Page 113 of Maid For Each Other

So now I was trying to remember how to get back to the old me.

Which was why I hated that I had to clean his apartment that night; no way would thatnotset me back a few steps.

Before we met, I’d been able to enjoy how gorgeous his place was when I cleaned it. I’d imagine what it’d be like to live there, but when I thought of the person who actually lived there, this stranger I didn’t know, I mocked the idea of him.

The idea of somebody who was never there but spent a fortune on a gorgeous condo.

It had to be someone with zero respect for money and all the wrong values, right?

And now I knew that was absolutely true.

I was filled with dread as I took the service elevator up to his floor. I knew his place was going to look different to me now than it had before. I was going to remember making food in the kitchen, watching TV with him, dropping my raincoat and having him tell me I was stunning.

It was like my movie had been filmed in that apartment, my favorite rom-com in the entire world that I’d rewatched a hundred times.

But now it was over, those characters weren’t real, and the apartment was just another set. Abi and Dex were people who’d been playing their parts and now they’d moved on to their next show, leaving this set vacant and ready for whatever the next act was going to be.

I used my key and let myself in, ready to concentrate on work and nothing else. I was going to scrub surfaces without reallyseeingthe place; that was the plan.

Eyes down, mops up.

But as soon as the door closed behind me, I heard Declan’s voice, and it shook me to my core. It felt like the worst déjà vu.

“Abi, is that you?”

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.I didn’t know what to do.

Part of me wanted to just run out the door like I hadn’t been there, yet there was another traitorous part of me that was hungry for the sight of him.

But I didn’t want him to see me, not like this.

Somehow the thought of him seeing me with a cartful of janitorial supplies, not to mention my bird’s-nest bun andI LOVE NEW YONKT-shirt and shredded jeans was too much.

“Abi.”

It wasn’t a question this time, and he walked out of the office, his unwavering gaze on me. He was wearing black slacks and a button-down with a tie, and my favorite watch.

He looked so beautiful it made me want to cry.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, wishing I was anywhere else. “It looked like on my schedule you were going to be gone. I can clear out of here and just have them reschedule when you’re—”

“I’m here because of you,” he interrupted.

“What?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been trying to reach you and couldn’t get a hold of you, so I lied to Masterkleen and said I was going to be out of town on the off chance you’d show up.”

“What do you want?” I asked, feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under me.

Did he need another weekend? I wanted to puke at the thought.

“I want you to tell me why you didn’t take the money.”

Oh, he’s here about the money.

“Because I realized it was ridiculous,” I said. “It was madness that someone would have to pay a small fortune for a weekend companion. It wasn’t difficult work, so it was ludicrous to take money like that.”

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