Page 25 of Vacancy

“Thank you,” she breathed in relief.

With my back to her, I approached the window to get a little more light in here. “So where’d you go for so long, anyway?”

“Wherever the wind took me,” she answered with dreamy satisfaction, only to cry out in dismay when I yanked the curtains all the way open.

“Ack. I’m trying to watch a movie. Can you close that, please? At least partially.”

“Sure,” I told her and reclosed the curtain, leaving it halfway open so I could have enough light to at least see what I was doing. But jeez Louise. Someone was in a mood today.

As I hunted up a French vanilla cappuccino K-Cup and got my morning brew started, I yawned and turned to lean against the counter, facing the television as I watched some of the show with her while I waited for the cup to fill.

Wondering if it’d be too rude to ask when she was going to leave again so I could have the place back to myself, I said, “Want anything to drink?”

“No thanks. I’m good.” She gifted me with a more pleasant smile this time as she started to wind a piece of her hair around her finger.

When she returned her attention to the show, I shrugged and picked up my own mug once it was full. After taking a sip, I sighed, refreshed, and carried it to the spot on the island that had become my breakfast place, where I set down my phone and slid onto the stool.

“When’s your first class today?” I asked as I took another sip and eyed the bag of bagels on the counter in front of me, deciding whether I wanted one for breakfast or not.

“Don’t have any,” Thalia answered, distracted, before laughing at something in the movie.

My brows arched. “Really?”

Huh. Maybe I should’ve done that and scheduled my courses so I only had to attend three or four days a week. That certainly would’ve cut down on a lot of stress in my life.

“So how many hours are you taking overall this semester?”

Thalia only shrugged. “Enough.”

Well, alright, then.

She was definitely down with the vague, non-answers today, wasn’t she?

I didn’t know if she was just trying to appear interesting and mysterious, or what, but to me, her obscure responses sounded like a loud and clear signal for me to butt out of her personal life.

Message received.

“Hey, want to share a Greek yogurt cup with me?” I asked, finally making up my mind about what to eat. After sitting my cup down next to my phone and starting back toward the refrigerator, I explained, “I can never finish an entire cup and hate putting an opened, half-eaten one back.”

“Meh, not a big yogurt fan,” Thalia said. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” I glanced outside as I stepped in front of the exposed portion of the window, where morning light was splashing onto the surface of the refrigerator, and there, I did a double take as I pulled the door open.

I’d been sneaking peeks outside every morning with much more discretion since Damien had caught me watching him the last time. I made sure the crack in the curtain was so small that he had no idea I was there. But I’d only seen him one other time after our first encounter, so I really hadn’t been expecting to see him today either.

Except there he was, right next to the lamppost in a T-shirt and jogging pants, staring right back at me.

I blinked, momentarily overcome by just how good he looked, but then I realized…hey! Thalia was here, obviously missing him and watching moviesheliked as she reminisced about their good, old times together. And he’d straight-up told me he wanted to seeher.

It felt like this was my freakingcallingto reconnect them. So I held up a finger, commanding him to stay right where he was.

He pulled back, obviously not expecting the order. But he stayed like a good boy.

Excited, I raced to my phone I had sitting next to my cup and snagged it up to find his number in my contacts.

When I did, I jotted out a quick text and pushedsendbefore I could stop myself.

6

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