Page 2 of Craving Theodora
A small smile played on their lips. “Yeah, it would.”
“Left your bag upstairs too,” I informed them. “Go get it and go through your room one last time. I put your pillow and lovey in the truck already.”
“We’re really going,” Jess whispered.
“We are. Go. Get your stuff.”
“What about my school books?”
“We’ll mail them back.”
Jesse’s grin grew into a wide smile. They turned and jogged up the stairs as Finn came down them.
“Got everything?”
“There were a couple of baseball cards that fell behind my dresser,” he replied loftily.
“Whoops.” I shrugged. “Go put your bag in the truck. Grab your school bag too.”
“It’s so empty in here,” he replied as he grabbed his school bag and started for the garage. “It looks like a hotel or something.”
I glanced at my watch.
“You got everything,” Jesse said as they came back down the stairs.
“Liar.”
They looked at me suspiciously.
“You get your journal from behind your shelf?”
“Iknewyou knew it was back there.”
“You’re not exactly CIA,” I joked. “Figured you’d want to pack that yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“Put your stuff in the truck,” I ordered. “I’m going to do one last walk-through.”
“Just like that?” they asked, glancing behind them and then around the house.
“Just like that,” I confirmed. “Time to go.”
I jogged up the stairs and checked the rooms one by one. They were as clean as I could get them in the time I had, and we hadn’t left a single personal item behind. They’d take my deposit for sure, since I’d left some furniture behind and they’d charge to dispose of it. Bullshit, since there was no way that they wouldn’t sell it or keep it for the next tenant, but I wasn’t going to dwell.
When I got back downstairs, Jesse and Finn were waiting at the garage door.
“I checked the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom,” Jesse said. “And under the couch and the TV table.”
I nodded. “All set?”
“I am!” Finn said excitedly.
“Then load up,” I ordered.
I locked up the house and made sure all the lights were turned off. When I got to the garage, Jesse was in the front passenger seat, and Finn was in the seat behind mine. I climbed into the truck and hit the garage door opener as I slammed the door. We waited as light filtered in, getting brighter and brighter until we could see the alleyway behind the house in its entirety. Then I fired up the engine and pulled out. I waited only long enough for the garage to close before I pulled away.
The first stop was the management office across town. I’d printed the paperwork to end my rental agreement months before, and I carried that and our keys into the office. Jesse andFinn waited in the car, one of them anxious and watchful, the other excited and bouncing around the backseat.
