Page 38 of A Second Chance At Forever

“What? Why?” I sat up and tossed the pictures down.

“I just can’t,” she whispered with sadness in her voice.

“Alissa, you have to. It’s where I am and the only way I can make sure you’re safe. Please do this, for me?”

“I can’t fucking believe I’m doing this. I haven’t been back to Georgia in years. You fucking owe me for this one, Lennox.” She didn’t sound happy when she hung up on me, but I smiled to myself knowing she was getting on that plane and would be with me soon.

I wokeup Monday morning feeling anxious, ready to have Alissa with me so I would know she was safe. I was planning on having her send out a statement announcing our breakup when I knew Chris couldn’t get to her.

I dressed quickly and grabbed my things before heading downstairs for a quick breakfast before picking up Alissa.

“Good morning, Kathryn.” I moved past her to pour myself a cup of coffee.

“Good morning, have any plans for today?”

“Yeah, I’m going to pick up a friend from the airport and then I’m going to look at apartments here in town. I really appreciate you guys letting me stay here, but I’m thinking of sticking around for a while and I will need my own place.”

“You are welcome here anytime, dear.”

I poured my coffee into a to go cup and headed for the door.

I pulledup to the airport a little while later and made my way inside to meet Alissa. I weaved through people, stood on my tiptoes, and did everything to find her. I finally sat down at the airport bar and sent her a text telling her where to meet me. I waited a few minutes before she came walking up.

“I can’t fucking believe you got me here.” She set down her bag and placed her hand on her hip.

I squealed and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m so happy you’re here. Come on, we have apartments to look at.” I picked up her bag and led her through the airport by her hand that I hadn’t let go of.

“Tell me what’s going on, why did you come here of all places?” Alissa asked once we were in the car and heading toward my first appointment.

“This is where I’m from, my dad lives here.”

“How did I not know that? I thought you were from New York or something.”

“Well, I was born in New York and I lived there until I was eighteen when Dad and I moved to Georgia after his and my mom’s divorce.” I pulled into the first location.

We walked into the building and made our way into the apartment.

“What do you think?” I asked her as we walked around the empty apartment.

“It’s kind of small.” She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find decaying food inside.

She gagged and closed it quickly.

“That’s a no.” I opened the front door while she sprinted out, gagging.

We spent the day going from apartment to apartment. I had three appointments set up and there was something wrong with all of them. Leaky ceiling, too small, dirty or crazy looking people standing around in the hallway. I was pretty sure the last one was a crack house sectioned off into studio apartments.

Finally, when we were about to give up and go home, I drove by a place with a vacancy sign in the window. I parked the car quickly and we made our way inside the large brick building.

We found the super and he unlocked the apartment to let us look inside.

It had a big living room with an open kitchen, only separated by a bar. There were hardwood floors throughout the apartment and there were two bedrooms with a bathroom in between.

“I think this will work for us. What do you think?” I asked Alissa.

“How long am I going to be staying here?”

“Until we know it’s safe.” She wasn’t happy with my response but didn’t argue.

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