Page 47 of Come in with the Rain
Before either of us can say anything, Addison waves a hand as if to brush off the question. “You know what, let me tell you what I already know, and you can fill in the holes. Mickey already told me that you, Adam, were working for the company that did the remodel on his condo.”
Something shoots through me like lightning. Mickey. He’s Addison’s contact. He set this whole thing up? One look at Stella, and the way her mouth has popped open gently, tells me that she didn’t know either.
“And of course,”—Addison gestures at Stella—"I can only assume you were still living with Mickey at the time. So, I’m guessing the two of you met there, but how did you come to be in business together?”
A line forms between Stella’s eyebrows. “Well, we’re not exactly in business together. I’m not involved in the company. Adam and I made an agreement that he would fix up my condo if I let him use it for advertising purposes.”
“And here we are!” Addison says, throwing up her hands, and I feel a little embarrassed for her. Whatever is in the air, she definitely can’t feel it.
“Yes,” Stella says kindly. “Adam did an excellent job.”
Addison’s eyes move around the room. “I agree,” she says. “What an improvement.” She must have seen the pictures on the website. She must have seen how this place looked before I came into it, and from the way some of her light seems to dim, I can tell that her opinion on its previous state isn’t high. I grip my coffee cup tightly enough that some of the heat from the liquid seeps into my palms.
“This area,” I say before she can ask another question, “has been run down for years but only because all the attention has shifted elsewhere. There are tons of places like this that have great bones but need a little love and attention. Stella took good care of this place before I came along, but there was a lot she just didn’t have the time or knowledge to do.”
Beside me, one corner of Stella’s mouth tilts up, and I can’t stop staring at it. “What Adam means is, a pipe burst in my kitchen, my toilet broke, and my walls had turned brown.” Her gaze shifts to me, and there’s light in her eyes, light that makes me feel choked.
Addison clears her throat, and when we both look back at her, some of her bubbles seem to have popped. She looks from me to Stella and back again. And then she forces a laugh. “Right. Well, that’s all very fascinating.” She consults something on the pad in front of her and then says, “So, Adam, tell me about your company.”
I launch into my story, the one that I’ve told Stella, the one that’s printed on my website, the one I’ve perfected that leaves out all the ugly details, about how my parents died and how when I came back from the service, there was nothing left for me but what I already knew how to do with my hands. I tell her about Cylburn and about working on Mickey’s condo.
Addison is listening intently, her eyes staying glued to me and completely ignoring Stella. She keeps crossing and uncrossing her legs. “So, the two of you met while you were working on Mickey Kline’s condo, and you struck up a deal?”
“We struck up a friendship,” I say, feeling the warmth of it all the way down to my toes. I wasn’t sure when I walked back into this condo what I would be walking into. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to Stella or how we were going to move forward, but I know now. This thing that Stella and I built, I’m not letting it go. I’ll say what I have to say. I’ll do what I have to do.
I’m not walking out of her life again.
CHAPTER48
STELLA
Idon’t realize I’m staring, that I’ve been unable to take my eyes off him for who knows how long, until Addison makes a few grumbling noises and says, “Why don’t the two of you walk me through the place and show me the work you’ve done?”
We all stand and Adam gestures around my tiny living room.
“To begin with,” he says, “I redid the windows in here, and Stella and I painted the walls together.”
A flash in my mind: Adam and I with paint on our cheeks and wrists and clothes as we worked and then eventually stopped working to have sex on the clear-plastic tarps instead. My face heats, and I look down at the floor, away from both of them.
“We have someone scheduled to come tomorrow for pictures,” Addison says, finally turning to me as if she’s just remembered that I’m here at all. She doesn’t ask me if that’s alright, but I’m pretty sure it’s because Addison Delacroix thought she was going to meet Adam here, flirt with him to within an inch of her life, and then take him home, either for a one-night stand or eventual marriage. It’s hard to say. And I can’t exactly blame her. Adam is delicious, and every photo of him on the website happens to feature his impressive back muscles or his flexed biceps, and it’s hard to resist.
But resist she must because now that he’s beside me again, now that he’s just barely pressed against my side as we all squeeze into the doorway of the bathroom to admire the new fixtures and the new floor, I know I’m not letting him go again.
All week I’ve been trying to figure how to text him or call him, turning my phone on again and again and again with the intention of finally saying everything that I need to say, but then I just can’t say it. Or rather, I can’t seem to put the right words in the right order to form the right sentences.
But he’s here, and his eyes keep meeting mine as we move from room to room explaining to Addison all the work he did while I play again and again in my head the words that Dani said to me:because he’s in love with you.
And I hope she’s right about that because it’s enough to make my palms sweat. It’s enough to have me counting down the seconds until Addison Delacroix exits the building and I can finally spit it all out. Until I can beg him to take me back.
The three of us step into the bedroom, and I feel it, the way the air seems to stretch, pulling taut around the three of us. There’s enough room for three more people, plenty of space for all of us to have our own breathing room, but Adam stands so close to me, like he has to squeeze in tight.
Addison steps into the room to examine my new windows, and Adam shifts barely, the back of his hand brushing against mine. All of the breath rushes out of me, and I must have made a sound because Addison turns quickly, and it takes her only a second to drop her eyes to where Adam’s hand touches mine.
I expect him to pull away, but he doesn’t and neither do I, and Addison just rolls her eyes, her legal pad falling to her side.
“Mickey assured me that this was a serious business,” she says, and any kindness that might have been in her voice before is gone now. There’s no flirtation or shy smiles left.
Adam scowls. “It is.”
