32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Spencer
I wake up late in the morning. Actually, the afternoon. When I get up, my phone has a text from Vic and a voicemail from Sam.
Vic: Lis brought you some cookies. They’re here if you want to get them before going to get the real estate stuff sorted.
Me: I just got up. I’m going to shower and then I’ll come down. Can I borrow the car today?
Vic: All yours. Keys on the hook by the door.
I shower before I listen to Sam’s message, trying in vain to wash off the sadness and apprehension that’s been covering me like a heavy cloak for the last few days. It doesn’t work the way I want it to, but I get out and dress and then listen to the message. She tells me she has everything ready for me and I can come down to her office any time to sort out the final details.
So I grab the keys, stopping by the office first.
“What’s this?” I ask, lifting the container of cookies.
Vic shrugs. “She just stopped by and asked if I could make sure you got them. Seems she thinks you’re in need of cheering up.”
“She made me cookies and cinnamon rolls this week.”
She spins her pen between her fingers as she leans back in her chair, assessing me. “Sounds like things are coming back around.”
“I don’t know. Until she says so, I’m not going to make any assumptions.”
“Derek and Adalie want to know if you want to go out tonight. Derek said drinks are on him if you want to get shitfaced.”
I huff a laugh and shake my head. “Maybe on Thursday.”
“You going to your new place now?”
“Sam’s office first. But then, yeah.”
“When does your furniture show up?”
Over the last week, I’d gone back to the furniture stores and chosen what I wanted. Thankfully, the couch I wanted was the floor model, so I could have it whenever I was ready. The dining set had to be ordered and would take a few weeks.
“Couch comes on Thursday afternoon,” I say. “Movers are coming to your place next Monday.”
“When are you going to have people over? Reveal the big surprise?”
I shrug. “Ask me on Thursday.”
She gives me a sympathetic smile. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
I meet Sam and spend more money in a single day than I’ve ever spent in my life. But everything goes smoothly and then she hands me the keys.
“That’s it?” I ask.
“That’s it,” she says. Then she hands me a basket filled with a bunch of neat kitchen things like a baking dish, an oven mitt, and some silicone spoons and something flat. “A little gift to say thank you for your business.”
“What’s this?” I ask, pointing.
“The spatula?”
“That’s not a spatula. You’d never be able to flip anything with that.”
She laughs. “It’s not for flipping. It’s for mixing, usually. Sometimes spreading things like icing. You really don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen, do you?”
I shake my head, trying not to think about Lis.
“Are you okay, Spencer? You don’t seem as excited about your new place as I thought you would be.”
I try to give her a smile. “I will be. It’s just a bad day. Thank you for this. It’s all stuff I need.”
“I figured you might. Well, it was a pleasure. I’m glad to have helped you.”
I leave her office and go to my new apartment, carrying up my box of dishes and the gift from Sam. I unlock the front door and step inside.
Everything is quiet and empty. The sun streams in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, trying in vain to cheer me up. And I should be happy. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to come here until the day after tomorrow. Or even the day after that.
I set my things on the kitchen counter, suddenly feeling very tired.
I return to the car and bring up more things. Vic and I had purchased a bunch of cleaning supplies. The previous owner had been required to clean before they handed over possession, but Vic said I might want to do it myself so I know what’s been done.
I spend the day scrubbing everything. It’s a good exercise to keep me from thinking too much. I order some pizza for dinner, having it delivered and ensuring I set up the buzzer so I know when they arrive.
After I eat—the only thing I’ve eaten today—I tidy up and then sit on the floor with my back to the kitchen island, looking out the window with the view of the ocean. I watch that view for a long time, wishing my mom could be here, wondering what she would think of the place.
I’m still wondering when I fall asleep.
#
I wake to the sound of my phone ringing. My neck and back hurt from how I’ve been sitting. I reach into my jeans pocket and fish out my phone.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?” Vic asks.
“I’m at my place.”
“You dumbass. You have no furniture.”
“I know,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck.
“Where did you sleep?”
“On the floor.” I’m even more tired now that I had been before I fell asleep.
“Fuck, Spencer. Why do you have to be so…”
“Extraordinary?” I ask in a lame attempt at a joke.
“Extra,” Vic says. “You coming home before your dad’s?”
“Yeah,” I say, groaning as I stand. I stretch, trying to work out the kinks from sleeping on the floor. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.
“Good. I have something to show you.”
“What?”
“Just come home, doofus.” I hear her muttering something about idiots sleeping on floors before she hangs up.
I take another look around the apartment, but I can’t really see it, so I just leave everything as I had the night before.