Page 33 of Bad Influence
Living with Killian is interesting.I don’t wake up to someone banging on the door, but I do find a cup of coffee waiting for me when I step out of the shower each morning. There was even a pain au chocolat once. The worst part is, he pretends like he’s not even doing it.
He doesn’t want my gratitude. By the way he’s gone each morning as soon as I step out of the shower, I don’t think he even wants me to acknowledge it or him. I’m fine with that. He makes really good coffee and I don’t want that to change.
I’m acutely aware when he’s in the apartment and when he’s not. The air feels heavier with his presence. He always stays up in his studio when he’s here and I stay down, either reading or watching TV.
One evening, I decide I’m going to make dinner for us because he’s letting me occupy his space and I’m going crazy cooped up in the apartment. So, while he’s up in his studio, I pull on my shoes, grab my purse and the keys.
I leave him a note in case he comes downstairs.
I have no idea where I’m going, so the first thing I do is go down to the fifth floor and knock on Eve and Lilith’s door. It’sopened by Lilith, wearing a black apron with clay marks all over it.
“Caroline, hi! Come in!”
She disappears back into the apartment, leaving the door open for me. I step inside. The layout is similar to Killian’s first floor, though Eve and Lilith don’t have a second floor.
There’s a large table against the windows where Lilith is molding clay and throwing pottery. Along the windows, there are flowerpots in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, each one bursting with plants. Baskets hang from hooks in the ceiling.
There’s freshly brewed tea sitting in a pot on the kitchen island, the minty fresh scent lingering in the air. There’s a warmth to the whole apartment that’s asking the visitor to stay and chat for a while.
“Is Eve here?” I ask, slowly stepping inside.
“No, she’s visiting her mother up in Queens,” Lilith says, as she smashes her fist into a pile of clay.
“Oh.”
My whole plan hinged on being able to shop for groceries with Eve since I have no idea where anything is. There’s food in our fridge, but not for what I’m planning, which is a simple stir fry. Something I can’t mess up.
“What’s up?” Lilith asks. “I can call her if you want.”
“Oh, no. I was actually hoping she’d walk with me to the store so I can get some things for dinner,” I explain. “I have no idea where I’m going and Killian is up in his studio.”
Lilith shrugs. “I’ll go with you. Let me get cleaned up.”
Before I can say no because I don’t want to bother her, she’s removing her apron and moving further into the apartment, where I assume their bedroom is. It leaves me to admire her flower pots. There are carvings on each one. Some are simple flowers, but others are more intricate like the New York City skyline, a couple boating on an open lake, the ripples of the water standing out perfectly, a kid flying a kite in a park.
I look up when I hear footsteps behind me. “These are beautiful,” I tell Lilith.
“Thanks. Most of the carvings were done by Eve when we first met,” she explains. “She was trying to impress me.”
All traces of clay are gone from her hands and face. Her short hair has been neatly styled and she’s added a crossbody bag to her outfit.
“I’m guessing it worked?” I ask, as I straighten.
“In the first try,” she says with a laugh. “I had a huge crush on her when she started coming to my pottery classes, but I was married at the time and couldn’t figure out why I was suddenly spending so much time thinking about this sprite of a woman.”
Leading us out of the apartment, Lilith locks the door and we take the stairs down to the first floor. It’s early evening and a breeze lifts my hair as soon as we’re outside, carrying with it the smell of summer -- grass, asphalt, and flowers. Cloudy skies circle above, threatening rain. Good thing I brought an umbrella with me.
I inhale deeply as we start walking, and Lilith laughs.
“Tired of being cooped up inside the apartment?”
“Is it that obvious?” I ask.
“It is when you’re staying with Killian,” Lilith says. “He pretty much keeps to himself.”
“Yeah, he’s always been like that,” I say. “More interested in the pages of his sketchbook than the people around him.”
I always admired that about him. He was always true to himself. There were times when I overheard his father complaining to mine, comparing Killian to Carter, and wishing he had a son like my brother. Well, now he has Beckett who is a lot like my brother and Killian doesn’t talk to his father anymore.
