Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
I hated to leave Chloe behind, but I felt even worse traveling with her in this state. I brought her to a dog sitter that I found online, a wonderful older woman who said that she'd baby Chloe like she was her own. She promised that she wouldn’t let Chloe out of her sight and that if there were any sign of trouble, she would rush Chloe to the vet.
I looked at Chloe who had already made herself at home, lying on the floor beside the couch. After double checking to make sure that the woman had my cell phone and the name of the vet, I crouched down beside Chloe in tears.
“I won’t be longer than two days.”
The woman patted my shoulder. “She’s going to be fine. You can call anytime to check up on her.”
I left my car at the dog sitter’s and took a cab to the airport with only a carry on and booked the first flight I could get to New York. Once in New York, I rented a car at the airport and drove straight to the loft. Just as my realtor had indicated, my keys to the loft didn’t work either. I couldn’t believe it.
I went back to my rental car and called my lawyer.
“I’m at my loft. My key doesn’t work. I've no idea what to do.”
“When is the last time you were at the loft?”
“I did a walk through with my realtor about three weeks ago. It was empty then.”
“Well, we can get a locksmith over there. And get you into the place. Legally, you have full rights over the place.”
“Okay.”
I watched as the garage door opened. “Wait. Someone is coming back to the loft.”
I watched from my rental car in shock as Julie and Matt pulled into the garage in Matt’s car.
“It’s Matt,” I said in complete shock.
“You know who is squatting in your place?”
“It’s my ex-fiancé. He used to live there with me. I had his stuff all moved out a few weeks ago when I had the place staged. But it looks like he’s living there with a friend of mine.”
Silence screamed down the line. My lawyer cleared his throat. “Oh. How long did you two live together?”
“We moved in together in October of last year. We lived together about eight months.”
“So did your ex-fiancé ever pay rent or help pay the mortgage?”
“No. I bought the place outright. Matt never contributed to any of the bills.”
“Was the water bill or electricity bill ever in his name? Any of the utilities?”
“No.”
“Okay, and you're certain that the place was empty a few weeks ago?”
“I shipped Matt’s stuff to another address, and my landlord had the place staged. Three weeks ago, we walked through the loft. It was empty, and the locks worked. We took a lot of pictures. ”
“That’s perfect. From a legal standpoint, you have full right to enter the place and have all of their stuff physically removed.”
“I do?” I could hear the fear in my voice. “How do I do that?”
“Call a locksmith. Have movers waiting. Have them move everything out and you can either remove it to a dump or have them put it in some storage locker.”
“What if they come back while this is going on?”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
“Seriously?”
“Listen, it might be better if you get organized today and then have everyone in place for tomorrow morning when they go to work.”
I put my head down on the steering wheel. I was so tired. I could not believe this was happening. “Okay.”
“Do you want me to email you some names that you can call?”
“I feel weird about doing this.”
“Emily, if they claim squatter rights we'll have an even bigger legal mess on our hands that could take a couple of years to resolve. Trust me. You want to move fast on this.”
“Okay.”
I spent the rest of the day on the phone coordinating everything. We had to provide legal proof to the locksmith that I was indeed the owner. I needed to rent a storage locker and hire a moving company that was willing to pack up and move everything. By the time the day was over, I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open.
I called the dog sitter who assured me that Chloe was feeling a lot peppier and her appetite was returning. I called Beth, and we arranged that she would meet me at the loft tomorrow afternoon so we could have dinner before I headed back to Virginia. I took a bath and fell into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up to my Skype ringing. Peering at the clock, it was just after 3 AM. Jackson was calling. My heart stopped beating for a long moment.
I turned on the bedroom lamp and opened the screen, blinking against the bright light.
“Hey,” I said sleepily.
I took one look at his stiff posture, rigid muscles, and corded neck and knew that he was livid. I woke up immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“You want to tell me where you are?” his jaw was clenched.
I struggled to wake up and deal with this conversation. “New York.”
He took a deep breath and shook his head, unable to speak. I peered closer at the screen. He stood in our kitchen.
“Are you at home?” I asked, my eyes wide. I could feel my heart pound.
“I’m at home,” he spoke slowly, with forced restraint. “And you’re not.”
My lips parted in shock. “What are you doing home?”
He all but snarled. “The mission got pulled.”
“It’s not what you think,” I blurted out. “My lawyer called and asked me to come to New York. But I was coming back. You told me you would be home in two weeks.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “You told me you'd be here when I got back.”
I could feel how upset he was. I thought about the little kid who moved between Ted and Harry and Irene’s place. The kid who got no love and no commitment from anyone. I was starting to gain a better understanding of who my husband was. He may not love me, but damn if I was going to be the next person in line to abandon him. My voice was quiet. “And you got home, and I wasn’t there.”
He didn’t answer. He just looked unbelievably intense. I had expressly promised Jackson that I'd be there when he got back. How was I supposed to know that he would be coming back after only two days ?
“Chloe is at the dog sitter in Newport,” I said. “I'd never leave Chloe behind.”
His green gaze just bore into me. The corner of one of his eyes twitched, the only indication that he had heard me.
“Matt is squatting in the loft. With Julie. We have to extract them tomorrow.”
He let out a slow breath. “Chloe is in Newport?”
“Yes.”
“With a dog sitter?”
“She was too sick to travel with me. I'd never leave her behind, Jackson. You know that. I wasn’t running away. I just had to leave to take care of this mess here. I was coming back.”
He looked away from the camera for a long time and then looked back to me. He had pulled himself together. All emotion had been erased from his face. “Okay.”
I let out pent-up air from my lungs. “Sorry that you came home to find me gone.”
He looked down and took a deep breath. Then he raised his green eyes to mine. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with Matt.”
I explained the situation and how we were going to evict Matt in the morning.
Jackson looked grim. “I can’t leave the base since I’m on standby, but I can go get special leave. I can be there by tomorrow night.”
Guilt rushed through me. This man was always willing to drop everything to take care of me. “We'll be done taking care of this by tomorrow afternoon. I can be home by tomorrow night.”
He stared into the camera at me. “I don’t like it.”
“My lawyer is helping me. We have to get this done.”
He rubbed his face. “Emily.”
I nodded. “I can do this. Everything is organized.”
He stared at me, thinking. “You don’t want to wait until I get there? ”
I chewed on my nail. I wanted to prove to him that I was a strong military wife. “I can handle this.”
“Do you want me to pick up Chloe?”
My eyes filled with tears. “She would love that. I’ll text you the address. You can’t let her out of your sight. She can’t eat anything off the ground. You can’t just let her out in the backyard. You have to watch her at all times.”
“Okay.”
We stared at each other for another long minute. “I’m sorry you got home, and I wasn’t there.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
My husband’s defense. I could tell that coming home to an empty house had upset him a great deal. I also knew that he'd never admit that it had bothered him. I was starting to understand him a bit better. “Okay. I will call you tomorrow when it is over.”
We stared at each other and then he nodded. “Okay.”
And then the screen went black.