Chapter 7

The day passed like any other rainy Friday with the phones ringing off the hook, the sheer volume of the calls so high that we began calling up agents on their day off, begging them to come pick up a shift to help take the load off. I ordered in pizza for the department, offered overtime to anyone that was willing, and walked the Floor to offer my assistance.

“You’re going to have to leave at some point,” Addie said around five in the evening. She’d stuck around to help with the call volume, but now she was finally headed home. For some reason, most of our insureds just assumed we closed at five so around this time it got slower with fewer calls coming in. It was a good time for breaks, or in Addie’s case, ending a shift. She’d stayed long after I’d already told her to go home.

“I still have a meeting with Lisa. I have to make sure this department can make it through the weekend without me.”

“The weekend?” Addie said, grinning. “Planning to have a lot of sex, are we?”

I threw an empty coffee cup at her.

“Get out.”

“You get out,” she said, picking up the cup and depositing it in the trash. “You don’t know when his neighbor lady might want to go to bed.”

I’d told Addie about the call, and she was right. I hadn’t thought about that.

“Fuck,” I hissed. “I forgot about that. I need to find Lisa right now.”

“Lisa will be fine,” Addie assured me. “She’s perfectly capable of running this department. She’s done it before.”

“On the rare occasion.”

“Let this be the rare occasion then, for fuck’s sake.”

“Alright,” I said, picking up my phone. I dialed Lisa’s line. It rang for so long that I thought no one was going to pick up, but then—

“This is Lisa,” she said breathily, like she’d just run a mile.

“Is this how you answer all of your phone calls?”

Lisa made a choked noise. I guess she hadn’t expected her boss to be the one calling her.

“I was on the Floor, Celine. I had to run to answer—”

“You ran?”

“Yes,” she said in a small voice.

“There are rules against running on the Floor for a reason. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

“I’m sorry, Celine. I-I forgot.”

“Don’t forget again,” I said, rubbing my temples with my free hand. “Anyway, I’m calling to tell you that our meeting is canceled. I have to leave the office now.”

“Now? But what about the—”

“Please don’t tell me that you need me to walk over there and tell you how to do your job. Again.”

“I—”

“We’ve been over this, Lisa. You should be able to take over within a moment’s notice.”

“Can I still call you if—?”

“Absolutely not. You’re going to rely on the books tonight. You also have the key to my office, Lisa. Use my resources. I have every product line manual known to God in here.”

“Okay,” she said, breathing shakily.

“Prove to me that you can do this.”

“I can,” Lisa said, surprising me.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Addie looked smug. Whatever.

“I’m going,” I said, grabbing my bag, laptop case, coat, and umbrella. I ushered her out of my office and locked it up behind me.

Heads turned as I left the Floor, visible relief washing over the agents’ faces. A long time ago it would have hurt my feelings, but it wasn’t a long time ago. It was now.

And now I was Dragon Lady.

I didn’t think residents made much money, but I guessed he was making a modest salary by where he lived. I knew this area, knew these zip codes. I serviced many customers that lived in Anaheim Hills. They had some of the highest insurance premiums in the county. It was a nice place to live. Rolling hills, beautiful trails, a breathtaking view of the mountains. It was the kind of place that made you feel like you weren’t in Orange County, like you were somewhere far away even though it was right there, just a twenty minute drive from Disneyland.

Imperial Highway was a long stretch, a drive that usually led out to Corona and Riverside, where the areas were isolated. Wes’s exit was going to be just two exits shy of the middle of nowhere. He was just barely on the cusp of civilization, leaving the absolute best view of the mountains right there to the left, his apartment complex to the right of the freeway.

The Cascades Apartments. I was willing to bet there wasn’t a single waterfall there. I was right. The complex was on a hill or part of a mountain, it was hard to tell. The apartments looked more like townhouses than apartments, each made of three stories, the bottom taken up by the garage. It was a big complex. There were even streets with their own names inside, and winding roads that went higher up the hill to houses probably owned by the same company.

I parked in the carport number that he’d texted me—well, I didn’t really park. His neighbors were apparently assholes. There were hardly two inches of space and it would box me in the middle like the stuffing on an Oreo. If I didn’t have a Tesla I probably would have kicked their bumpers. I got out of my car, muttering under my breath to use my key fob to have the car self-park.

“Technology these days.”

I jumped, turning around and finding a little old lady standing just a few yards away, her hand rested on the head of a golden retriever who sat calmly staring at me. The both of them looked curious.

“Are you Agatha?”

She turned her attention to me and smiled.

“I am. And you must be Celine,” she said, walking over. The golden retriever followed at her heels, its tail wagging as she made her way over. “This is Kevin.”

“Your dog’s name is Kevin?”

“I named him after my son-in-law,” she said with a chuckle. I cracked a smile.

“Sorry about the parking situation,” she added. “No one really parks in that spot. Westley parks in his garage.”

Westley. I tried not to laugh. Wes fit him like a glove, but Westley sounded posh and unfeeling.

“It’s okay,” I said, popping my trunk. I lifted my duffel bag and swung the strap over my shoulder, my face reddening. I didn’t know how this little old lady was going to be feeling about me spending the night at Wes’s after having just barely met him. I knew there was the whole ‘whatever’ rule, but I’d already planned to break it.

But Agatha was one with the times.

“Come well and prepared, that’s what I always say,” she said, motioning for me to follow her up the street. “Let’s go, dear, before the coyotes come out to play.”

That got me going. Living in SoCal made me no stranger to coyotes, but that didn’t mean I wanted to face one head-on. You can never tell what to expect when it comes to wild dogs, especially ones that run in packs.

Agatha led me up past two buildings, and then pointed out Wes’s apartment. We took the stairs on the side leading to the second story, which was the first story of the living space. The bottom story was the garage.

“This is for you,” Agatha said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a key and placed it on my palm, the cool metal heating from my touch. “I do want it back, though. Make sure Westley gets it to me.”

I nodded, remembering what Wes had said about her looking after the place.

“Would you like to come in?” I asked, putting the key in the lock and turning it.

“Oh no, dear,” she said, patting my back. “You settle in. I’ll take Kevin in for his dinner.”

I turned the doorknob, opening it to a dark home. I don’t know why it spooked me, but it did. Something about being in a strange place brought memories back to my childhood, back to moving from home to home, lugging a trash bag of all my clothes. I swallowed, casting the thought from my mind. Those times were gone now.

“Thank you,” I said to Agatha. “For waiting up for me.”

“It was no trouble at all,” she said, smiling warmly. “You make him happy. So very happy. You were all he could talk about. Keep him happy, dear. That’s all this old woman wants.”

Then she left, Kevin following at her heels, wagging his tail.

Wes had been right. She really was sweet.

I found the light switch to the right of the door. I switched it on to an open-floor home, finding myself in the living room. The dining space and kitchen were all in view. Opposite it was a hallway with two doors and a set of stairs leading to an upstairs floor. It looked eerie and dark up there. I decided I wasn’t going to be exploring.

I took off my shoes by the door and put my duffel bag off to the side. His carpet wasn’t plush, but it was clean. I made my way to the fridge, feeling thirsty. I was about to pull it open when I found a note there, set in place by an avocado magnet. I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘I’ll be lucky if I’m home by 9. Make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa. Miss you, Dion.

-Wes’

My eyes misted. In all my life, no one had ever written to me that they missed me. Other kids got it in notes in their packed lunches, but I never got anything but the free lunches at school. I hadn’t realized how much it still hurt me deep inside until I read Wes’s note. He made my heart feel full, so full that the feelings were spilling to the brim, falling as tears from my eyes. I wiped them away hastily and opened the fridge to help myself to a bottle of water.

I took stock of the kitchen after that. I’d decided on the drive over that I was going to have dinner ready for him when he came home. It was the least I could do after he spent all day saving small lives. I found all the ingredients for a vegetarian lasagna so I got started on that. I wasn’t a very good cook (I didn’t have the time), but lasagnas were easy.

I set my phone on the kitchen counter and started a playlist of some of my favorite music. I sang and rapped along as I prepped the veggies, doing my best to stay away from the avocados that he’d laid out for me on the counter. I suspected he had them counted, and I knew for a fact that he’d laugh if he knew I’d eaten one within hours of getting to his place. Still, it was tempting.

Once the lasagna was in the oven, I danced in the kitchen, singing along to songs and thankful that all the curtains were drawn. It was only seven in the evening, still too early to be worried about being caught by Wes. I was an idiot, of course. I should have known better.

“House so empty, need a centerpiece. Twenty racks a table cut from ebony. Cut that ivory into skinny pieces. Then she clean it with her face, man I love my baby. You talking about money, need a hearing aid. You talking ‘bout me, I don’t see a shade. Switch up my style, I take any lane. I switch up my cup, I kill the pain.”

Don’t ask me why I know all the lyrics. I listened to this song on repeat when working out. Right now this was practically a workout. I swayed my hips as I pulled the lasagna out of the oven.

“Look what you’ve done. I’m a motherfuckin’ starboy.”

“Are you?”

I almost dropped the pan.

“Holy shit,” I said, putting it quickly on the burner.

I turned to find Wes leaning against the doorway, arms crossed and with the most amused expression on his face.

“I thought you weren’t coming home until nine,” I said, walking over to my phone to turn off the music.

“I said I’d be lucky if I got out by nine. I was luckier than I thought.”

“Don’t mention this ever again,” I muttered.

He laughed.

“Oh, no. I’m never gonna let you live this down.”

“Fuck you.”

“I thought we had a no ‘whatever’ rule tonight.”

“I’m leaving.”

Wes walked over and put his arms around me. I didn’t fight it. God. It felt so good. He was warm, impossibly warm, and the way we fit was right, just right.

“Don’t leave,” he said, rubbing my back.

“Still considering it.”

He tipped my head back.

“Let me change your mind.”

“No,” I said stubbornly, looking away. “You nearly scared me to death.”

“I would’ve performed CPR immediately. I’m not letting you die on me.”

“You’re not funny. Some warning would have been nice.”

“I only give warnings to women that sleep with me.”

“I hate you. Pervert.”

“Why are you smiling then?”

Because you’re here.

“Because you’re an idiot.”

“I missed you and your meanness, Celine Dion,” he said, looking at me with those dark ocean eyes, a soft smile playing on his lips.

“My last name isn’t Dion.”

“We can pretend,” he said, leaning down. He kissed my neck, making me gasp.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to come onto me.”

“You have all your clothes on.”

“You act like you don’t want them to be.”

“I don’t.”

“Wes.”

“I’m kidding. What’s for dinner?”

“Vegetarian lasagna.”

“You didn’t have to,” he said, but I could tell that he was touched.

“I wanted to.”

“However can I thank you?”

“You’ll think of something.”

We were smiling at each other, grinning our ears off, and I can’t say that I could even find it in me to hide how fucking happy I was to see this guy. I’d spent a lifetime putting up walls and protecting myself, but Wes was showing me that it was okay to let my guard down sometimes, that there were some people in this world that weren’t going to hurt me. He’d taken my barren, empty heart and breathed it back to life.