Page 15 of Fall at Once

“Yeah, about that,” Gigi hedged. “Um, come on. I’ll show you.”

“Okay…”

I followed Gigi to the interior entrance of the two apartments above the shop, wrapping an arm around her waist and helping her climb the stairs.

She already had a tenant in the unit across from mine. She’d told me at dinner last night he was one of the town’s Huber drivers.Old Jimmy Huber had seen an opportunity and jumped on it. He had a couple of guys working for him, and my soon-to-be neighbor, Noah, was one of them.

“Okay. Listen.” She stopped. Hesitating with her hand on the doorknob. “I didn’t tell you this at dinner last night, but the apartment already has a few tenants.”

Hell to the no.

“Roommates? I?—”

“No. Not quite.” She threw open the door and waved me through.

Three cats were asleep on the most adorable purple and white striped sofa I’d ever seen. It was covered with a rainbow array of throw pillows and a sunshine-yellow throw blanket that I remembered watching her knit with rapt attention when I was a little kid.

A coffee table was in front of the couch, with a squat vase filled with mums and marigolds in the middle, while a fuchsia wing chair with a tall back sat perpendicular. Its twin was across the room, flanking the fireplace—either chair would be a great reading spot. I could picture myself with a book, feet tucked beneath myself as I read the day away.

“Ahh, Gigi! Oh my god!” I didn’t know where to look—at the cats or the newly redecorated apartment interior. It was like she had raided a cottagecore-themed tag sale. Or, more likely, her attic. Grandma chic was the dominating theme in the space, and I had fallen in love with it at first sight.

To my left was a fireplace framed with two massivebookshelves, while straight ahead was an enormous bay window overlooking the street. Soft light filtered through panels of lacy white curtains, and in the distance, I could see the craggy glow of the Rocky Mountains. The window seat was upholstered with the same purple and white fabric as the couch—I could see myself there, curled up with a book and the cats.

To the right was the entrance to the kitchen and a door leading to a half bathroom.

It seemed that Gigi had taken note of everything I’d told her I liked over the years and had stuffed this place full of it.

I spun in a circle, taking everything in. It was a girlie paradise, with pastels, flowers, cozy, overstuffed furniture, and books, so many books. I took note as my eyes scanned the shelves. All my favorites were present and accounted for, from Jane Austen to the Brontë sisters, Nora Roberts to Charlaine Harris. It was all there.

“Gigi, what did you do?” I burst into ugly tears as I rushed to where she stood and hugged her hard.

There was one bedroom and a full bathroom down a short hallway to the left of the front door, and I couldn’t wait to see what she’d done in there. The bathroom had a huge copper clawfoot tub, which I’d always loved to soak in whenever my sisters and I stayed with our mom on holidays.

Gigi had redecorated and transformed this place into the apartment of my dreams, and I couldn’t help but wonder what I had done to deserve this.

My eyes shot to the shelf next to a little intricately carvedbench in the entryway, and I reached out to grab a tiny glass cat figurine. “Hey, I remember this.” I sniffled through tears and tried to recall where I’d seen it before.

“I found it at the house, under the guest room bed years ago, tucked into your old Hello Kitty suitcase. You were like a cute little crow, always stealing everyone’s stuff, remember that? You’d snatch it if it had sparkles or a cat on it.”

“Uh, I forgot I used to do that.” I hid my face in my hands. “I’m so sorry. I guess I just really loved cats. This is humiliating.”

“Ah, don’t worry, honey. It was cute.” She hobbled over to the couch to plop down and pet the cats. “We all thought so. Anyway, look around; you might find some memories tucked here and there.”

“Oh my god. I’m so embarrassed.”

“Pfft, don’t be.”

I smiled as a sleek black cat wound through my legs. I reached down and scooped her up.

“That’s Sage,” Gigi informed me. “The Maine Coon is Victor, and the chubby orange tub of trouble is Kenny. Sage started hanging around in the alley, and before I knew it—” She shrugged lightly. “I had a cat to love. But Basil isn’t fond of cats, and ofcourse, I’m allergic to them, so I moved her in here.”

“And the other two?”

“They’re her buddies. Not long after I set her up in here, she got out through the window and came back with Victor and Kenny. I came in to feed her, and they were in a pile on the old couch, sleeping as soundly as could be. I adore them. I’d take them to the house to live with me, but as you can see,” she started violently sneezing, “I can’t. Kenzie, Cole’s kids, and I visit them every day. It’s been a little over a week, and they seem to like it here. The vet said they were not chipped, and they weren’t fixed. I checked the local lost pets boards, and they’re not on them. So I kept them.”

“Say no more. I love everything about this. Why didn’t Cole take them? I mean, if his kids like them and all.”

“Well, he wanted to, but—” She hesitated before finishing. “Um, I knew you would be coming and, I uh?—”

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