9. Derek
Derek pulled on his jacket and walked out of his apartment the following morning, pulling his phone out of his pocket and calling his brother.
“You got my email about the Waltman family? They had questions about the inspection for the property on Rosehill Drive.”
“Haven”t checked my email for the past hour, but I”ll deal with it. You sure you need to be out the rest of the week?”
Derek let out a long exhale, walking toward the flight of stairs at the end of the hall. “At this point, I don”t know.”
“This girl someone special?”
Derek shook his head, even knowing that his brother couldn”t see his motion through the phone. “I wouldn”t do that to Mel. I”d never cheat.”
He could hear the pity in his brother”s voice before he spoke. “Are you sure Mel”s the one for you?”
“What kind of man would I be if I abandoned her?”
“She”s the one who told you she wants a break.”
“A break. Not a breakup.”
“Why are you holding on so hard?”
“You know exactly why, Jake.”
“Remind me.”
Derek pressed his hand against his forehead and leaned up against the hallway wall. “We”ve been together since middle school. We promised each other that we”d stay together, no matter what. She almost died when she had cancer in college, and asked me never to leave her. Her parents would be devastated. Our parents would be devastated. She asked me to wait for her until she gets back. Do you want any other reasons?” He didn”t try to keep the edge of irritation out of his tone.
“Man, you are one clueless guy.”
“Don”t get like that.”
“Like what?”
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
“You know what I”m going to say.”
“Say it.” Derek”s words came out like a threat, and he didn”t care.
“Kayce agrees with me. We talked about it again the other night.”
“Say whatever you want to say and then leave me alone.”
“This isn”t the first time Mel”s pulled a stunt like this.”
“Are you telling me that you wouldn”t do something Kayce asked you to do?”
“She”s never asked to break up with me for months at a time, and promise to get back together at the end.”
“Kayce isn”t Mel.”
“She”s never made the decision to fly to the other side of the world for a year without talking with me about it.”
“Mel”s a free spirit. And independent.”
“How do you know that she isn”t dating other guys right now?”
Derek cringed, feeling like his brother had delivered a punch to the gut. “I just know.”
“Did she promise not to date anyone else?”
“She didn”t have to say anything. I know Mel.”
There was silence at the other end.
“Look, Mel and I have been through things that no one else has. We promised to always support each other. I can”t go back on a promise like that.”
“Sounds like she has.”
Again, there was nothing but silence from either end of the phone.
“I have to go, Jake. Email me when you hear from the home inspection for the Waltman”s case.”
“Bro, don”t be mad at me.”
“I”m not mad.” Furious.
“Before you go, think about one more thing. Please.”
“Fine.” The sooner Jake had his way, the sooner they”d get off the phone.
“You didn”t once tell me that you and Mel are together because of love. There”s a difference between love and obligation.”
Derek pulled his phone away from his ear and hung up without saying goodbye.
Of course he loved Mel. And Mel loved him. They had loved each other for years. No one stayed in a relationship that long if they didn’t care for the other person.
Jake was an idiot for thinking that he didn”t love Mel. Maybe he forgot to mention it as one of the reasons they were still together, or at least planning on being together again once she finished teaching in Cambodia.
And she loved him, too. She just needed space.
He pulled out his phone and checked the time. Ten in the morning was around ten in the evening where she was. She usually went to bed around nine since she had to be up early to teach.
His finger hesitated over the call button. She read for an hour each night, so she’d probably be awake. But he wasn”t sure he actually wanted to talk with her. The thought of hearing her voice again didn”t give him the same jolt that it had given him years ago.
He moved his finger over to the text app and starting typing on the screen. Call me tomorrow? He deleted the words before hitting send. There wasn”t much he actually wanted to say to her. He only wanted clarity, or some type of confirmation that they still had a future together.
Because he wasn”t sure of that anymore.
Things would have been different if their families weren”t so interconnected. Her parents were like a second set of parents to him. His brother was married to Mel”s sister. They had spent Christmas together every year for the past decade.
Ending things with Mel would be difficult, if not impossible. He”d hurt too many people in the process. She”d always be a part of his life, and her family would always be a part of his family, long after their relationship ended.
He wanted a marriage. He wanted kids. Mel said, or at least she used to say, that she wanted the same thing too.
Would he regret ending things with Mel once and for all? Would he be forced to sit at the family table, meal after meal, for years, watching Mel hold hands with her husband, buttering the dinner roll for her child while he lived alone? If he moved on from Mel, would he have another chance at happiness and having a family of his own?
He tucked his phone back in his pocket and headed down the apartment building stairs. He couldn”t waste time thinking about his complicated love life anymore. He had to get to the hospital to pick up his stubborn and determined neighbor.
After she”d taken her pain medicine the night he”d brought her to the emergency department, she told him that she didn”t have any family who needed to know she was admitted to the hospital and getting surgery. She said she had one friend, Emily, who lived too far away. She didn’t want to make Emily worry about her. So she told him to call no one.
How could someone be so alone in the world? Yes, Theresa was stubborn and a bit grumpy, but also a puzzle. How could someone who spent time in a soup kitchen, who obviously had a way of making friends with people from all walks of life, also spend hours dating the worst type of man? The type of men who wanted a younger, attractive woman by their side as a way to impress their peers?
He reached the front doors of the apartment building lobby when he saw something outside that nearly made him curse out loud.
His neighbor was struggling to get out of the back seat of a taxi, with half her leg and entire foot swallowed by a large black cast and trying to manipulate an odd-looking scooter with a raised platform.
“Theresa!” His voice came out loud as he burst through the apartment doors. “What do you think you”re doing?”
She looked up at him but ignored him, turning back to the taxi. She said something then shut the door.
Derek covered the distance between them in less than two seconds. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here.” Theresa wobbled over to the scooter, bending her knee so that the lower portion of her leg rested on the raised platform of the scooter, her hands grasping a small set of handlebars. She started to move around him but he stepped in her way.
“Why”d the hospital let you out alone?
“That”s a bit arrogant of you to assume that I needed help.”
“You had surgery less than twenty-four hours ago.” He reached out to take her purse, which looked ready to slide off her shoulder.
She shrugged him off. “I”m fine.”
“Fine?”
She hobbled to the front of the building and stretched her arm out to hit the button to activate the automatic door feature on the front door. The door opened slowly. He made a mental note to call the maintenance department for the building.
He followed her through and watched her face as the realization hit her. The building didn”t have an elevator, and they both lived on the third floor.
A normal person would have turned and admitted that they needed help.
He already knew that someone as strong-willed as Theresa wouldn”t ask him for help.
Derek wandered to the small seating area in the apartment lobby and sat down in the old, dusty chair. He”d never seen anyone sit in these chairs, and he realized why as he let out a loud sneeze.
That earned him a scowl from Theresa.
She turned to the stairs and approached the bottom step. The scooter was too big for anyone to pick up and carry while walking on one foot.
But that woman looked like she was going to try. She lifted her casted leg off the scooter and hovered her foot a few inches off the ground, not putting weight on her leg. He didn”t know if she”d taken any pain medicine that morning, but he could guarantee her ankle would hurt worse if she put weight on it.
She hopped closer to the step and hesitated. He waited to see what she”d do.
After a moment”s pause, she turned and sat on the step. Then, she reached out and grasped the handle of the scooter, and started inching up, one step at a time, dragging the scooter behind her.
She made it to the third step before looking at Derek and smirking. The smirk made him feel warm inside. There was something about her that he admired, wanted to learn more about. Why was this complex stubborn woman making him rethink his relationship with Mel? No, he pushed the thoughts out of his head.
By the time she reached the fifth step, the smirk had lost its intensity, and her eyes narrowed. She paused for a breath on the sixth step and then paused even longer on the seventh.
Derek stood up. He couldn”t watch any longer. Why wouldn”t she just ask for help? She was clearly insane or something—no one needed to be that stubborn.
He foughtto hide the twinge at the corner of his lips as he watched, ignoring the guilt that crept in the back of his mind. Why wouldn’t she just ask for help? Why was she so stubborn? Why did he continue to think about her when she was not around? No woman had ever caught his attention during the other times he and Mel were in the middle of a breakup. This wouldn”t be the exception. True, they weren”t dating anymore. And Mel didn”t ask him not to date anyone else during their break. And Mel never answered his question when he wanted to know if she was already dating someone else.
The whole situation was unrealistic, really. Years ago, he should never have agreed to Mel’s idea of breaking up temporarily. He’d ignored the evidence that she’d dated other men, figuring that she needed time to be apart. She”d come back to him. Or, at least, mostly back to him. Her eyes glazed over whenever someone brought up the topic of her time teaching overseas, as if she was thinking about someone she”d left behind. Someone who wasn’t him.
He only had a vague idea of the man who might have, briefly, made Mel not want to be with him. A blond man, thin, with a short goatee. He appeared in a group of pictures of the five overseas teachers at the elementary school in Columbia. She said he was from Australia or New Zealand. He didn”t remember where, and he didn”t want to remember where. The change in Mel”s tone of voice when she mistakenly showed him that picture was enough for him to know something had happened.
But he ignored it. He never brought it up, and neither did she.
So why should he feel guilt over caring about his neighbor’s health?
A sharp gasp brought him back to the current situation. Theresa sat two steps away from the small landing, her face pale and contorted.
“Stop being too proud to ask for help.” He didn”t mean to take his frustration with Mel out on Theresa, but his voice was full of contempt. He marched up the steps to her and pulled the scooter contraption out of her grasp. “You”re going to need another trip to the ER if you keep trying to take this all on yourself.”
He carried the scooter back down the steps that she”d so painstakingly ascended and deposited it in a corner of the entrance lobby.
He returned to Theresa, who remained in the same spot on the stairs, scowling at him.
“Go ahead. Make a choice. Keep climbing on your own, or I”ll help you.” He crossed his arms, frowning. He had no right to want to help her, and no right to hope that she”d want him to help. But he wanted her to want him to help. Make the smallest gesture of vulnerability so he knew that she might have a feeling, anything for him.
“If someone steals my scooter, I”m calling the police and holding you responsible. You”ll have to pay for it.”
“You need to come up with a better threat. You already called the police on me.”
“I don”t need help.”
“Fine.” Derek stood one step below Theresa, waiting to see what she”d do next.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head down, blonde hair falling over her shoulder.
“All you need to do is ask.”
“Don”t rush me. I”m fine.”
After a minute of waiting, he sat down next to her and took out his phone. He pulled up his real estate app and started clicking through property listings. If she was going to be stubborn, he”d be stubborn too.
“What are you looking at?” Her voice broke through.
“Real estate properties.”
“Are you buying a place? Going to move out?” He detected a hint of despair in her voice. Or was he just wanting to hear that?
He tapped his screen to move to another property listing. “Don”t get excited yet, I”m not moving any time soon. I work in real estate.” He didn”t mention that his family owned the real estate company and an extensive portfolio of properties.
She let out a sound that resembled a disappointed scoff. “I didn”t mean that I want you to move.”
“Good, because I”m not.”
Silence hung in the air for several seconds before Derek spoke again. “I could help you, you know.”
“I don”t need help. And I”m not interested. Sorry to sound so blunt, but I”m sure you understand that I”ve had a bad few days. I don”t have the energy to be polite.”
Something about what she said rubbed him the wrong way. “What do you mean, not interested?”
“Whatever it is you are trying to get from me, I”m not interested. I”m still going to complain if you have loud parties. I”m not going to volunteer to watch your apartment if you are gone for a while. I”m not going to date you in return for helping me out. And I”m definitely not going to sleep with you.”
“Glad we cleared that up.” He turned back to his phone. Why would she, or anyone, possibly think he only wanted to sleep with her? Couldn”t a person just be nice for the sake of being nice? What world did she live in where men tried to take advantage of her for doing kind things?
“I live in the real world,” she responded to the question he hadn”t asked. “And I don”t appreciate your judgment.”
“I”m not judging, I promise.” He looked at her, really looked at her, and wanted to ask her more about what she”d said the other night. But he kept his mouth shut.
“Don”t lie to me. I hate when people lie.”
“Why do you assume that I”m lying? I”m really not judging you at all.”
“You think I”m stupid for trying to get up the stairs by myself.”
“Stubborn. Not stupid.”
“You think I should let you help me.”
“I think you are going to wear yourself out if you don”t accept help. You had major surgery less than twenty-four hours ago. Your body needs to recover.”
“You think you know better than me.”
“I think you”ve been through a lot in the past two days.” And maybe longer, considering how she was so guarded and was so scared at the hospital the other night when they needed to give her pain meds.
“You think I”m shallow and materialistic for dating older, rich men. Don”t try to argue against that. I saw your face at the coffee shop a few weeks ago.”
He tried to think of a response to that but couldn”t.
“I don”t like being around people who are nice to my face but judge me behind my back. And believe me, everyone does it. Even you. So I don’t need your help, and I don”t want it.”
With that, she placed her hands on the step behind her and used her good foot to help lift her body and moved up to the next step. She repeated the same process up two more steps, wincing as the motion bothered her ankle.
“Is hurting yourself really better than letting me carry you? Even if I might have judged you for going after rich guys?”
She didn”t respond, but went up one more step, reaching the landing of the stairway.
“Fine. Do it yourself.” He pressed the button on his phone to call his brother. The phone went to voicemail after the first ring.
“Hey Jake, I”m going to work from home the rest of today. Tomorrow too,” he said, glancing back at Theresa. “Have Kathy take over my property showings. She”s ready to show places on her own.”
Kathy, the newest hire, had shadowed him for the past few weeks as she gained experience on the job. She”d be fine taking over a few of their clients.
“My neighbor is being stubborn and refusing help. I need to stick around before she kills herself. No one will want to stop by my place for a party if there”s police tape all over the building. Might plan a big party Friday night. Let me know if you”re free.”
He hung up and resumed looking at property listings on his phone, pretending to ignore Theresa but keeping her in the corner of his eye.
After two minutes of silence, he heard her shift and start creeping up the next set of stairs. He stood up and strolled by her, finding a new spot to sit on the landing above her.
For the next fifteen minutes, he looked through listings on his phone as Theresa made her way up the next ten steps.
Seriously, a snail would be faster at climbing the steps than her. And far less obstinate.
He waited until she reached his landing before deciding to casually drop the bomb. “Halfway there?”
“Oh, oh, living on a prayer,” she sang under her breath.
“Well, I”ve got some bad news for you.”
She glared at him. “I already heard about your party Friday night. I”ll get you kicked out of the apartment.”
He shrugged. He planned on buying an apartment building two blocks away. Or at least, his real estate company was going to buy it.
“You left your purse in the basket on your scooter.” And he”d conveniently forgot to tell her until now.
She closed her eyes, placing her hands on either side of her forehead, pressing on her temples. “You didn”t think of telling me that sooner?”
“I would have, but you said you didn”t want help. I assumed that telling you about your purse would have been helping you.”
“My keys are in that purse. My wallet and phone are in that purse. If it gets stolen?—”
“I know, I know. You”re blaming me, calling the police, and getting me locked up in prison for a lifelong sentence in a maximum-security prison.”
She removed her hands from her temples and adjusted her posture. Then, before he realized her intention, she scooted herself down two steps.
Derek jumped to his feet and hopped over the steps below, stopping directly in front of Theresa. “Are you crazy? Do you seriously think you can get back down there and then make it all the way up to your apartment? You just had surgery!”
“Leave me alone!”
Derek had half a mind to do just that—to sit back down and watch her tackle the steps again on her own—but a small tear that escaped the corner of her eye broke his resolve.
He held up his right hand and looked her straight in the eye. “I swear, I will not expect anything in return for helping you. I do not want to date you. I don”t want to sleep with you, and I don”t have any vacations planned, so you don”t have to watch my apartment. I promise I”m a good person. Just let me carry you to your apartment before we spend the entire day on the stairs.”
She eyed him cautiously while he did his best to look trustworthy. Seriously, what kind of past did she have if she couldn”t trust a person to help without anything in return?
“I have pepper spray in my purse. I”ll use it on you if you get handsy.”
“I won”t get handsy.”
She didn”t look convinced. He tried again. “I carried you to my car the other night and didn”t do a thing.”
Finally, she gave him a small nod.
Before she had a chance to change her mind, he bent down to pick her up. She held up a hand to stop him.
“Get my purse first.”
He turned around and jogged to the bottom of the stairs, picking up her purse from the scooter. The apartment lobby was secure enough that no one would steal the scooter before he returned, but she was right to send him back for her purse. Annoying, but right.
Once the purse was slung over his shoulder, he returned to her. Unsurprisingly, she was trying to stand up on her own in the middle of the flight of stairs, using only the railing for support.
He bit his tongue instead of asking her if she really was crazy. Instead, he reached out and held her around the waist to steady and help lift her to standing. She tensed under his touch but didn”t push him away.
As soon as she was standing, he placed one arm behind her back and the other under her legs, lifting her as carefully as possible. Even with his care, she winced.
“You ok?” he asked. “I’ll take it slow so you don”t move too much. Let me know if you need me to stop.”
“I”m fine.” Her voice sounded exhausted.
He resisted the urge to tell her that she looked the exact opposite of fine.
“You have any friends or family who can come by and take care of you for the next few days?”
She tightened her hold around his neck. “I don”t need help.”
“So that”s a no?”
“You don”t have to be so nosy.”
He reached the landing for the second floor and stepped into the hallway. “You”d already be tucked in your bed, sleeping soundly, if you”d accepted my help as soon as you got here. Or if you had just called me to pick you up from the hospital.”
“We aren”t friends. Why would I have called you?”
“You called me the other night when you were stuck in the alley.”
She ignored him. He stopped in front of her door and set her down. She winced again.
“When”s your next round of pain meds start?”
“I can handle my own medication, thank you very much.”
“Fine.” He held out her purse. She reached inside and pulled out her keys, unlocking the door to her apartment. She turned to face him. “Thanks for the help up the stairs.” This time, her words did sound sincere. “I”ll get the leg scooter later from the lobby.”
She took one hobbled hop toward her door before letting out a loud yelp of pain and bending over.
“For Pete”s sake,” Derek muttered as he picked her up again. “You are more stubborn than anyone I”ve ever met. And I”ve met some real cases before.”
She wrapped her arm around his neck again, tense against his chest, and buried her face in the crook of his neck so he couldn”t see her. This woman had a real problem with vulnerability. He really just wanted to hold her close for a while to help her feel better. But no, that would be a bad idea for so many reasons.
He walked through the spotless kitchen and living room, spotting a small hallway off of the living area. He faced three closed doors: one to the left, right, and straight ahead. “Which one is the bedroom?”
“Right.” Her voice was muffled against his neck, her breath giving him a slight chill.
He opened up the door and deposited her in the middle of the queen-sized bed covered with a white comforter and pink pillows. She closed her eyes and fell asleep before he could see if she needed anything else.
He’d never met anyone like her. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.