing up, there was a knock at the door and Elizabeth padded barefoot toward the door. He noticed that she keep sneaking furtive looks at him.
What? Does she think I’m going to jump her or something? He quickly placed a wrench back in his belt before walking toward the door where she was now standing with two men carrying what looked to be a headboard.
Great! He thought. All I need are more visuals.
He knew he had to get out of there. “Your drain’s fixed,” he snapped, and her eyes widened in response. He didn’t like it when she looked at him like that. It made her appear more vulnerable, innocent. “Just let Jan know if you have any more problems,” he said in a softer tone.
Her posture didn’t relax, and he felt his anger surge.
What is with this woman? Whatever it was, he wasn’t sticking around to find out. He wasn’t getting sucked in. As he pushed his way through the men and out the door, he got a look at the queen-size mattress propped against the stairs and cursed as he nearly ripped his door off its hinges before slamming it shut behind him.
Elizabeth was stunned when Chris stormed out of her apartment. She didn’t understand him. She wondered if he was always this angry or if it was just her. One of the deliverymen caught her attention, and she showed him where her bedroom was. It felt odd having strange men in her home. Even though she was alone with the delivery men, her nerves were more on edge with Chris gone than with him there, which made no sense at all since she was more afraid of Chris.
She went back into the living room to wait. Back near her weapons.
The men weren’t long, thankfully. They knew what they were doing and had her bed together in no time. She saw them out the door and then watched from the living room window as they walked to their delivery truck and drove away.
Her shoulders relaxed. They were gone. She could breathe. Then she heard a door open and movement on the stairs. She tensed again until she realized the sound was moving away from her. Chris must be leaving.
She stayed by the window and watched him walk out to his black pickup truck. From up here he didn’t seem so intimidating. It didn’t look like he could crush her with his little finger. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but he was so much bigger than Jared.
Her fear, she decided, was a combination of the fact that he looked like he could bench-press her and his angry demeanor when he was around her. That he also lived upstairs didn’t help matters.
The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Even though Jan seemed to like him and she couldn’t see the older woman letting a violent man live here, she was still unsure. It was probably irrational, but emotions weren’t always logical.
Her reaction to him was getting to her. She didn’t want to be scared all the time.
In a split-second decision, she grabbed her keys and ran downstairs to Jan’s apartment. Maybe if she found out more about Chris, she’d feel better. Besides, she needed to thank her landlady for getting her sink fixed so quickly.
When Jan came to the door, she seemed surprised to see Elizabeth. “Well, hello, dear. Is everything all right?”
“Oh, yes.” Elizabeth quickly assured her. “I just . . .” She paused. “I just wanted to thank you for getting my sink fixed so quickly.”
“Chris stopped by then?”
“Yes.” Although part of her reasoning for coming down here had been to learn more about Chris, she was still uncomfortable talking about him for some reason. She felt like she was snooping on her neighbor, but that was the point, wasn’t it? How was she going to find out about him if she didn’t ask?
They stood there for a few awkward seconds. Elizabeth started to rethink her plan and was just about to excuse herself when Jan said, “Would you like to come in?”
“Yes, please,” she said with a sigh of relief.
Jan’s apartment looked a lot more lived-in than hers did. It was still the same basic setup, but the furniture was older and little touches gave the place a warm, welcoming feel. She only hoped that one day her place would feel the same way.
She sat at Jan’s table with a glass of ice tea in front of her. “How are you liking your apartment? Are you getting settled in?”
“Yes, thank you. All my furniture was delivered, so it’s starting to feel like home.”
“That always helps,” Jan said, taking a sip of tea. “Hard to feel truly comfortable in an empty place.”
It was quiet as they both just sat there. It’s now or never, she thought. “Has . . . Chris”—it seems odd saying his name out loud for some reason—“lived here long?”
Jan looked up and there was an odd expression on her face. “About three years.”
She nodded when Jan didn’t go on. It didn’t seem like she was going to find out much this way.
“You’re from Columbus, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” She gulped as the cold liquid slid down her throat a little too fast.
Jan didn’t seem to notice her reaction. “It’s a nice city. I have some friends there I visit from time to time.”
Elizabeth froze. Did Jan know?
But Jan eased her worries when she went on to talk about her last visit to the capital city. “We even went to see a hockey game!” she exclaimed, laughing. “If that isn’t an excuse for grown men to fight, I don’t know what is.”
Jared hadn�
�t liked hockey. He’d preferred golf. Personally, she found it to be the most boring sport imaginable, but as with everything else in her past life, she hadn’t been given much of a say.
“So what did you do back home?” Jan asked.
Elizabeth didn’t answer right away. Although it wasn’t unheard of for a woman to not work outside of the home, since she had no children it wasn’t common either. Most women her age held a job of some sort. She wondered how Jan would react to her lack of employment over the last five years. “Community work mostly. My husband and I were heavily involved in fundraising for the local university.”
“Are you married then, dear?”
“No.”
Thankfully, when she didn’t elaborate, Jan didn’t press, but instead steered the conversation to some volunteer work she did at the local senior center.
As they continued talking, Elizabeth realized she was enjoying herself. The time flew by and before she knew it, it was after five. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m keeping you from dinner.”
“Don’t apologize. If I’d wanted to kick you out, I would have.” She winked. “Besides, I like having company. Chris is much too busy these days to come visit much.”
“Oh, sorry.” She didn’t know why she was apologizing so much, but it just felt right.
Jan laughed and shook her head. “Do you have plans for tomorrow?”
“Uh . . . no.”
“Good,” Jan said as she began taking, what Elizabeth soon realized were leftovers, out of the refrigerator. “You can come have dinner with us. We eat at two,” she said, popping the first plate into the microwave. “It’s nothing fancy, just come hungry. I put out quite a spread on Sundays. It’s always more than Chris and I can polish off on our own.”
She didn’t know how to respond but didn’t feel like she could say no, considering how hospitable Jan had been. Plus, wasn’t learning about Chris the whole point of coming down here in the first place?
