Page 59 of One Last Thing Before You Go

The serious tone of her voice puts me on high alert, pulling me out of my fog. Is she here because she’s in trouble? Is that why she’s here this late at night?

“Everything okay?”

“Yes. Can you please open your eyes and let me in before I lose my nerve, you weirdo?”

I steel myself and open one eye with caution, which makes her laugh. “C’mon, silly.” She shoves me lightly and pushes through into my apartment, leaving me awestruck at the door. Was that… flirty? Or did I imagine it?

I close the door behind me, pulse racing, as she takes the apartment in.

“It looks so different now,” she breathes, brown eyes scanning the apartment. “Total day-to-night transformation. In the best possible way.”

“Yeah?” I smile, eating up her compliment.

“Absolutely,” she nods, grinning back at me. “Gone are the rebinding supplies and the stacks of books. Gone is the dust and the clutter. Walter’s apartment went from near-unlivable conditions to being neat and almost, dare I say, homey.” She gasps, her eyes falling on the corner of the loft where my bed is. “You even have an accent rug and blanket!” she points out, pleasantly surprised.

I bark out a laugh. “I found them hidden in the back of a closet, where I moved the rest of the books to. Then I threw some other random shit in boxes and stuffed them into the front closet. It’s all squished in there, ready to blow, but I made it work.”

“So you went through all his stuff?”

“Not yet. Haven’t had the time,” I lie. For some reason, I haven’t been able to bring myself to sift through Walter’s things. Every time I sit down to try, I get this horrible pit in my stomach, filling me with the need to walk away. Eventually, I decided to pack his things up and hide them in the front closet. Outta sight, outta mind.

“I can help you. If you want.” The corners of her lips quirk up.

“Yeah?” It would be nice to have someone there to help me go through it.

“Yeah. Definitely.” Lottie nods. “It must be hard. To deal with this part all on your own. I’d like to help, if I can.”

“You cold?” I ask when I watch her rub her arms gently.

“Shoot, I must’ve left my coat in the cab.”

I run over to the hook by the door before she has a chance to respond and gently place my leather jacket over her shoulders, ignoring the way seeing her wearing it makes me feel (i.e. like a caveman. Mine, I think).

She burrows deeper into my jacket. I think I catch her putting her nose to it, inhaling its scent, but it’s probably just wishful thinking.

“Thank you. For the jacket.” Her smile is soft, and I can tell there’s quite a bit of hesitation.

I almost beg her to keep it, wanting to see her wear it every day for the rest of my life. “No worries.”

An awkward silence falls over us as we just stare at each other. I try to ignore the fact that those high heels have brought her lips at least three inches closer to mine, but it’s a little difficult to do when she’s standing right there, looking so good, smelling of caramel. Mouthwatering.

“So, not that I mind—because I really, really don’t—but what exactly is so urgent that it brought you to my place at one A.M? I know my talent for décor wasn’t it.”

She laughs softly before worrying her lower lip with her teeth. I watch her cheeks blush as she looks down at her feet, wrapping my jacket tighter around herself. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Yeah, I figured you weren’t here to play a couple of rounds of backgammon.”

“Backgammon.” She smiles.

I shrug. “First thing that popped into my head.”

She takes a deep breath before meeting my eyes again. “God, you’re going to hate me,” she whispers. My stomach rolls, every possible scenario—from the best to the worst—running through my mind.

“Not possible. Ever. Just… tell me.”

She sighs. “I know… I know we talked about this multiple times. About us being friends and being professionals…” She pauses, wanting to torture me, apparently.

“Yeah?” My heart beats so fast it could sign up to race in Formula 1. But I try like hell to play it cool because if there’s even the slightest chance that this is headed where I think it’s heading…