Page 18 of Willowbrooke
In a short two months, I had felt my confidence grow; I had thought I was forming a real friendship with Leo, and I was finding my groove. But now all of that was gone—in the blink of an eye.
Leo hadn’t even given me a chance to explain.
He had to know I would never go into the solarium without his permission unless I felt it was necessary. But that place—what had happened there…reason didn’t seem to matter to him when it came to the solarium or his father. And Leo didn’t strike me as the kind of person to easily forgive and forget. How could he welcome me back into his home after I’d violated him?
In an effort to protect myself, I turned my phone off. I was already operating under the assumption that all was lost, so when I inevitably got the call or email saying my services were no longer needed, I could face the consequences of my actions as prepared as one could be for that kind of communication, rather than allowing myself to be caught off guard.
I was wracked with guilt and an overwhelming sense of doom. What was I going to do? How was I supposed to explain any of this to anyone? I didn’t want to bother Mina, as she was out of the country, traveling with a new boyfriend.
I had no one.
Even though I’d left Willowbrooke early, traffic was backed up due to an accident, and it was well after dark when I finally made it back to my apartment in the city.
My day was about to go from bad to worse.
“Miss Abbot! Miss Abbot!” the doorman called after me as I trudged through the lobby.
He stopped in his tracks when I turned to regard him and saw my red, puffy, tearstained face. I said nothing, waiting for him to speak.
“I have your things in storage,” he said timidly.
“What things?” I croaked.
“Mr. Lewis asked me to place all the boxes in storage for you to collect before he left,” the doorman clarified, but I was still confused.
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head.
The doorman’s eyes widened, realizing I was clueless. “Mr. Lewis moved out today—he terminated the lease at the end of last month when he finally got that big promotion—you didn’t know?” He spoke softly, afraid to upset me further.
I let out a huge sigh and slumped into the nearest bench as I felt my legs tremble beneath me.
Things had been bad between us. I knew that.
I didn’t have the energy to fight with him. I had been waiting for him to tell me it was over because I was too chicken shit to do it myself. I didn’t think he would leave me homeless without notice, however.
And the promotion…I chuckled manically under my breath.
Of course.
I had been so wrapped up in worrying over how to break up with him that I had never thought to ask myself why on earth he continued staying with me. We weren’t having sex. With how much both of us were working, we barely saw each other. He was getting absolutely nothing out of the relationship, except a leg up at the firm.
“Are you alright, miss?” The doorman approached me cautiously.
My mind was spinning.
I had nowhere to go.
I took a deep breath.
I needed to take things one step at a time, or I was going to have a panic attack…I could feel bile rising in my throat, and I needed to calm down—to disassociate myself from what was happening.
“Do you have a dolly to help me get the boxes to my car?” I asked quietly, keeping my eyes trained on my sneakers, unable to face the doorman and his pity. I needed to take things one step at a time and focus on the tasks right in front of me.
“I’ll help you—pull into the loading zone,” he instructed me.
Begrudgingly, and careful to keep my balance, I got up from the bench and walked back out the doors to my car in the parking garage to pull it around the front of the building.The doorman was kind enough to bring all the boxes to me and help me load everything.
I was surprised at the lack of belongings. I’d never been much for materialism or sentimental keepsakes, but Adam, it seemed, owned everything we had shared. I was left with two suitcases of clothes and shoes, a few small boxes of books, and another couple with toiletries and miscellaneous bits from my nightstand and around the house.
