Page 91 of Catch Me
CHAPTER 26
Andreas
I walk past my doorman, nodding, feeling fucking spent but uneasy.
Everything on set went perfectly today. I knew it in my bones that I nailed the scene. But I haven’t seen Ivy all day aside from the moment right before filming started.
Though it’s past midnight, my heart aches to see her, to hold her while I drift off to sleep.
“Mr. Townsend,” the night security greets with a smile as if it were nine in the morning instead of the middle of the night.
“Chris,” I say, knowing all of the security on staff by their first name.
“There’s a gift waiting for you in your condo,” he tells me, a tinge of worry in his eyes. “It was dropped off by Ms. Sterling. Since you granted full access to her even when you’re not home, she was sent up right away, but told the front desk that she left you something when she came down less than a half an hour later. I hope …”
He trails off when I hold my hand up.
“What time was this?”
“About seven o’clock. I didn’t come in until eleven, but Clarke was the officer on staff at that time, and he left timestamps in our shared notes.”
He hesitates.
“If, if, if that’s a problem we can bring in additional security to search your apartment and revoke?—”
“It’s not an issue at all,” I tell him. “I’m going up now.”
What I don’t tell Chris is that there is an issue. The problem isn’t that Ivy was here without me. It’s that she left.
I’m tempted to race up the stairs, but my legs feel like lead at this point. So I wait for the damn elevator.
I enter my front door only to come to a complete stop two steps in. My lips twitch as I stare at the aluminum balloons that read “Congratulations” and “Job Well Done” respectively. At the end of the balloon strings, sitting in the middle of my coffee table, is a cake box.
Moving closer, I read the writing on the cake through the plastic window.
“We knew you would kill it!” it reads.
Next to the cake is a separate box, this one flatter. A shirt box. I open the gift to find a note laying on top of tissue paper. I lift the note first and just take in the feminine swirliness of the cursive letters.
Andreas,
I tried not to watch but I couldn’t help it. You were amazing today. Since it’s apparently bad luck to say what I really think, I wanted to give you something as a congratulations. The cake is carrot, so there are some vegetables in it *winky face*.
The moment I saw this shirt in the vintage store, I thought of you. I made some alterations to make it more your style. Hope you like it.
Ivy
I pass my finger over Ivy’s writing one more time, committing her handwriting to memory before placing the note on the table. Beneath the tissue paper is a vintage dark green, short-sleeve shirt with an extended tan color. The color contrast elevates the elegance of the shirt.
Right away I know this shirt would look amazing on me with a pair of dark black slacks or jeans, depending if I wanted to dress it up or down.
Before I can make heads or tails of anything, my phone is in my hand and the phone on the other end of my call is ringing.
“Hello?”
Her groggy voice has a trace of guilt coursing through me. But my selfishness wins out.
“There’s something missing,” I say.
