California Girls (Page 35)

The date of the wedding was rapidly approaching. As she studied the sealed boxes and the stuff yet to be packed, she wondered how she was going to feel on the actual day. Would she be sad, angry, depressed, resolute or some combination of a thousand other emotions she couldn’t predict? And while she was on the subject, what was Glen feeling? Did he miss her at all? Miss them? Did she want him to? She’d been so caught up in logistics that she hadn’t spent a lot of time on her own emotions. Or maybe she’d been hiding from them. Either way at some point she was going to have to deal. Not just with the loss she felt, but also the lack of loss. The truth was she didn’t miss Glen much at all.

She hated admitting that, but what choice did she have? She’d been sad at first and humiliated because hey, who wouldn’t be, but not devastated. She wasn’t crushed or thinking she would never again be happy. What was up with that? She wanted to tell herself she was in shock, but she wasn’t sure she was. And if she wasn’t—if she’d really gotten over him so very easily—what did that say about her, about them? If she hadn’t been in love with him, why on earth had she agreed to marry him?

All difficult questions she didn’t want to think about but until Daniel and his guys showed up, she didn’t have many distractions. She walked through the half packed, half empty apartment, as if she could find the answers somewhere in a closet or drawer. There were pieces of her life with Glen, items from the life they were going to have together, but no real pain, no heartbreak. She’d been so sure he was the one…but he wasn’t.

Before she could go down the path of wondering what she’d done wrong, she heard a knock at her door. She opened it to find Daniel flanked by two massive guys. He was at least six feet so his friends had to be six-five or six-six. They both had shaved heads and lots of tattoos. Ali stared at a beautiful swirling tattoo design and wondered if she should get a tattoo herself. Something to signify her life taking a new direction or…

“Morning,” Daniel said, holding out a take-out coffee. “All ready for us?”

“Not as ready as I wanted to be. There was a crisis at work. But at least I’m sorted.”

Daniel nodded at the guys with him. “Sam and Jerome. They’re helping us today. This is Ali.”

“Ma’am,” they said together.

“We’re happy to help you,” Sam added. “Just show us what you want done.”

She stepped back and led them through her suddenly tiny apartment. She’d packed up her bedroom and living room, but there were still some things in the kitchen cupboards. Jerome went downstairs and got boxes and tape while Sam went to work on the furniture. He pushed her sofa and coffee table to the center of the room.

“I should do something,” she said to Daniel.

“Drink your coffee.”

“I should do something more.”

“They’ve got it handled.”

The two men did. Sam moved to the kitchen. He expertly packed dishes and glasses, using plenty of paper to wrap each breakable item carefully. Boxes were sealed and labeled, then stacked in the living room. At the same time, Jerome wrapped her sofa in plastic wrap. He took apart her coffee table and wrapped it up, as well, then took her lamps apart. By ten o’clock, everything she owned was in neat piles or sealed in boxes. The guys began to move the items out to the truck Daniel had rented.

As the rooms were emptied, she vacuumed the carpet. She’d already cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer, and had tackled the bathroom a few days before. It didn’t take long for them all to be done, then she was standing in what had been her home, wondering when everything had gone wrong.

“Ma’am,” Jerome said from the open front door. “We’re loaded.”

She smiled. “You really can call me Ali.”

“Yes, ma’am. Whenever you’re ready.”

She looked around. “I wasn’t sure if it would be hard to leave or not.”

“Is it hard?”

She drew in a breath. “More sad, I think. Starting over isn’t easy, even when it’s the right thing to do.”

“That’s true, but if you don’t start over, you stay stuck where you are. Sometimes that’s worse.”

She wondered what Jerome was starting over from. Not that she would ask. Repaying his hard work with prying questions seemed rude.

“Thank you for all your help, Jerome.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Seriously? You’re not going to say my name?”

Instead of answering, he winked at her, then walked out of the apartment. Ali took a last look around before stepping onto the landing and locking the door behind her. She went to the front office where she turned in her key before heading to her car to drive to Daniel’s and what an optimist would call the first day of the rest of her life.

Chapter Sixteen

At Daniel’s house, the unloading went quickly. The furniture and boxes for storage went into the far bay of the garage with plenty of room to spare. Jerome and Sam took the other boxes into the room she would be using. She and Daniel carried in the clothes she’d left on hangers. Well before noon, she was moved.

“You’re going to let me pay for the truck and the guys’ time,” she said when they were done.

Daniel shook his head. “It’s already taken care of. Sam and Jerome work for me so they’re getting paid through the company and I borrowed the truck from a friend. There’s nothing to pay.”

She insisted on giving each of the guys forty dollars. Daniel went and got sandwiches while she started the process of moving into the oversize bedroom and bath. When he returned, he put the food on her dresser and left.

It took her less time than she would have thought to unpack. She had more closet space and more drawers than she’d had before, which made fitting in her clothes super easy. The bathroom had tons of storage, and everything else—her laptop, bill file and checkbook—went into the desk. She even had a small linen closet with plenty of sheets and towels. She made the bed, adding a pretty patterned blanket across the foot of the mattress, then opened up her laptop and checked her email.

Nothing except for a few email ads. Her phone was just as quiet. No texts from anyone. She sent Finola and Zennie each a “thinking of you” text, then stood in the center of the room and wondered what she was supposed to do now. And for the next fifty years.

It was kind of a daunting question. What was she going to do? Get her own place, for sure. But what about the rest of it? There was no Glen, no wedding, no yet-to-be conceived children. Did she want to start dating again? Change jobs? Go to college and get a degree? Start working out?

She told herself that her mini life crisis was about all the upheaval of the past few weeks. She would give herself a little time to get settled, then she would come up with a plan.

She wandered into the kitchen and got a glass of water, then decided to explore the downstairs. That should be safe and allowed. She was surprised to find Daniel reading in the living room. And not a tablet, either. The man was holding a book.

He looked up when he saw her. “All unpacked?”

“Yes. It was easy. There’s plenty of storage. Going from small to bigger is much easier than the other way around. Thanks again for letting me move in. I appreciate having the transition space.”

He put down the book and motioned for her to take a seat. “It’s going to take you a while to get used to living here,” he told her.

“I think that’s true for both of us.” She smiled. “You don’t strike me as the roommate type.”

He flashed her a smile that had her stomach doing all kinds of flippy-over things. “I’ve had my share.”

“I’m talking roommates, not girlfriends.”

“I know you are.” His humor faded. “Ali, I meant what I said. I want you to take your time when it comes to finding a place. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

“I appreciate that. I’m going to wait a few weeks and then figure out a plan. I don’t want you to get sick of me.”

Something flashed in his eyes, something that she couldn’t define although she didn’t think it was bad. “There’s no chance of that,” he told her. “You’re strong. You’ll have decided what you want long before that’s an issue.”

“You think I’m strong? Is that how you see me?”

“Of course. Look at what you’ve been through in the past few weeks. You had a couple of bad days after you found out about Glen, then you handled it all.”

“Actually, I completely fell apart then asked a virtual stranger for help.”

His smile was gentle. “You reached out to friends. That’s the healthy thing to do.”

“You make me sound way better than I am.”

“Is that bad?”

“No. It’s nice. I’m just…” She looked away, then back at him. “I’m going to say something and I want you to just listen. No judging.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever judged you.”

She hesitated. “I’m not sure I was ever in love with Glen.”

Daniel didn’t say anything and his expression was unreadable.