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A loud thump on the door interrupted them. “Yo! Got a dresser here.”

“I don’t know,” Jude muttered, getting up to answer the door. “Curing the common cold?”

The kid on the other side of the door jerked his chin in greeting while his partner, who looked about sixteen, leaned on the dresser, snapping a wad of gum the size of a baby’s fist. “S’up, bro. Where ya want this?”

“Room at the end of the hall,” Jude told him, pointing. “Just pick a good spot against the wall somewhere.”

“Bro,” the kid replied, which Jude assumed meant ‘okay’, and they wheeled the dolly with the dresser down the hall.

“You think they recognized me?” Tommy asked, and Jude sighed and went to find some cash for a tip.

5

By the time they were interviewing the second cleaning service on Tuesday afternoon, Jude was sure of two things. The first was that Tommy was right—he was in love with Brynn. And the second was that he was never going to survive it.

It was like he’d been wearing sunglasses for nine months, but now they’d been torn away, and he was forced to face the sunlight for the first time. It was brilliant and beautiful and breathtaking and it waskilling him.

He had no idea if Tommy’s claim that she wanted him back was accurate or not because he couldn’t concentrate enough to pay attention. He was so caught up in his own staggering realization he couldn’t seem to focus on anything else, including the poor woman trying to sell him on her cleaning service. Thank God Brynn was there to do most of the talking because the most he’d managed to contribute to the conversation was his name and ‘hello’.

So when his phone rang while Brynn was explaining the kind of service they were looking for to Maria from Maid For You—or maybe it was Meridith, he couldn’t remember—he gratefully excused himself to take it.

He stepped out into the hall, the better to escape the fog of feelings short-circuiting his brain, and answered the phone. “Grant, hey. What’s up?”

“A lot,” Grant said, sounding pissed. “I’ve been talking to the cops for the last hour.”

“The cops?”

“Yeah. That little shit fuck Adam in accounting embezzled half a million dollars.”

Jude blinked. “What the hell?”

“You can say that again.” Grant heaved a sigh. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time—the cops still need to talk to me, and I need to get an auditor in here ASAP—but I wanted to give you what I could.”

Jude took the phone away from his ear, put it on speaker, and opened his notes app. “Go.”

He took notes for the next few minutes while Grant talked and only refrained from asking questions because his smooth-talking agent sounded so frazzled.

“That’s all I’ve got for now,” Grant finished. “I’ve got to get back in there.”

“Right. Thanks for the update.”

“No problem. I’m sorry about this, Jude.”

“You didn’t steal the money,” Jude reminded him.

“I hired the asshole who did,” Grant shot back. “I’m gonna fucking fry that little shit.”

Jude winced, grateful he wasn’t on the receiving end of Grant’s wrath. “Do you need anything?”

“No, but thanks. I need to get back.”

“Talk to you later,” Jude said and ended the call just as the apartment door opened, and a smiling Brynn walked out with the cleaning lady.

“Thanks so much for coming by,” Brynn said, darting a questioning glance at Jude.Grant,he mouthed, and she nodded.Reaching out to hit the elevator button, she turned her attention back to the other woman. “We’re meeting with one other company this afternoon, and then we’ll be making a decision. You can expect a call from us by tomorrow.”

“Wonderful.” With a professional smile, Maria—he really thought it might be Maria—shook Brynn’s hand, then his.

“Thanks for coming,” Jude said, giving her his best I’m-sorry-I-was-a-bonehead smile. “Sorry I had to step out.”

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