“I’m not sure about this, Mel,” Tyler says. I can hear him tapping away at the keyboard, only partially paying attention to me. “You do realize that if I do lease him the apartment, you’re going to be stuck with him as one of your neighbors for at least a year, right?”
I sigh loudly, wishing we weren’t having this conversation again. Like Stacey, Tyler isn’t a huge fan of Xavier Ross. He was there the night that Xavier pulled me out of the club and later left me crying in the living room. Unlike Stacey, Tyler understands that there were deeper issues in our relationship and we were both at a point in our lives where we were chasing something that wouldn’t work out for us in the long run. That doesn’t mean he’s eager to see Xavier back as a constant fixture in my life.
“Yes, I know that,” I huff, rolling my eyes. I don’t have time for this. Xavier and Jacob are going to be back to the condo soon and I want to keep this a surprise until we’re back in Wisconsin. Xavier has reluctantly given me complete control over finding them a place to live, knowing that if left up to him right now, he’d be content to permanently move to North Carolina. “Look, we can get together when I get home and I’ll explain it all to you then. But for now, I need you to save that unit, call the movers and go shopping for me. Do you think you can handle that?”
“Yeah, but you owe me big for this one, Mel,” Tyler laughs. As college students, he was the third musketeer with me and Stacey. By the time I was in grad school and he was settled in, working for his parents’ management company, our friendship was drifting. Post-Xavier, when I became a hermit, he got sick of pushing me to figure out how to live again and we stopped talking. Even with all of that, I’ve realized he’s one of the only people I know that I can call for anything at any time and he’ll do it. Not because he has to, but because he’s a genuinely good person and wants to.
“Yeah, maybe we’ll finally go out once I’m back home and things settle down. Who knows, I might even let you take me to the club after dinner,” I laugh. Every month when I stop in to pay my rent, Tyler threatens to take me to the club where he works as a DJ two nights per week. For the past three years, ever since the day I walked into the rental office looking for an apartment, Tyler and I have promised to go out and start spending more time together, but something has always come up to keep that from happening. “I’ll send you a list of what all needs to get replaced.”
There’s a twinkle in Melanie’s eyes when she leads us back out the front door of her apartment building. She’s up to something, I’m just not sure what at this point. Instead of heading to her parking area after getting Brody settled into her apartment, she reaches for Jacob’s hand and starts skipping down the sidewalk. She stops abruptly, turning her attention to a scrawny blond guy coming out of one of the buildings. When she takes something from him, shoving it into her pocket, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
“Hey, slowpoke! Get over here,” she yells back to me. I quicken my steps and soon recognize the man she’s talking to. Even though he’s not wearing the garish patterns and tight jeans that used to be his wardrobe staples, there’s no mistaking Tyler Jenkins. When Melanie and I were together, we often joked that he was her gay husband. “You remember Tyler, right?” she asks as I extend my hand to him.
I try to ignore the fact that I’m relieved to know the man she was talking to isn’t a threat. For him to be a threat would mean that I have an interest in her and I don’t. Not in that way. I tell myself that it’s only natural for a friend to be concerned about who his single, female friends are associating with. “Tyler, it’s good to see you again. Do you live here too?”
“No, I’m the leasing manager for the complex,” he says, giving Melanie a strange look. I never did understand the way those two seemed to have complete conversations with nothing but body languages and facial expressions, and I’m not about to try now. “Are you ready to go inside?”