I followed April up the hall, passing a fair amount of storage in a wall of closets. Across from them were the doors to two bedrooms. I waited outside one as April walked in, looked around and came back out. She went to the next room, which from the doorway looked larger and was likely the master. At the end of the hall was a guest back.
“Why do you need two bedrooms?” I asked, unable to stop myself. I was practically crossing my fingers hoping she didn’t have a boyfriend or fiancé or fuck…a husband.
A slight tinge of pink came to her cheeks. Immediately, I was back eight years ago and loving how her cheeks blushed when I expressed my lust for her.
“I need a home office,” she said, turning away from me and checking the bathtub in the guest bath. “I’m making a career change.”
“Oh? How’s that?” I leaned a shoulder against the wall, with my hands still safely in my pockets.
“I just quit my job and am trying to determine my next move.”
Like the universe was talking to me, I immediately thought of Mr. Lassen’s comment about having someone up front at the office.
“What do you do? As a profession?” I asked.
“My degree is in business administration and accounting—”
“Accounting? Like August.” Jesus, did she follow in his footsteps? How depressing. Not that accounting was a bad thing, but it wasn’t what April had planned to do. At least I didn’t think so. One of the things I’d loved about her was how open she was to life. She was curious about everything. She couldn’t ever answer the question about what she wanted to major in in college because she didn’t know.
“I want to take a class in every subject and see what speaks to me,” she’d say.
I remembered one time after we’d made love, we lay naked in bed and went through her college catalog where she told me about all the classes she wanted to take. Italian. Folklore. Women’s Studies. Criminology. Child Development. Dance. I’d suggested human sexuality, but she informed me she was taking that now, and then she blew my brains out with a blow job.
What I didn’t remember was her expressing any interest in business or accounting.
She nodded. “I wanted to study something practical. That I knew I could use to support myself.”
I frowned as I got the feeling that her answer was practiced. I wondered if August had forced her into giving up her desire to study as many different things as she could, and instead get a practical degree. It sounded like something he’d do. August had always been one for order and pragmatism. He’d taken it to the nth degree when he told me that I wasn’t good enough for April. From a practical standpoint, he was probably right. I didn’t have a career that was always steady or paid well. Construction was often at the whim of weather and the economy. But I loved her with everything I had. I couldn’t imagine anyone loving her as much as I did. Hell, I left her to improve my financial prospects simply so I’d have something to offer her.
I shook my head of thoughts of the past and focused on her. “Do you work at your dad’s firm?”
“I did. I quit.” There was a determination and fire in her eyes at that statement. It couldn’t have been easy to walk away from her father’s firm. From August. I wondered what had happened to make her want to leave.
I also wondered how desperate she was for a job. Would she take one from me?
“You know, this might not fit with what you do, but Cyrus and I just opened our new office today and we need an office manager.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you offering me a job?”
“It’s yours if you want it.” Inwardly, I questioned what I was doing. I had no clue about her qualifications or experience. All I had to go on was the woman I’d known before, who was smart and conscientious. At the same time, I couldn’t stop the ridiculous longing for her to take my offer. I was supposed to be getting her out of my system.
“I’d need to know more about it,” she said. That wasn’t a no.
“Yes, of course. I can give you all the details. Are you free for dinner tonight?” Holy shit, was I asking her on a date?
Her eyes widened in surprise, that matched my own, but she didn’t say anything.
“So, what do you think?” the leasing manager interrupted us. “It’s clean and spacious, don’t you think?
“Can we look at the one bedroom now?” April asked.
“Yes, of course. This one doesn’t work?”
“It’s very nice, but like Ju…” She stopped herself and simply nodded toward me. I wondered why she didn’t want to say my name. Or maybe she didn’t want the leasing lady to know we knew each other. My brain went to all sorts of crazy ideas about that. Maybe she didn’t want the leasing woman to tell her boyfriend that her ex was here. Jesus, I was going around the bend.
“Like him, I’d like to see the one bedroom,” April finished.
The leasing woman led us out and up the stairs to a unit almost directly above the two bedroom one. Wouldn’t it be something if she and I were neighbors of sorts? Then again, if she did have a boyfriend, I didn’t want to have to see it.
“The one bedroom is similar to the two-bedroom place in the kitchen and living room layout. It only has one bath though.”
We toured the one bedroom, which I knew would suit me fine. The leasing woman stayed with us, so I didn’t have a chance to talk privately with April. After viewing the unit, we all walked back to the leasing office.
“So, was there one you liked?” she asked April and me.
“I need to think about it,” April said.
“Yes of course. Let me give you some information.” The woman pulled out a folder and opened it. “In here we have our brochures, apartment layouts, pricing sheet, and information about amenities.” She shut it and handed it to April along with her card. “If you have any questions or want to look at the apartments again, let me know.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” April turned to leave.
The leasing woman turned to me. “What about you?”
“I’m ready to take the one bedroom,” I said, torn between taking care of this and following April out.
The woman smiled in a way that suggested she wasn’t just happy to have a sale, but also that I might expect visits from her now and then. “Have a seat and I’ll get the lease agreement out.”
“I’m going to sign, but can you give me a minute?” I didn’t wait for an answer as I hurried out the door to catch up with April. “April.”
She stopped and turned, her eyes surprised and wary. I wondered what the wariness was about.
“You didn’t answer me about dinner.” I hated how desperate I sounded.
She bit her lip, and I was sure she was going to say no. “Okay. Mangione’s? Seven?”
I’m sure my smile looked ridiculous. “I’ll be there.”
She gave me a nod and then turned to leave. I watched her, my heart filling. There was no fucking way I was going to rid her from me, I realized. A part of her would always be with me. The question was, how did she feel? Was she just looking for a job? Or maybe some part of me was with her too? Tonight, I was determined to find out.