by Bria Quinlan
“So we’re going to the furniture store to get cozy stuff?” Because I wasn’t really sure what that meant.
I glanced around my apartment and realized I’d never decorated it. It was a conglomeration of things picked up here, given to me there, moved from home to dorm to here, and yard sale stuff.
I pictured Connor at yard sales. I literally laughed out loud and he scowled at me as if I was laughing at him. Which made me laugh harder.
“Have you ever gone yard saling?”
“Yard saling?” Connor glanced toward the window, then back at me. “Don’t those happen in the summer?”
“Yes, but I was just wondering if you had been to a yard sale?”
“Why would I go to yard sale?”
“I don’t know.” That really didn’t exactly explain my question so just kinda left it there.
“Okay.” Connor crossed his arms and watched me shut my works stuff down. “Can we going to the furniture store?”
“Sure.” I thought of my leave-the-house routine, and figured I could be ready in fifteen minutes. I had this down to a science. “Just let me change and we can take off.”
Connor pulled out his phone and texted someone, checked something, then nodded. I wanted to ask him why he had to text someone in the middle of our conversation but he was acting weird enough already so I probably wouldn’t understand whatever answer he came up with at this point.
“Great. Take your time.” Connor settled into The Chair with another one of his sports magazines that had magically been delivered to my house for a couple weeks now. He looked way too comfortable.
Maybe redoing his apartment would mean his mail would start going there again.
A girl could only hope.
We took a cab out to the furniture store, Connor asking lots of decorating questions as we went. It had gotten to the point where even the cabbie was chiming in.
Once we arrived, we wandered into the lobby and everything stalled out. Connor glanced around as if he expected all the answers to be right there in the entryway.
After a moment he suddenly got a relieved look on his face, his shoulders dropping into a relaxed stance, as he glanced past me.
“Oh look! There’s Nick.” Connor brushed by me, hand outreached to shake Nick’s hand.
Nick.
Just happened to be in the suburbs.
At the same furniture store that we were.
On a random Thursday.
“Hailey, hi.” He smiled a bit nervous. At least one of them knew you didn’t bring your assistant on a date. “So, you guys furniture shopping?”
I glanced between them, part of me not wanting to injure the bromanceness of the moment, but yeah…no.
“Okay. What’s up?”
The guys glanced at one another, each obviously trying to have some type of silent conversation and failing miserably.
Finally, Nick grinned and stepped back. “I’m just the PA.”
“Right.” Connor nodded. “So you should take the hit.”
“I’m not taking the hit for this.” Nick shook his head and stepped back again. He was going to be outside soon if they kept this up.
“No one’s taking a hit.” I gave them what I thought was hopefully a reassuring smile. “I just want to know what’s going on.”
“I told you this was a horrible idea.” Nick turned his attention on me and grinned his skater boy grin.
“I thought,” Connor began, looking like he was suddenly rethinking whatever the thought had been, “if Nick came with us then we could just focus on the redecorating and Nick could deal with the details.”
I watched him struggle with if this was a good idea or not. It’s like he’d completely lost touch with what it was like to be a normal person.
Nick just stood there grinning at me.
“You really have zero idea how to be a normal guy, do you?”
He stood there looking completely sheepish. It was—sadly—a bit endearing.
“Fine.” We were already here and figuring out how Connor’s brain worked right now wasn’t going to happen. “But when this is over you have to buy Nick lunch too.”
“Bonus.” Nick opened up his iPad and pointed toward the living room sets. “I thought we could start with the main room and move on from there.”
And that’s how date afternoon with my man turned into a guided tour of home furnishings with his assistant.
16
I got home completely exhausted from the day.
I felt bad admitting I was glad to be alone, but I was kicking into high-introvert mode by the end of the shopping spree. Luckily Connor asked Nick about his iPad and when he found out that it was his own—and old—Connor paid for my cab and dragged Nick to the mall to buy him one “for work.”
I doubted I’d see them for hours since the mall also was the place where video games lived.
Collapsing back on the couch, I put my feet up wondering what the day had been about.
We didn’t just shop for furniture. We looked at paint colors and style choices and window treatments. The only way he’d need all this was if he was gutting his entire condo and starting from scratch.
That seemed extreme even for Connor.
So, with my apartment to myself again, I did what any girl would do. Took a bowl, scooped out some chocolate ice cream, and started the next chapter of my new book.
Maybe not every girl wants to spend time writing a book—otherwise known as banging her head against the wall—but for me it was the perfect night. Or rather, the perfect night on my own.
I’d just started to get hungry when the phone rang. Glancing at the clock I couldn’t believe that it was already 7 p.m. Where had the afternoon disappeared to?
“Hello?” I answered, a little surprised that Connor had changed the ring tone again already
It was now Mmmbop, because he said no one could frown to Mmmbop. There was a lot more noise than I’d expected wherever he was.
“Where are you?” I shouted to make up for the background noise.
“Nick and I are going to grab some food. And then crash at my place and play Madden NFL.” He drew it out as if it were a question. But I was all in with this idea.
“No problem.” That meant Thai delivery! And an action flick while reading.
Most of that was okay, but Connor always watched me more than the movie when I read and watched at the same time.
Non-book people. They just didn’t get it.
“I just wanted to let you know I wouldn’t be home tonight.” He coughed a bit and then backtracked. “I mean, to your place.”
So, that was interesting. But not surprising.
“And, you know, Nick’s here,” he finished.
As if I wasn’t already getting used to Nick being around. But it would be nice to own my TV for the night instead of watching them shoot things.
Part of me needed more time for myself. My condo was so tiny that it felt cramped with just me in it. When you added a larger than life athlete to the mix—let alone his new bromance buddy—it felt like a closet.
I couldn’t help but be counting down the days till Connor would be out of reach literally. With spring training hovering in the future, not to mention baseball being the most travel-extensive of the major sports, I knew we were on borrowed time.
But I also knew I needed me-time and Connor needed guy-time, so I pushed the guilt aside at feeling relieved for the silence.
“You guys have fun.” I was already pulling out the Thai delivery menu. “I’ll just get some writing in and sleep with the blanket actually on me instead of kicked off the bed by a certain heat-producing blanket hater.”
“Blankets are meant to keep you warm when I’m not there.” I heard what I could only assume was Nick snorting behind him. “Enjoy your blanket.”
I almost said Enjoy your bro-date but then thought better of it at the last second.
Three hours later I was stuffed, had watched a great indie movie online, and finished making plot notes for
the next day.
Yup.
Done with everything.
Just hanging out.
All alone.
Just me.
Okay. I was bored. Bored out of my mind. Usually this was about the time Connor called to tell me goodnight if he wasn’t here.
I needed to reprogram myself for when that wasn’t possible.
I picked up the phone and figured Jenna was a safe bet since her boyfriend, Ben, was still in London waiting for her to come to her senses and use the open-ended ticket he’d given her before he left.
She picked up on the first ring, hopefully a sign she was just sitting around waiting to talk to someone too.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Oh, not much. Just thought I’d call and see what you were up to.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. Probably because neither of us were phone people and she was wondering if aliens had abducted me and left a clone in my place who didn’t know this.
“I’m at The Brew.” The phone got muffled as she shouted to someone It’s Hailey.
I glanced at the clock wondering what she was doing there this late. Abby should have closed by now. Unless Emily was there and something horrible had happened. Like she’d reprogrammed the music to something overtly cheerful.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, trying not to panic.
“Yeah. Abby’s just closing up so we can go.”
Wait. Jenna was going out with Abby?
“Where are you guys going?” Because I wasn’t invited. No one invited me.
“Just to a late movie.” She named an over-the-top sappy thing where everyone probably died in the end of some obscure disease that had actually been extinct for decades.
“Oh.”
“You’re more than welcome to join us.” I could hear the laughter in her voice. She knew I wasn’t getting out of pajama pants to go watch that.
“No. That’s okay. I’ll just hang here.” Far, far away from sappy mush.
Jenna laughed and I heard Abby in the background say something that had to be mocking.
“Well, have a good time.” Because what else was I supposed to say. “Bring tissues.”
“Already got them. They’re hiding the contraband M&M’s.”
We hung up after making plans to work together the next day and I went back to my perfect night alone.
Maybe there was something worth watching on… I glanced at the TV and wondered why we’d never gotten that puppy.
17
I was at The Brew working when the FaceTime calls started.
“Hails, which do you find a more relaxing shade of seafoam?” Connor held up two shirts.
“Why do you know what seafoam looks like and why do I need to feel relaxed when you’re wearing this specific shirt?” Because I was going to have to call this what it was: Weird.
“What if it wasn’t a shirt?”
“Does this have anything to do with all the redecorating going on at your place?” Because if it didn’t, I was going to have to ask Becca if Connor’s outfits were Becca-approved.
“You got me.” My boyfriend, stealth decorator. “So, which one?”
I’m not sure why this was so important, but I figured if he didn’t want to make the decisions himself, I’d just pick one.
“I like the softer one on the right.”
“Great. That’s what Nick said too.”
I wasn’t even going to ask why he’d called Nick first, but then Nick’s face popped into the screen. “Right?” he asked. “The other one has too much blue in it.”
“Yeah. Exactly.” Or, whatever.
Connor pushed Nick out of the way, told me to have fun working, and signed off.
Because, that was pretty much par for the course right now in how odd things were.
“What was that all about?” Abby watched me toss my phone in my bag and gave it the side eye.
“I have no idea. Connor is on a redecorating kick, but he wants my opinion on everything.”
“Not a surprise. You heard what he thought of that decorator he hired a few years ago. And—” She abruptly turned and headed back to the kitchen.
“Wait.” I all but shouted to get her attention. “And what?”
“Nothing. How’s your muffin?” she asked, a smile that could only be seen as a benevolent shining on me.
“It’s perfect. You know that. Your muffins are always perfect.”
“I used a little extra cinnamon to give it a bit of a boost.”
“Yup. Cinnamon. Tastes great.” I stood and followed her to the kitchen. “And, what?”
“Well, I was just thinking…” Abby looked like I’d put her on a torture device and was threatening her life and limb. “Maybe he’s going to ask you to move into his place?”
It was a question, but I was still suspicious.
Abby and Connor were oddly tight. I have no idea why, but they’d taken to each other almost immediately.
“Did he tell you that?” That would confuse the marriage issue even more. I still couldn’t figure out what was going on with him, but with all these changes, I was still trying to wait him out.
Not to mention, waiting myself out as I made sure I knew what I wanted.
I knew I wanted to marry Connor. He was it for me. Period. But now I needed to decide if I wanted to marry him right now.
“No. But—has everyone been acting weird lately?” she asked, a hushed tone as if she was afraid someone would hear us.
“Omgosh, yes. Seriously. Everyone’s been super weird. And everything keeps changing.”
“Everything.” She glanced toward the kitchen door, her usual disdain not quite as apparent.
“Right? Every time I turn around, someone is changing something.”
“Totally.” Abby sat down across from me. “And it makes it all like, well, are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Or do you just want everything your way and didn’t see the need to ask?”
“Yeah.”
We both sat there, nodding to ourselves. It took me a second to really process what Abby had just said.
“No one wants to get rid of you.” I was surprised how upset it made me. Abby was one of us. “For real. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Yeah. Whatever.” She shrugged.
“No. Seriously. Even if you do decide to go away for college, this is home.” She needed to know. I needed her to know. “You come back here. You’re one of us.”
Abby stared at me, a long, hard to read look I couldn’t find words to identify. I struggled against the silence knowing she wasn’t someone who put more trust in more words.
After a moment, she shrugged again, a tiny, barely-there smile touching her lips and said, “Okay.”
“Right. Okay.”
And that was going to have to be that.
I mean, what more could life throw at me this month? The change machine had to be coming to an end.
18
Amazingly, I was adjusting to the changes quicker than expected.
I got home from the gym and was happy to have the foyer with the dark windows. Happier still to have Security Dan there to open the door for me so I didn’t have to fumble around finding my keys.
It might be annoying the way Marjory manipulated Connor into paying for all these upgrades, but it was definitely nice to have them.
I got into the main building and noticed a bunch of toolboxes and buildery stuff lining the wall.
At this point I wasn’t above asking because my suspicion level was pretty darn high.
“Dan?”
“Hailey, ma’am. How was your workout?”
“Butt kicking.”
“I bet. Connor told me you’re pretty hardcore in the boxing room.”
A happy little flush rushed over me.
The first time Connor had shown up at my gym I’d been annoyed at him. And myself. But he saw my daily workout as middle ground for us. He called me athletic and I was so pleased I for
gave him for pretty much everything ever.
“So, what’s up with all the tools and stuff?” I asked it in the sweetest, nicest voice I could come up with. It wasn’t Security Dan’s fault that everyone else had gone insane.
“Those?” Talk about false innocence. “The guy who bought the condo from Mrs. Jansen is redoing it.”
Oh. Well, that makes sense. Mrs. Jansen is lovely, but her condo definitely screamed 1965. She’d lived here since she was a newlywed, and apparently somewhere along the line the condo stopped matching the date outside the building.
I was surprised it sold so fast since the other condo on the top floor had sat empty for a month.
“They’re trying to keep to midday hours for the loud stuff, but they’re going to be here seven days a week. They’ll be using the back stairs for most things so you won’t have to deal with this very often.”
I laughed at the idea that tools sitting out of the way was something I’d have to deal with. Security Dan was way too used to dealing with rich people.
And Marjory.
I shuddered thinking of how much worse Marjory would be with money.
“Thanks, Dan.” I headed toward the stairs, happy to know that one change going on around me was normal. “Have a great afternoon.”
Maybe it was time for something normal. Maybe a nice girls’ night in.
Just me, my girls, margaritas, maybe a good movie.
It had been a while and change was great, but tradition was important.
I headed upstairs and typed up an email for Jenna, Kasey, and Jayne. Then I added Abby. Then I thought about it and added Sarah.
Sarah was a few years older and probably had her own group of girlfriends, but what the heck. If we’re going with tradition and change, we might as well do it up right.
My phone dinged right away from Jenna with an IN! text.
Even if it was just the two of us, it would be a good time. Jenna was a tiny little party in a box. If by party you mean, PG-13 and funny.
Kasey was in, but Jayne had a gallery she was assisting with a show that night. Sarah had her own girls’ night. And Abby finally emailed back with, “Is this a pity hang?”
Oh for the love of stars.