The Crazy Girl's Handbook

by DelSheree Gladden

  Chapter Seventeen

  My plan was to leave as small of a footprint at Roman’s house as I possibly could. As I stood in front of his dryer, pulling my clothes out and into a basket, I paused at the sight of one of Sammy’s shirts in my hands. I’d only planned to do my own laundry, since I intended to go back to my apartment when Roman got home…I mean, back.

  He hadn’t complained about my presence once in the last three days, but when he said he needed to go in to work that morning to handle some sort of cement issue, I decided it was time to stop getting in the way. Washing the clothes Lydia had sent James over with Sunday night was a must because they were all I had, as evidenced by the fact that I was still in my pajamas.

  A pile of Sammy’s clothes had been sitting on the laundry room floor, still damp from an attempt to pour his own milk from a brand new jug and spilling it all over himself and the kitchen. I’d thrown his clothes in and went to gather the rest of his dirty laundry from his room without thinking much about it. Now I was thinking. There was something about folding Sammy’s laundry while standing in my pajamas on a Wednesday morning that got to me. You just don’t do other people’s laundry when staying as an uninvited house guest. That was weird, right?

  A small, scary bit of fear lodged itself in my throat. There was something frightening about the level of comfort I felt at being in Roman’s house. It froze me for several long minutes as I tried to decide what to do about it. What could I do, though? The clothes were dry and in need of folding. Maybe if I folded them and put them away, no one would even notice and I could pretend I hadn’t overstepped my role.

  So, I carried the laundry to the living room and started folding. My pile was taken care of quickly enough. I was nearly done with Sammy’s clothes when the door to the garage opened. I heard Roman’s footsteps before I saw him, and froze. While I was trying to figure out what his reaction might be to this scene, he walked into the room, saw me, and frowned.

  “Greenly, you’re supposed to be relaxing, not doing laundry.” He dropped his keys and papers on the kitchen counter and walked over to me. The shirt I was still holding in my hand was tugged out of my grip and tossed back into the basket. “You have a broken wrist. No cleaning up, especially not when you’re here as a guest.”

  “I didn’t have anything clean to wear,” I argued. I should have mentioned that I needed to restock the night before, but I’d fallen asleep early and didn’t want to bother him that morning when he had work things to deal with.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize. I could have done this for you, or taken you back to your apartment to get a few things,” Roman said. His gaze turned back to the basket of clothes, his head tilting to one side as he considered the contents. “Why are you doing Sammy’s laundry, too? Greenly, you’re supposed to be taking it easy.” He shook his head at me.

  I blinked. Was he really only annoyed that I wasn’t letting him do everything for me? “You’re not upset that I washed his clothes?”

  “Upset?” Roman asked. “That you’re up doing chores, maybe, but not that you tried to help out. I should have thrown his clothes in the washer right after he spilled all that milk everywhere. I completely forgot.”

  “Well, the wet clothes were just sitting there…”

  Roman eyed me. “The rest of these weren’t.” Sighing more forcefully than was believable, Roman’s mouth pulled down in a falsely aggravated expression. “I’m supposed to be taking care of you, remember? Not the other way around.”

  “I just…” My phone buzzed against the end table where I’d set it while folding laundry. Sara’s face popped up on the screen and I felt my whole body tense. I lost track of what I’d been discussing with Roman and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hey, girl. How’s the hand?” Sara asked. The question was innocuous enough, but there was an edge to her voice I couldn’t help but pick up on.

  Swallowing slowly, I felt the need to prepare myself for this conversation. “It’s okay. How are you?”

  “Oh, fine. Just, you know, calling to check in, see if you were planning to come back to your apartment any time soon.” Whatever hint of something I’d heard in her voice a few seconds ago, it was growing more noticeable with every word.

  “Why do you ask?”

  Silence, the kind that was chocked full of tension, filled the gap between our words. “Um, well, I was just thinking that maybe you should hang out at your sister’s a little longer.”

  “I’m not at Lydia’s,” I said before thinking through the impact my words might have.

  “Oh?” She said it slowly, interest overcoming her worry for a moment. “Where are you staying then?” There was a pause, then her voice changed completely. “Have you gone from babysitter to live-in nanny? Please tell me you’re staying with the yummy single dad and not holed up at a hotel because Lydia is smothering you with an overdose of help.”

  While I hadn’t forgotten her concern from a moment ago, I felt myself relaxing a little. “His name is Roman.” I could admit I’d completely forgotten Roman was standing right next to me. The mention of his name brought him to my side, arms wrapping around my waist and drawing my gaze up to his face.

  “Everything okay?” he mouthed silently.

  I nodded, then instinctively tilted my head to the side so he had easy access to kiss my temple like he’d developed a habit of doing. He slipped away then, giving me privacy to finish my conversation with Sara.

  “So you are staying with Roman?” Sara asked.

  “Yes, but it’s not a big deal. Lydia and I got into a fight and he didn’t mind having a house guest for a few days.” I felt silly standing there in front of the laundry not doing anything while I talked. Folding with one functional arm and a nearly useless splinted hand had been hard enough. Folding while one-handed and on the phone…impossible. So I sat on the arm of the couch and wondered why Sara had called.

  “Sorry Lydia is driving you nuts, but it sounds like it all worked out in the end, right?”

  The I’m dying to know more leer in her voice made me laugh. There really wasn’t a whole lot to tell. Getting frisky with a broken, uncasted wrist wasn’t really a possibility. My hand felt a lot better and I really only needed a pain pill at night, but I still had to be really careful with it. Yes, I slept with Roman every night, but sleeping had been the extent of the excitement. Stupid foul ball.

  “Thank you for checking up on me,” I told Sara, making it clear we weren’t discussing what had or hadn’t been going on at night. “Why did you ask how long I’d be away from my apartment?”

  Her anxious tone returned immediately. “Look, I don’t want to freak you out or anything, but that creeper has been back. Your neighbors called the cops last night because they saw him skulking around outside their place peeking in the windows.”

  “Around their apartment?” Maybe the first note hadn’t been for me after all.

  “Well, they thought he was targeting them, but when the cops started looking around, they said it looked more like it was your apartment that was being watched. I told them you weren’t around, but they asked for your number. I assume they’ll get in touch soon.” Sara paused. “I told them about the notes you’ve gotten. The detective didn’t know anything about that, but he said he’d check into it today.”

  Feeling lightheaded, I was suddenly glad I was sitting down. “How could they really tell whose apartment it was?”

  “Footprints, I guess. You know how that sprinkler is busted over by your apartment and it’s overwatering everything and making it muddy? I guess there was mud on your porch and some soggy prints around the side where your bedroom windows are.” I couldn’t hear any indication that Sara reacted, but the way she paused and the way I couldn’t hold back the shiver that ran down my spine, I suspected she’d had the same response.

  “I was planning to go home today,” I said quietly.

  Sara didn’t say anything for a moment. Shuffling noises came over the
line as she debated her words. “Look, I don’t want to totally freak you out, but this guy seems like more than a casual weirdo. If Roman doesn’t object, stay a little longer. Let Detective Cordova poke around a little to see if he can figure out what this guy’s deal is before you come home, okay?”

  The more selfish side of me jumped at a reason to stay with Roman and Sammy a little longer. Practicality said I was probably on the verge of wearing out my welcome and I would be fine at home. It was probably just some perv the police would pick up next time he tried to peek in someone’s windows.

  Sara knew me well enough to guess my thoughts. “You’ve got a broken wrist, Greenly. How are you going to defend yourself if this creep were to actually come after you, or God forbid, get into your apartment?” She huffed out a breath, sounding a lot like my sister for a moment. “Look, if you’re not comfortable imposing on your guy, bury the hatchet with Lydia and stay with her a few more days. Play it safe, okay?”

  Sighing, I knew she was right. I was not in the mood to deal with Lydia, but if I had to, I would. “Thanks for calling, Sara. I’ll give it a few more days. Let me know if you find out anything else.”

  “I will, and don’t be surprised if Detective Cordova calls later today.” She sounded relieved, but there was a hint of cheekiness to her voice. I found out why as soon as she started talking again. “If things don’t work out with Roman, Detective Cordova is a doll. I wouldn’t mind him checking up on me if I were still single.”

  Laughing, I said, “You’re shameless. Don’t let Joseph hear you saying things like that.” I was just teasing, but I remembered her saying the last time we talked that Joseph had been out of town. “Is he around? He’s not out of town this week, is he?”

  “Joseph should be here in town all week,” Sara reassured me.

  Joseph was a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company and traveled frequently. He made good money, but Sara was in the middle of graduate work and they stayed in our nice, but slightly rundown building so she could be closer to campus. Campus security usually patrolled the grounds as well, since the university owned the complex even though it was off campus. I thought it had originally been purchased for short term professors and exchange students, then slowly morphed into housing for families and graduate students who didn’t want to live in the dorms.

  Feeling better that Sara wouldn’t be there by herself, I said, “Let me know if you hear anything else, okay?”

  “Yeah, you too. I want to know what the police find out.”

  After promising her I would, I set the phone down and went back to awkwardly folding Sammy’s jeans and t-shirts. I couldn’t manage to do anything with the socks, so I stacked them next to the clothes as I worked and thought.

  I wasn’t sure where Roman had gone. I really hadn’t even considered his absence, my mind was so preoccupied, until he immerged from his office and frowned at me. “I’m beginning to see why Lydia gets so frustrated with you. I thought I told you that you didn’t need to do that.”

  His appearance and voice startled me and I dropped the shirt I’d been folding. “What?” My thoughts were so jumbled I wasn’t sure I’d even heard him properly.

  Teasing melted away and Roman approached me slowly. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah,” I said quickly, “of course.”

  Roman took the shirt I’d just picked back up out of my hands and tossed it in the basket. “I was just teasing. You know that, right?” He reached out and took my non-broken hand in his. “I really do appreciate that you want to help out. You don’t need to, though.”

  “I just feel like I’m imposing, a lot.”

  Crossing my fingers that he would accept my answer without pressing too much, I tried not to let my anxiety show. Roman had already swooped in to save me more than once in the past few weeks. I felt like I would owe him for a long time after this. Whoever was creeping around my apartment building had me on edge, but he wasn’t Roman’s problem. Bringing it up felt like asking him for more help.

  Roman gently pulled me toward him, tugging until I was sitting in his lap. I knew he probably had work to do, but he held me for a few minutes without speaking. “Even though Sammy’s generally a pretty happy kid, he hasn’t been this happy in a long time.” Roman stroked my hair, pulling it back from my face. “And neither have I.” He kissed my hair and breathed in and out slowly. “I’m in no hurry for you to leave, Greenly. If you’re not comfortable staying any longer, I understand that, too. We haven’t been taking the most conventional path, which I’m sure is driving your sister insane, but having you here isn’t an imposition.”

  It was the opening I needed. I hesitated responding. Being near Roman made me happy. Spending time with Sammy made me even happier. Even though I hadn’t known either of them for very long, they felt as much like home as Lydia’s family did. Saying yes to staying right now felt like using Roman, especially when I didn’t want to tell him about what had been going on with the creeper and the notes. The words to say I needed to go home were forming on my lips when another thought occurred to me.

  Even if my apartment had been completely safe, I still wouldn’t have wanted to go home yet.

  Letting the tension ease out of my muscles, I turned to face Roman. “Are you sure you don’t mind me staying a little longer?”

  “A little longer…a lot longer…” He shrugged playfully. “I’m good either way.”

  My breath caught a second before he leaned in to kiss me. It was light, teasing, and tempting, but it left me feeling lightheaded all the same. I felt muddled, my thoughts leaping around my head and defying any sort of order. Was I making a mistake, or was this exactly how all of this should be going? I couldn’t tell anymore.

  “I do need to get a few things from my apartment,” I said, grasping at a reason to put some distance between us so I could think.

  Roman nodded. “I have some work I need to get done, then how about I take you to lunch and we can swing by your place on the way back?”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  I stood, then, using his mention of work as an opening to go take a shower and try to look semi-presentable. Roman watched me walk away, not that I looked back to see him, but I felt his eyes on me. The last few nights at my apartment before the fateful baseball game, I’d moved quickly from my car to my apartment, fearful of eyes on me then. Roman watching me didn’t inspire anxiety. It felt like a caress, an almost physical expression of his desire to be near me. What I sensed at my apartment felt like a threat.

  I half expected that if I asked Roman if I could simply stay, permanently, he wouldn’t tell me no. As appealing as that sounded, I didn’t think I was ready for that quite yet. I didn’t know if he was either. It was difficult to understand what was going on in his head sometimes. What I did know was that I couldn’t hide behind Roman’s generosity forever, and that was beginning to scare me.