Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
“Ifeel like I’ve been hit by a truck, and it backed up to check the damage,” Keely groaned, putting a hand on her back.
It was moving day, and we’d spent the last few hours organizing and packing.
I’d managed to sell a lot of things throughout the week.
I only had one overpriced vase left of my collection of the most useless presents.
The thing was green and hideous; no wonder nobody wanted to buy it.
It was most likely going to end up in the trash pile in the corner.
It had been a wedding present from Cockalorum’s Aunt Margery. I liked to call her Margarine in my head, because she had so much makeup on her face, it resembled margarine when it melted off, which it always did eventually.
Packing had been an eye-opener to how much stuff we’d accumulated over the years. The kids still had all their baby blankets and rattles in their closets. Some things I wanted to keep, of course, but nobody needed ten rattles, three tiny blankets, and about twenty baby shoes to keep as a memento.
Not to mention all the broken toys I found under the beds and stuck between the couch cushions. I’d stealthily snuck most of them into trash bags that I’d tied up so the girls wouldn’t take anything out again.
Keely had been a godsend, knocking on my door at six this morning to help. Malena had come by as well with breakfast an hour ago, and when she left, she’d taken the girls with her to Nora’s.
“Whatever doesn’t fit in the apartment will have to go.”
What was going into the cars would be hard enough to get into the tiny apartment we were moving into.
Keely put an arm around me. “You can store things at my place if you don’t want to get rid of it.”
I leaned into her. “Thanks, honey. But cleaning all this out feels good. I want to start my new life with a clean slate. And that includes getting rid of all the gadgets and trinkets that Hank was so fond of.”
Someone paid two hundred dollars for the giant giraffe statue in our living room. Together with the tools I’d sold, I’d made a tidy profit. It would pay for most of the move.
“How come he didn’t have the girls last weekend or this one?”
“He took his human bling on a trip to Aruba for an early wedding present. I think normal people call it a honeymoon, but what do I know. I wasn’t listening after he told me I’d get to keep the girls.”
And yes, he refused to communicate through his lawyer and called me. Something I had no intention of telling Vance about since I didn’t want to rock the boat.
Keely craned her neck to peer out the window at the loud engine noise outside. “Who’s that pulling into your driveway? Did you order a truck? Good idea, because I’m not sure we’ll be able to get this all moved in one day otherwise.”
Curious, I peeked out the window next to Keely, spotting a big truck.
I watched the driver get out, and my jaw dropped to the floor. Vance, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, walked up to my door.
Keely tapped my nose. “Better open the door, sunshine.”
Stalking to the entry hall, I pulled the door open with so much force it banged against the wall. Orange joined me, uncharacteristically enthusiastic, dancing around Vance’s legs.
Even the dog likes him.
Vance kneeled down, giving Orange some attention before straightening up. “Good morning, ladies. Where do you want me?”
“What are you doing here?” I blurted out.
“Helping you move.”
When he’d said he had nothing else to do today, I hadn’t taken him seriously. A lot of people said things they didn’t mean. Yet here he was.
Keely pushed me to the side when I didn’t move on my own.
“That’s so nice of you. Come on in. The others should be here in about an hour.
” Before I had a chance to protest, she’d opened my front door as wide as it would go, waving Vance inside.
“Let’s start in the kitchen. We’ll leave the heavy lifting for when Thad and Sebastian are here. ”
Keely did a little butt-wiggle dance. “This is great. I was already dreading lifting all your crap into the car. Now that we have an extra set of strong hands, it should go much easier. And we only have to drive once since the truck should fit everything.”
I silently followed her into the kitchen, playing with my necklace.
“You okay?” Vance’s deep baritone asked next to me, and I couldn’t suppress the sigh that escaped. It was a good sigh. A sigh that said, “Oh, how I wish I could hear his voice first thing in the morning.” I bet he’d look good with bed head.
Clearing my head of images of what Vance would look and sound like first thing in the morning, I nodded. “Thank you so much for helping.”
“I said I would.”
So he did. And it seemed he didn’t say anything he didn’t mean.
Vance’s warm hand touched my back, and together we walked the last few steps into the kitchen, where Keely was once again busy wrapping plates. She looked up when we approached, her attention pointedly on his hand on my back.
I narrowed my eyes at her, silently telling her not to say a word.
“Where do you want me?” Vance asked, having dropped his arm from my back. It was now resting against his side, brushing mine since he was so close.
“Um, we need to finish wrapping the dishes. And I haven’t emptied any of the shelves in the living room.” The rest of the house was pretty much packed up since I’d been busy wrapping and boxing up the few things I hadn’t sold all week.
Thankfully, that meant there wasn’t much left on the shelves.
We might even get everything moved today.
I’d be leaving a lot of the furniture so the house didn’t look so empty when the realtor showed prospective buyers.
And most of it wouldn’t fit in the apartment anyway.
I’d sell it as soon as I accepted an offer on the house.
Vance grabbed a stack of wrapping paper and set up on the kitchen table. I placed items on it, and he wrapped them and then carefully placed them in a box. We were almost done in the kitchen when everyone else showed up.
Thad, Sebastian, and Vance didn’t waste time moving the furniture I’d be taking, which only included the foldout couch from the spare room, the dining table and chairs, two dressers, and a bunk bed. It was all we would be able to fit.
“Are you getting a new bed?” Thad asked when I told him what to take apart and put in the truck.
Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. “Ah, maybe. I’m not sure yet.”
Please don’t ask any more questions. Please don’t ask any more questions.
Turned out, it wasn’t Thad I should have worried about but Vance. “What about your bed? It’s no problem to take it as well. It’ll definitely fit in the truck.”
“No, that’s okay. I want to leave it here so the rooms aren’t so empty.”
Lies. All lies. But it was a good excuse.
Vance, of course, didn’t buy it. “What will you sleep on?”
“The couch. But it’s comfortable, so it’s no problem.”
There was also only one bedroom in the apartment. So even if it was uncomfortable—which, luckily, it was not—I’d be sleeping on it.
I pasted a flimsy smile on my face and turned to Keely. “Can you give me a hand with the boxes?”
She’d been watching the exchange, a deep line now marring her forehead. She definitely didn’t buy my bullshit either. But they’d soon find out what exactly I could fit into my apartment. And by then, there was nothing anyone could do about it.
We only filled the truck halfway and were done by midafternoon. It would have been hard transporting the dining room furniture in the cars, but everything else we could have probably moved without the truck.
Vance stared into the back of the truck as if he was trying to will more stuff to appear. “Are you sure this is all you want to take?”
“I’m sure. The rest will stay here until the house is sold, and then I’ll get rid of it.”
Which would hopefully include a money exchange, but one way or another, I’d have to get it out before the buyers moved in.
Not giving anyone else a chance to probe further, I walked to my car. “Meet you at the apartment?”
Everyone murmured their agreement, and I jumped into my car. My passenger door opened, and Keely dropped into the seat beside me. “You’ve been keeping quite a few secrets. And you have exactly fifteen minutes to tell me what the hell is going on.”
I buckled my seat belt, then turned the car on, buying myself time. Might as well tell her now so she wouldn’t freak out when she saw the apartment. “The new place is too small to fit anything more than what’s in the truck.”
And even that would be a squeeze.
I pulled out of the driveway, pointedly keeping my eyes on the road.
“How small exactly is this apartment of yours?”
“One bedroom.” The two words came out whispered and garbled, almost as if my voice refused to acknowledge our new reality.
“Excuse me, what? I think I heard you say one bedroom.”
I kept my eyes glued to the windshield. “That’s because you did.”
A punch landed on my arm and I swerved to the left. “What the hell! You nearly made me run off the road.”
“Bullshit. And don’t change the topic.” Keely waved her hands up and down. “You could have moved in with me.”
I let out a strangled laugh.
“Okay, fine,” she conceded. “Moving in would have been a tight squeeze. But I could have lent you the money to afford something better. Or even stay in the house.”
“Keely. I love you. And I love that you’re prepared to help me. But you’re already paying for my lawyer. My extremely expensive lawyer. If I borrowed any more money, I’d have to give you an organ as payment.”
My usually chatty and eloquent friend cleared her throat. “Yeah, so about that.”
“What about what?”
“The money for the lawyer. You don’t owe me anything.”
Glancing at Keely, I noticed how she suddenly avoided making eye contact. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I never paid Vance.”
“What? Why not? Didn’t they send you the invoice? I gave them your email. I’ll call first thing on Monday to sort it out.”