“Yep,” she replied.
I slid into the back seat, but before I could shut the door, Damien was there.
“Don’t do this, Raven.”
I grabbed the door handle. “Leave me alone, Damien. I’ll send for my things.”
I slammed the door, looking back to see him throw down the bunny and stomp on it in his rage.
I sighed and leaned against the back seat.
“Address?” The “driver” prompted. I was surprised to see it was a woman. We had agreed to pretend until I was in my apartment, even though Damien’s person knew exactly where I was going.
“Ah,” I said, worried. But she winked and touched the rim of her glasses, a signal Damien had told me meant I could trust the person.
I gave it to her and shut my eyes.
I already missed Damien.
* * *
My apartment smelled musty. The window had been repaired, and there was dust everywhere. All the blinds were shut tight. Egan relaxed on my sofa, a cup of coffee in his hand.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
“Fine.” I sighed. “I hated every minute of it.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry. It was needed. You both know it’s not true.” He stood. “But for the record, I have never been a mall cop.” He glared at me. “That was low.”
I began to laugh, and he grinned.
“You were listening?”
“No, Damien told me. You did good.”
I sat down. “I don’t know what to do now.”
“You have to act normal. Like you are angry. What would you normally do?”
“Clean the apartment.”
“Okay. You clean one room at a time. Open blinds, so if he is looking, he sees you. I will go in the other room.”
“Okay.” I stood. “Was Damien all right when you talked to him?”
He patted my arm. “No worries, girl. He knows, eh?”
I sighed, looking around the room. It felt strange to be back here. I had never loved the place, but it was my home. Or at least, I thought it was. It was odd how at home I felt at Damien’s. It felt right being there with him. Here, I felt like a stranger, even though the things around me were mine.
My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. I answered Deb’s call, my melancholy evident in my voice.
“Hey, Deb.”
“Hey. What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t tell her, so I pretended. “Nothing. Just one of those days.”
“Ah, okay. So, Stew and I were wondering about doing dinner on Monday?”