Page 108 of Demo
However, the twenty-pound bag of Kibble I’ve got resting on my shoulder is telling me to enter.
I unlock the door and trip over Kennedy as I step inside. He’s barking and jumping all over me, and it causes me to smile.At least someone still loves me.
After depositing the dog food on the counter, I fall to both knees and Kennedy pounces on me, almost knocking me over. “Good boy! I missed you, too,” I say as I scratch his head with both hands and run them down his back and scratch his haunches, all the while he has his paws on my shoulders and is licking my face.
“Hey, buddy. How are you doing these days, huh? You looking after Lizzie? How’s she doing?”
I see his food dish is only half full, so I stand up, look under the sink, and see an already opened bag of food, so I scoop some from there into his dish, and Kennedy digs in.
Something on the refrigerator gets my attention. It’s a napkin affixed to the door with a ROC Record magnet. I slide the magnet to the side so I can pull the scrap away and read it.
Scribbled on it is a phone number.
“The fuck?!” I spit out loud, as Kennedy scratches the floor at the bottom of the fridge.
“Buddy, what the fuck is this?” I ask the dog. “Has some other guy been coming around? Huh? What’s he look like?” I know it could be anything. A work contact. A neighbor. But I can’t stop the jealously from bubbling up.
Kennedy keeps scratching at the floor and swiping his paw under the refrigerator like he’s trying to actually crawl under there. “Yeah, you go hide! Some watchdog you are. You’re supposed to rip the balls off any guy who comes here who’s not me!”
Lava. Scorching hot magma is burning its way up my esophagus and throat as I try to battle the raging jealousy I feel in this moment. Is she seeing someone? Holy shit, that’s definitely not something I saw being thrown into the mix. Has he been here? I stalk around to see if I can find any indication a gentleman caller has been around, but I don’t see any other toothbrush in the bathroom, any other shoes or jacket in the closet, or different beer in the fridge.
My time is running out. My time to make this right is slipping away. And then it hits me—this is only a fraction of what Lizzie must have felt when she found out about me and Jenny. And here she thinks I still see Jenny on a daily basis. I need to clear the air. I need to—
My thoughts are scattered by the sound of a key in the door, then a “What the hell?” as the door opens, but Lizzie doesn’t enter. “I will kill whomever motherfucker is in here right now, I swear to God. I have had a day and I’m not taking any prisoners.”
I stuff the napkin in my hoodie pocket and head toward the door, hands up. “Don’t shoot!” I mock as I step into her line of sight.
“Knox?” She pulls her brows together, then sighs in—I think—relief. “Jesus,” she says with a hand over her heart. “The door was unlocked, and I thought the apartment was broken into again.”
“Yeah, well, for what it’s worth, if I were an intruder, I would be shaking in my boots at the amount of crazy emanating from you right about now.”
Lizzie shuts the door behind her as she comes into the apartment and starts taking her coat off. “Sorry, I’ve had a weird night.”
It’s late, but I don’t know if this was one of Lizzie’s nights to cover the newsroom, so maybe she was just working late.
Or maybe she was on a date with napkin guy.
“You worked late, huh?” I ask
She looks at me as she kicks off her shoes and tosses her coat onto the back of a stool at the kitchen island, and it slides off and lands on the floor. “Actually. I got out early.”
“Oh,” I say, pacing toward the window overlooking the parking lot. “So, if you got out early, how come you weren’t home early.” I look back at her and she is just staring at me. “What?” I ask.
“What’s going on?” She answers my question with a question.
“Huh?”
“You’re acting weird.”
“Weird? Me. No, I’m just …” I turn and look out the window to hide my pathetic face so it doesn’t show my pathetic feelings, and I notice Lizzie’s car isn’t in the lot. “Where’s your car?”
Lizzie lets out a heavy breath, but before she can answer, questions are leaving my lips. “Were you dropped off?”
She tilts her head at me.
“Were you … I mean … Did someone drop you off? Like, were you with someone?”Please, baby, please don’t let that be the case. I just need a little more time …
She frowns, then turns and pulls a mug out of the cabinet, then a tea bag from the drawer. After she puts water in the kettle and turns on a burner, she bends down to greet Kennedy. “Hey, bud, how were you today, huh? Sorry I was gone so long today. Apparently I’m home very—” she turns and gives me a pointed stare “—verylate tonight.”
