Chapter 8
JESSE
“Okay, buddy.” I looked at Clyde, who was curled up in a box on my desk, and I closed my laptop. “Time to go figure out dinner.”
He yawned and stretched but made no effort to get up.
“Come on, buddy.” I picked him up out of the box and draped him over my shoulder. “I need to close the office.”
He didn’t protest. With him purring happily on my shoulder, I stepped out and closed the door. He and Chili were allowed in there while I was working, but they had a tendency to knock shit over and kick papers everywhere if they were unsupervised. Lesson learned the hard way.
Most days, I had to carry both of them out or carry one while I gently nudged the other along with my foot. Today, I only had to remove Clyde, since Chili had been MIA since Eric got home from work an hour ago.
Sure enough, I found Chili in the living room, occupying most of Eric’s lap while Eric balanced a tablet on his knee.
Absently petting Chili with his free hand, he glanced up. “Done for the day?”
“Finally.” I rolled my eyes. “Never ends for the IT guy.”
He just chuckled. “Better you than me. I’m lucky I can navigate social media.”
“Yeah, but it means I have to put up with people who don’t understand computers need to be plugged in to work.”
He peered up at me. “Do you really get people who need to be told to plug in their electronics?”
Sighing, I nodded. “More often than you would think.”
“Yuck. Like I said—better you than me.”
I just laughed. As I walked behind the couch toward the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of what looked like a real estate website on his screen.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Apartment listings.” He glanced up at me and offered a shy smile. “I appreciate you putting me up, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
I didn’t want to think too hard about the sudden ball of disappointment in the pit of my stomach. Of course he wanted to get a place sooner than later. I didn’t imagine seeing me every goddamned day was helping him move on from Selena.
Still, I shrugged as I leaned down to scratch Chili’s head. “Eh. You’re neat, quiet, and my cats like you. I’m in no hurry to kick you out.”
He smiled, petting my loudly purring cat. “It’ll probably take a while anyway. But hopefully not more than a month or two?”
I could live with that. “Fair enough.” I put Clyde down on the back of couch. “Anyway, I’m going to figure out something for dinner.”
As I headed for the kitchen, Eric said, “I know, I know—I’m the most evil bastard in the world. But I need you to move so I can get up.”
I chuckled. He definitely knew who was in charge in this house.
I was leaning into the fridge when he joined me in the kitchen and asked, “Can I help with anything?”
“Nah.” I pulled out a coconut chicken curry meal kit. “Just going to nuke this and put it over rice.” Showing him the box, I added, “You want any?”
“Sure. Yeah.” He hesitated. “You don’t have to cook for me, you know.”
“I know. But we both have to eat, and there’s more than enough for two, so…”
“Okay. Makes sense.” He pressed his shoulder into the doorframe and folded his arms loosely. “Since I get home from work before you’re off, I’m happy to cook some nights too.”
“Your call.” I cut the cellophane wrapper with my thumbnail. “I get meal kit deliveries that have the recipes and everything; I can send you the login so you can pick a few things you like.”
“Cool. Just let me know how much I owe you.”
I made a non-committal sound. I hated the idea of making him pay for anything.
He’d mentioned the other night how much money he was out thanks to the canceled wedding, plus he had to deal with coughing up first and last month’s rent on a new place.
He was paying some token rent to live here—he’d insisted—but I didn’t want to ask him to pay for more than that.
Fortunately, the conversation shifted away from financial topics and living arrangements, and we talked about our work days while I made dinner.
Eric also kept the cats out of my way, which I appreciated.
They loved to “help” in the kitchen, and having someone else to occupy them made it a lot easier to work.
Especially Chili, who liked to become a tripping hazard.
With Eric distracting the cats, I threw together the coconut curry dish from the meal kit along with some steamed green beans. The curry then went over the rice, and though it wasn’t a huge or complex meal, it was good and it was satisfying.
Eric insisted on doing the dishes, not that there were many to do.
I didn’t argue; if it made him feel less like he was imposing, then fine.
He wasn’t an imposition at all, but I understood that the whole situation was messy and complicated.
His feelings about it probably weren’t much better. God knew mine weren’t.
After dinner, we settled onto the couch to relax. Eric once again had Chili in his lap alongside his iPad, and he scrolled apartment listings while we watched the latest dark drama series. Emphasis on dark, too.
“Has everyone in Hollywood forgotten how to use lights?” I grumbled, squinting at the screen. “Why is every show like this now?”
“Ugh. I’ve heard they’re doing it for movies to encourage people to watch them in the theater. But TV shows—I mean, what’s the point?”
“Probably some conspiracy involving Big Optometry or something.”
Eric snorted. “What? To get us all buying stronger glasses?”
“Makes sense, if you think about it,” I deadpanned. “Strain our eyes until we’re—”
The doorbell rang.
We both looked up, then at each other.
“Delivery?” Eric asked.
“Not that I’m expecting.” I paused the TV, grabbed my phone, and peered at the screen. Then I damn near threw the fucking thing. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Eric straightened. “What? What’s wrong?”
I got up and brushed past him, growling, “It’s Selena.”
“What the fuck?”
“Yeah. My thought exactly.” Heading for the door, I added, “I’ll handle this.”
He stayed put, and I didn’t blame him.
At the door, I paused to steel myself. Then I opened it, and sure enough, I found my ex-girlfriend standing on the Welcome mat, her expression pitiful. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were red with heavy circles underneath. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, which was unusual for her.
My stomach knotted with guilt and queasiness as I realized that just a few short weeks ago, I’d have been falling all over myself to make sure she was okay. Inviting her in. Holding her. Listening to her. Letting her cry. Asking how I could help. Asking what she needed.
Undoubtedly giving her a few orgasms because that was always what she needed when she came over.
Masking a disgusted shudder, I asked flatly, “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
“Yeah?” I folded my arms and pressed my shoulder against the doorframe. “For which part? Lying to me? Cheating with me? Cheating on me?”
“About… About everything.” Those puppy dog eyes weren’t going to work. Not this time. “I screwed up.”
“By cheating or by getting caught?”
Irritation broke through the contrition, and she scowled as she shifted her weight. “Look, I was trying to figure out how to break things off with him, and I—”
“Uh-huh.” I inclined my head. “So you would’ve canceled the wedding, then?”
She blinked, staring at me in surprise. Then her eyes started to well up, and she looked away as she fidgeted some more.
“I would’ve had it annulled. I couldn’t—there were so many people coming, and there was so much money tied up in it, I panicked whenever I thought about canceling the whole thing.
I know it doesn’t make sense, but it was just such a mess and…
” Her shoulders dropped. “I’m so sorry, Jesse. ”
I didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
She watched me, clearly confused at my lack of a reaction. Then her eyes darted past me, and her spine straightened. “What are you doing here?”
I turned as Eric stepped more fully into the foyer. Gaze fixed on her, he shrugged, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I could ask you the same thing, but I’m pretty sure I know.”
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish’s as her eyes darted back and forth between us. I didn’t think it was possible to catch her as off-guard as we had in the kitchen the other day, but apparently it was. Her speechless shock would’ve been comical had the circumstances been less fucked up.
After a moment, she collected herself.
“So, what?” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “You two are screwing now or something?”
“No,” Eric said evenly. “He offered me his guest room while I figure out where I’m going to live.”
Her jaw worked. “And you really think I buy that you’re not fucking. I saw how into each other you were when we—”
“It’s not that I think you buy it,” I said. “It’s that I really, really couldn’t care less.”
Her eyes widened and her lips parted again. Yeah, it made sense that she’d be surprised; I’d never had much of a backbone with her or anyone else.
“We’re done, Selena.” I turned to Eric. “Unless you have anything to add.”
He shook his head, watching her with a derisive look on his face. “Nope. I sure don’t.”
“Oh fuck you both.” She glared at him. Then she looked at me and lifted her chin slightly. “Just so you know? I was only with you because your dick does more for me than his ever could.” She gestured dismissively at Eric.
And with that, she stalked off.
We stood in stunned silence for a moment as her sharp footsteps faded down the concrete stairs.
I finally shut the door, and Eric and I glanced at each other, then broke eye contact. I thought his face colored, but I was mostly aware of the heat rushing into mine.
Without speaking, we returned to the living room. I didn’t unpause the show. Eric didn’t resume browsing apartments. We sat there for a long moment, not saying a word or looking at each other.