Addicted to You - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,12
room with me. We have a divider, but I’ll have to walk through your space to get to the door. I’m sorry.”
He stared at her. They were sharing a bedroom? It was information the apartment-matching office had failed to share with him. The word lucky reverberated.
“Cat got your tongue?” she asked, laughing. “It’s always a shock. Hopefully, if it’s a problem for you, something else will open in the lottery, either a girl room for me or another guy room for you. Until then, I’m easy to live with; I don’t leave my clothes all over and never play music or watch television. You won’t find rent like this anywhere else in the city.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” he said uncertainly. “Can I see the room?”
She took him down a narrow hallway, and in a clean space with a partial wall he saw a single bed, neatly made up, with floor-to-ceiling shelving and a desk and chair.
“This is your half,” she said. “We can string up a curtain here so you have privacy when I come through. I won’t be around that much, to tell you the truth. I’m a second-year surgical resident and they’re kicking my ass.”
Sitting on the bed, he bounced up and down a bit, happy that it was firm.
“My former roommate replaced the mattress last year, so at least you know that’s bug-free.”
“Is it really a problem?” he asked, grimacing.
“Big problem. Mice, too. We have to be really careful about crumbs and clean up after meals, etcetera. No food in the bedrooms.”
“You sound like my mother,” he replied, checking her out again. He’d put up with mice and bugs to sleep in the same room with her.
“Your mother was right. Anyway, the bathroom is an issue. There’s only one for the four of us. Since we’re all in the OR, we shower at the hospital when we can. I’ve been showering there except in emergencies, and there’s abundant hot water, unlike here.”
“What year are the other two roommates?”
“Jon’s a third year and Nate’s first year, like you. Both are surgical residents, like me.”
“Thanks. I’ll take the room,” he said. Where else would he go? “I guess I’ll unpack my car.”
With his mind swirling at everything, he thought about Caroline as he went down the three flights of stairs to the street to start unpacking his car. She was so poised and self-confident; that was the first thing he noticed about her after realizing how attracted to her he was. She immediately put him at ease, so he didn’t stutter or put his foot in his mouth one time with her.
Down on the street, he looked at the contents of his trunk and back seat with dismay. He had to haul all his belongings up to the apartment. Then she appeared at the door.
“You didn’t think I’d let you lug all this crap up three flights of stairs, did you? There’s a dumbwaiter you can use,” Caroline said. “It doesn’t work half the time, so we save it for just this sort of thing.”
“What a relief,” he replied.
Both with arms full of items, she led him to where the elevator entrance was. He was able to load it up twice and get everything up to the apartment. Within the hour, the space was his.
“Do you want to have dinner with me?” she asked when he finally sat down to take a break.
“Dinner sounds great. Do you mind if we order in? I’m beat.”
“Take out it is. Here are the menus for the best places. What do you like?”
“Everything,” he said, trying not to lick his lips as he stared at her.
“I’m in the mood for Mexican if you’re okay with that.”
“Mexican’s good. I live thirty minutes from the border.”
“I hope our Mexican measures up.”
“I’m sure it will be fine. I really would kill for a beer. Can you get that delivered, too?”
“Ha, unfortunately, no. But we do have beer here, and tomorrow if you want to grocery shop, you can replace it.”
Settling into his new life in San Francisco was relatively painless thanks to Caroline, and by the end of the weekend, she’d captured Ryan’s heart.
Standing on the street, he got out his cell phone and called Eddie Page on Monday after orientation.
“How can you be in love, dude? You just met the chick.”
“Ha! I knew I could count on you to keep it real. Anyway, I just wanted you to know, get ready. I might ask her to marry me before the year is up.”
“Based