I’m living on my own in something bigger than a dorm or a studio apartment, but I’ve got a lot of work to do before I have to show up at my actual job in two days.”
“Hey,” I took his hand in both of mine, and smiled up at him, “I get it. You don’t need to explain. I can’t imagine having all my shit moved to another country and being out of town while it happened only to come home from a wedding to end up being married myself. Then you’ve got to unpack and start a new job. It’s crazy and probably overwhelming as well. Please don’t let me be part of the madness.”
“You’re not part of the madness. At least not yet.” He winked at me. “I don’t want you to think I’m ghosting you if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days.”
Canting my head to the side, I smirked up at him. “I thought you were going to call me tonight as your reward for unpacking some.”
“That’s the plan.” He looked over my shoulder and I watched as his shoulders sagged. “That’s my Uber. Are you sure you’ll be okay here until your car comes?”
Leo pulled me into his arms and gave me probably one of the best hugs I’d ever received. My head fit snuggly between his pecs while one arm spanned from the bottom of my back all the way to the top. His other hand cradled my head as if I was something precious.
“I’ll be fine. It’s sweet you’re worried about me, but you really don’t need to,” I muttered into his chest.
He pulled away and my stomach fell in disappointment, thinking he was going to walk away.
Dropping his bag to the ground, Leo swooped in and laid the mother of all kisses on me. The way his lips moved over mine as if he was taking little sips of me until the next time he saw me, had me swaying on my feet when he eventually pulled back and let me go.
“I’ll talk to you soon. If you have any problems, give me a call, okay?”
“I will. Bye, Leo,” I called as he threw his bags into the trunk and then got inside the waiting car.
As the car drove away, he lifted his hand in goodbye. Tears welled up in my eyes, making it difficult to see his retreating form. Somehow, in the last seventy-two hours, Leo had burrowed himself into my heart.
I only hoped he wouldn’t break it.
Forty minutes later, my Uber driver was dropping me off at my apartment building. I was tired after not sleeping much of the weekend, but knew I needed to drop off my suitcase and head to the grocery store since I had no food in the refrigerator and had to work for the next six days straight.
Pulling my suitcase behind me, I walked down the corridor and hit the elevator button only to see the damn thing was out of order.
Even though I only lived on the second floor, I really didn’t want to have to carry my heavy ass suitcase up a flight of stairs and down the long hallway. If it wasn’t almost certain my suitcase would be stolen by the time I came down for it later, I would have left it downstairs. Instead, I slowly hauled my ass and my suitcase up the flight of stairs, panting and sweaty by the time I reached the top. Luckily, it was a weekday and the middle of the afternoon, so most people in my building were gone, and no one saw me looking like someone who just walked off a horror movie set.
Pulling my keys out of my purse, I started to put my key in the lock when I noticed my door was ajar. How much more could go wrong with my building today? Letting out an annoyed sigh, I opened my door and peeked inside. I hoped I’d maybe forgotten to close and lock my door even though I’d never done that before and all would be fine, but as I stepped further into my apartment, I knew that wasn’t the case.
Leaving my suitcase by the door, I silently inspected my tiny apartment in case someone was still inside. With each room, I found the place torn apart more than the last room. The cushions on my couch were ripped open, and the stuffing was thrown all over the living room, the lamp on my end table