I stared at the slick sidewalk as the misty rain made my skin and hair damp. Then I raced back into the building, up the steps, into my apartment and I grabbed my purse.
Then I ran to the corner store and bought a pregnancy test.
Thirty minutes later, my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly to stop them from shaking, I was in my car going back to the grocery store even though half of its goods were stuffed into the cupboards and fridge of my kitchen.
But we hadn’t bought the ingredients to red velvet cake.
And as crazy and uncertain as our worlds were, Tor and I had something to celebrate.
That was, if he came home.
* * *
I was curled up in my pink chair, the purple throw tucked around me, dozing when I heard the key scrape the lock.
My eyes opened, I sat up, putting my feet to the floor, my heart sliding up into my throat when I heard and saw the doorknob turn. I held my breath, my mind trying to recall one of the ways I came up with while making the cake as to how to apologize to Tor when the doorknob turned again.
I tipped my head to the side, staring at it and then heard the key in the lock again.
Uh-oh. Tor’s new lock wasn’t working.
Then I jumped when I heard a banging at the door.
“Cory, babe, open the door!”
Oh crap. It wasn’t Tor. It was Noc.
I froze.
There was more banging and then, “Cora! I see the light coming through the bottom of the door. I know you’re awake. Open up!”
My eyes flew to my DVD player and I saw it was nearly two in the morning. What was he doing there at two in the morning?
“Cora! Fuck me, babe, open the f**kin’ door!” he shouted then more banging.
I stared at the door, my body unmoving.
He was a big guy, just as powerfully built as Tor. My door was crap because my landlord was crap. He could bust down my door, easy.
Shit!
There was silence then he called through the door, “Right, locks changed. I get it. Ice cold.”
Oh shit.
“Do me a favor,” he went on. “Pack my shit in a suitcase and put it in the hall. I’ll be back tomorrow to get it.”
Then there was one, loud thump on the door and then nothing.
I held my breath. When I was about to pass out, I sucked in a deep breath and held that. When I heard nothing, I threw off the blanket, tiptoed (focused on the tasks at hand, I still hadn’t taken off my sandals) to my purse and pulled out my cell.
Tomorrow, should Tor come back (and, God, I hoped he came back), we were going straight back to the mall and getting him a blasted cell phone.
I looked at my phone and saw I had five missed calls while my phone was in my purse at my parents’ house, no voicemails. Checking the history, I saw that four were from Noc, one was from my friend Phoebe.
Phoebe. Holy crap!
It was too late to return Phoebe’s call so I flipped the phone shut, dropped it back in my purse, tiptoed to the kitchen, grabbed the biggest, sharpest knife I could find and I tiptoed back to my living room. I turned off the lamps then settled back in the chair, tossing my throw over me.