Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 117574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
“No, I didn’t know the guy. I bought the place in an online auction, sight unseen. The owner died without an heir.”
“Huh.”
After making his vague grunt of a comment, Auggie doesn’t move from his spot in the hallway. Apparently, he’s determined to be a looky-loo. And so, with a deep exhale, I turn to the door, position my shiny, new key, and slide it into my shiny, new lock.
Click.
“Here we go,” I whisper to Tessa, as butterflies whoosh into my belly.
“It’s gonna be fine,” she murmurs back, patting my shoulder.
I try to open the door wide, but something blocks its movement, midway, from the inside. My brow furrowed, I poke my head through the gap and shriek when I behold the chaos on the other side of the door. There are stacks of random stuff everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. On every surface. Covering every fucking inch. Also, the place smells terrible.
“Oh, god,” I blurt. “It’s a hoarder’s paradise in here, Tessa. Fucking hell.”
I yank my head from the doorway, feeling dizzy. I figured I’d need to do some deep cleaning, of course. Also, since the unit came furnished, that I’d also need to haul away some gross, out-of-date furniture. I’ve foreseen needing to paint and pull up old, stained carpeting, too. But this? It’s going to take me weeks to clear out the place before I can even begin to deep-clean and figure out what else needs to be done to spruce it up. Which means—oh, God—there’s no way in hell I’ll make Carlo’s deadline now. No freaking way. The only question now is: should I try my best, even though I already know my best isn’t going to be good enough, or flee right now and go into hiding?
“Let me see,” Tessa says, nudging me to the side. When I make room in the doorframe for her, Tessa pokes her head into the gap and blurts, “Whoa. How did he live here? Every nook and cranny is jam-packed. Ugh. It smells awful, too.”
As she’s peeking, I slide my back down the hallway wall, ultimately coming to a rest on my ass on the floor. I’m vaguely aware that Auggie is now peeking through the gap in the door and repeating the gist of what Tessa said, but I’m too upset to care or reply. I’m at the end of the line. The end of my rope. I took a huge gamble in an effort to fix a massive mistake, and it didn’t pay off. It’s as simple as that. In fact, it’s now clear my gamble has failed miserably.
All of a sudden, a warm, furry body climbs into my lap. A wet tongue licks my hand where I’ve just wiped away a salty tear. It’s exactly what my beloved childhood mutt, Candy, used to do to comfort me when I cried, so I break down, hug Lucky to me, and let my tears flow.
“Aw, sweetie,” Tessa says. She sits down next to me on the floor and pats my arm. “It’s going to be okay, my love. I just texted a guy I know and asked him to bring a crew in here ASAP and get everything hauled away and cleaned in record time.”
“I can’t let you do that,” I murmur from behind my hands.
“I already did.”
“You’ve already done way too much for me, T.”
“And you’ve done a million things for me. That’s friendship, Charlotte. In fact, we both know you’ve done far more amazing things for me than I could ever repay you for. I wouldn’t even be with Ryan now, if it weren’t for you.” She pauses to look at the phone in her hand. “My friend just replied. He says he’ll bring a crew here tomorrow morning at seven and they’ll handle everything. Not to worry.”
With Lucky still in my lap, I lean over and rest my temple on Tessa’s shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll repay you after I sell or rent the place out. I promise.”
“Absolutely not,” she replies. “Consider this my housewarming gift.”
“I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. It’s going to be okay.”
I sit up and wipe my cheeks, and that’s when I realize Auggie is now staring down at me, his mouth hanging open. “Lucky’s terrified of strangers,” he murmurs. “He won’t even let my brother touch him.”
I pat Lucky’s head. “Go on, buddy. You’d better go back to your mean, heartless, petty daddy now. Big surprise, he doesn’t like you comforting me.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I’m thrilled Lucky’s comforting you. I’m just shocked, that’s all.” When I don’t speak because I’m feeling too beaten down to muster a reply, Auggie’s features soften in sympathy. “I’m sorry your place is such a mess. You didn’t know that was coming?”
I shake my head. “I knew the place would require some deep cleaning and fixing up. But, no, I didn’t expect the place to be this bad.” I push Lucky gently off me and stand up, and Lucky hops over to Auggie’s feet. “I’ll be okay,” I say, brushing off my jeans. “Thanks for your concern.”