And here I am, just across the street. The owner of this cozy bungalow was happy to sell to me for three times the fair market value.
Watching her has been a crash course in Pandora. She goes out every morning to pick up breakfast from the corner restaurant two blocks down. She sits on her front porch swing in the afternoons.
That’s my favorite time to watch her, because she’s totally unguarded. Her gaze seems to stray along the flowers that grow untrimmed in the boxes along the front walk. She’s done it the last two days, and each time I had to force myself to stay put. Because when I see the sadness in her eyes, it almost breaks me.
But I stay strong. That’s what she needs from me more than anything else. She has to figure this out, because she made a promise to her grandmother.
A car passes, pulling my attention back to my current vigil. It’s after breakfast but before lunch, which means that she’s in the living room trying to figure out the box.
I pull out my binoculars and watch as she tinkers with it and can’t help but smile when I read multiple curses on her lips. The box won’t open. The key is lodged in the lock, but what Pandora doesn’t know is that the mechanism to open it isn’t quite so simple. Much like my closet vault, the key is only part of the equation.
I sit back as Shah jumps into my lap and settles in. We’ll spend the next few hours right here watching my love through the window. Time well spent.
We’re about an hour in when Mrs. Pettyford calls.
“Morning,” I answer.
“She call you yet?”
“No.” I’ve seen her pick up her phone several times a day, start to dial, then turn it off. If I haunt her thoughts even half as much as she haunts mine, she’s feeling more than a little tortured right now.
“Why not? And why won’t you just go over there and give her all you got?”
“We’ve been over this.”
“I know. You told me your plan. I told you it’s foolish.” She snorts. “And Shah agrees with me.”
He looks up at me but has the good grace not to meow his agreement.
“She’ll come back to me.”
“What if she doesn’t?”
“She will.” I grind my teeth and watch as Pandora gives up and plops down on her sofa.
“Why can’t you just go over there and toss her over your shoulder and make her yours?”
“Because it has to be her choice. I want her to choose me the same way I’ve chosen her. Not because I have something she wants, but because I’m the one she needs above all others.”
“That’s already true.” Mrs. Pettyford sighs. “I knew it the first moment I saw you with her. The two of you are halves of the same whole.” She sighs again, this one even more long-suffering. “But I suppose I can see your point. You’re being level-headed for once.”
I want Pandora to come to me, but some things are true no matter what she does. “I’ll never let her go. If she stays in that house for the next month, I’ll stay right here across the street. Wherever she goes, I’ll be there, too. So don’t think for a second I’m above taking what I want.”
“I know you aren’t.” She snickers. “And that’s how I know you aren’t going to last much longer. Give Shah kisses for me, and I’ll see you back at home in a few days.” She hangs up before I can argue.
Shah rests his chin on his paws in a rather self-satisfied manner.
I shake my head at both him and Mrs. Pettyford. Pandora isn’t going to get away from me. But I have to admit, the urge to kick her door in and pin her to the floor until she moans my name is growing stronger every day.
“Patience,” I growl, mostly to myself.
Pandora sits up and fiddles with the box for another fifteen minutes before throwing her hands up and retreating to the small kitchen.
I can’t see her, but I know she’s likely boiling some ramen while stewing about the locked box. I’m about to get up and grab one of my prepped lunches (thanks, Mrs. Pettyford) from the fridge when my phone rings.
My heart jumps, because I’m hoping the unknown number just happens to be the landline across the street.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Gaines.” High pitched and covered in sticky saccharine, this voice can belong to only one person.
“Selena.”
“It’s time for you to make good on your date.”
“I’m busy.”
She laughs, the sound forced. “Too bad. The rules of the auction were that I get to name the time and place, and I choose tonight.”
I grip the phone so tight I fear I might break it. “No.”
“You have to.” Her tone sours.
“You can’t even afford that bid, and we both know it.”
“I won.” She leaves the too sweet tone behind. “And you’re mine tonight. If you renege, then I suppose I’ll have to inform the tabloids that your auction is fixed and the money doesn’t actually go to charity.”
“None of that’s true.”
“Doesn’t mean they won’t print it. You know how this works, Gaines. You take me out tonight, and we won’t have a problem. If you go back on our agreement, your charity will go down in flames.”
Shah jumps from my lap, his tail twitching.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Selena, it doesn’t matter if you force me to spend time with you. I don’t want you. I’m in love with someone else.”
“We’ll see about that. Tonight, eight o’clock, my place. I’ll text the address. Ciao.” The line goes dead.
“Fuck.” I slam the phone down next to me and look out the window at Pandora. She’s pacing beside the box.
There’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere with Selena, but I need to get back to the city to do damage control. She’s forced my hand. However, leaving my treasure unguarded isn’t an option. It looks like Mrs. Pettyford will get her way after all.
I stand. “Well, Shah, looks like we’re headed home.” I peer at Pandora as she pulls on her hair in utter frustration and yells at the box. “Right after we kidnap our girl.”
21
Pandora
My fingers trail along my bare neck. It feels weird not to have my necklace on. Now that it’s no longer locked around my neck, I want it back there. I wore it for so long that I can tell something’s missing. I know that’s not the only thing missing though. The absence of Gaines weighs on my mind more than I’d like to admit. “It’s my necklace, box. Give it back.” I smack the top of the box out of frustration.
“Careful what you wish for,” I mumble to myself.
I’d come back home thinking I’d find something here that I’d missed. Maybe a clue that my grandma left behind, but I’ve had no such luck. I’m just alone in a house that doesn’t make me smile like it used to.
I should call him. Gaines would know what to do. This is his specialty, after all. He’d been after me because he wanted the key. Maybe he can tell me how to use it. Or would he just come and take it the same way he’d taken my heart?
I pick up my phone, starting to call, but drop it again. I shouldn’t call. Why hasn't he tried to call me? It’s probably because he knows I’m on to him. If he thought I’d only run out on him, he would’ve called by now. Right? This logic makes sense to me.