Dwight gasped. Like a freaking schoolgirl. I shook the visions of a Phantom Reid out of my head and crossed my arms.
If Dwight fainted, I was going to purposefully knock myself out and pray that when I woke up this day from hell was nothing but a really horrible nightmare.
He didn’t. Faint, that is, but he did fan his face and walk quite briskly back to his desk before he lifted his phone into the air.
A picture was snapped just as the elevator doors closed. I could imagine the caption now: REID EMORY INVITES HOMELESS CAT LADY INTO HIS APARTMENT FOR AFTERNOON TEA.
I winced as my own reflection flashed back at me in the shiny elevator doors.
Reid’s eyes met mine in the reflection, and they were kind. His expression was one you save for old ladies while they buy discount bread at the grocery store just because it’s on sale, then feed it to the birds. “It’s true, you’ve probably had better days.”
“My hair.” I touched the top of my head. My frizzy hair just kept growing and growing, like an overwatered Chia Pet.
“It wouldn’t stay down.” Reid shrugged. “Believe me, I tried.”
I rolled my eyes. “You licked your hand and patted it.”
“Exactly.”
The doors opened. I hurried past the other doors and stopped in front of mine.
Yellow tape.
Why, why was there yellow caution tape in front of my door?
“Uh-oh. Kill someone last night?”
“It’s not crime scene tape, you ass!” I ripped the tape from my door like I was Xena, Warrior Princess, shoved my key in the lock, and stepped in.
The apartment was semidark.
I flipped the switch.
Nothing.
“You smell smoke?” Reid coughed and covered his mouth just as my tiny shih tzu barreled out of the bedroom and launched himself onto Reid’s leg.
Reid looked down at the small rat. “Friend of yours? Funny, I expected you to be more of a cat person.”
“Come here, Otis.”
“Otis?”
“Yeah.” I snuggled my dog close to my chest. “You know, from Milo and Otis?”
Reid’s eyes scanned my small one-bedroom apartment. I knew it wasn’t anything special. I didn’t have time to decorate, and even my sad pathetic coffee table was naked, not even a coaster decorating the thing. But I’d always been of the mind that a woman doesn’t need a coaster if all she drinks is wine.
“I know a Milo.”
“Right. Okay.” I dropped Otis onto the ground and went to another light switch. Nothing.
“Did you pay your power bill?” Reid asked, his tone completely serious.
My cheeks heated as I clenched my fists to keep from scratching his eyes out. “Yes. As I said before, my electricity went out this morning, but they promised it would be fixed within a few hours.”
A knock sounded at the door.
I ignored it.
Already knowing what it was.
More bad news.
Because after today, how could it really be anything good?
Reid pushed past me and opened the door.
“You can’t be here!” A stout man with a wiry mustache pushed into my apartment and clenched his fists at his sides like he was trying to keep his anger in check. “It’s been condemned.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I held up my hands. “Over the electricity?”
He sighed, looking at me like I was a complete idiot, before addressing the other male in the room. “She your girlfriend?”
“Something like that.” Reid smirked. Hey, at least he semi claimed me, right? “Now, what’s going on here?”
The man held out his clipboard, handing it to Reid, a relative stranger. Never mind that it was my name on the lease. All that mattered was that there was a man to explain things to rather than a hysterical lady with poofy hair. “The electrical is so old we’ve had to condemn the oldest apartments on this side, the ones not renovated or part of phase one.”
My stomach sank. “I was told it was perfectly safe.”
“Lady, that smoke you smell? Could have been you or your little fur ball had some pathetic squirrel not sacrificed itself on a power line this morning. You need to pack your shit and stay with friends. If you need help moving, I can give you some numbers, but you can’t stay the night.”
“But—”
“Lady.” Seriously, if he called me lady one more time I was going to show him how much of a lady I could really be and slam his head in the doorway. “Stay with your boyfriend, I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“He would.” I gritted my teeth. “Believe me.”
The man left, slamming the door behind him.
And that’s when I felt the familiar sting of tears. Nothing in my day had gone right, and now I really was homeless. All I needed was a cart and an END OF THE WORLD sign.
CHAPTER TEN
REID
I wasn’t one of those guys—you know, the type that knew how to comfort other human beings well. I did the typical rough pat on the back and chin nudge. When I broke up with my last girlfriend, I patted her ass and said, “Good game.”
It may have been because I was breaking up with her while watching SportsCenter, but she cried. Hard. Then shrieked and asked why she even put up with me in the first place.
I wasn’t sure if it was a rhetorical question, so I ignored her.