Page 58 of You'll Love it Here

“Well... Good night,” I murmur.

“Good night.”

After the door clicks behind him, I tiptoe into my room. Already, without Sami here, the pounding in my head feels heavier. I fall straight into bed, clutching the NyQuil bottle like a teddy bear.

I haven’t felt this awful in ages.

I haven’t had a day this good in even longer.

In bed, my mind wanders to work, to my silent group chat, to Norm in IT.

And then bouncing back to Sami. To Abu, to Jane, to Lana.

Back to Sami. Always.

How he looked at me right before we maybe would’ve kissed.

And how he’ll look at me when this place sells.

Interstitial

Subject: Confidential

Hi Mona,

I appreciate you submitting the electrical reports over the weekend. Ahead of the viewings I’m going to start scheduling, looks like we will be needing a few more pictures. Don’t worry about aesthetics, the client just wanted to view these areas ahead of time (list attached).

If you could get me those today it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lana

Undercovers 2.0

It’s been three days since my sick day with Sami, and I’m finally back to feeling like myself by Monday morning. We’ve been texting all weekend, and yesterday Abu came by to take Ernest from me.

The only outside contact beyond that was the email from Lana that came first thing this morning. I reread it in the elevator, mentally running through all the areas I’m to take photos of. The attachment read:

Lobby (from each corner of room for full scale and view)

Front of building from across the street

Basement fuse box

Parkade

Storage area

The elevator reaches the main floor with a jolt and a ding. The smell of stewed cabbage carries through the lobby today—it must be cabbage and sausage night at Fighting Couple’s place—and a weird kind of nostalgia tugs at me. I’ve become so familiar with the rotating smells, the little moldings on the ceilings, the whiteboard that I wrote on that day after my breakdown (that seems so long ago now). Without Irene leaving writing on it, someone has added a drawing of Ernest and Irene with a caption:Get Well Soon!I note that Sami’s added his petition to the wall next to the whiteboard.

I send a new text to Sami:

Me:I’m back on my feet. Saw you running with Ernest this morning.

Sami:Come by the diner when you can!

I swipe his message away and start on my task of capturing the lobby from all corners. I’m taking my third shot, which really seems to be a picture of the gross chair—