My forehead wrinkles as I take the fifteen steps from my bed to the door. Mrs. Hoffmeister probably needs something. I stand on my tiptoes and look through the peephole to find Andrew pacing in front of my door.
My stomach swoops down toward the floor like a soaring bird and I drop back down flat-footed. I hadn’t expected him.
I startle at the second knock on the door.
“I know you’re in there, Kenzie. Mrs. Hoffmeister told me you came home about an hour ago.”
Damn Mrs. Hoffmeister, the busybody. See if I ever go to the corner store to buy her cigarettes again.
Without a word, I unlocked the dead bolt, the chain, and the door lock and swing the door open. When I pictured Andrew in my space—because yes, I certainly have daydreamed—I was always nervous about what he might think, knowing his place is bound to be much more impressive than my studio apartment. But in this moment, I don’t give a shit what he thinks.
“I’m so sorry.” He rushes past me into my apartment, then turns to face me while I close and lock the door.
When I turn around, it’s with a good amount of attitude on my face and in my body language—crossed arms and hip jutted out. I’m not impressed.
“I’m sorry, Kenz. There was an issue at work with one of my clients and I got caught on the phone with them for, like, an hour, then I had to sort something out immediately. I lost track of time.”
I will not like the fact that he’s shortened my name into a nickname of sorts. I will not. So rather than swoon over it, I narrow my eyes. “I texted you.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” He pushes his hands through his hair. “I had it on silent because I was in a meeting earlier with some of the partners and I forgot to switch it back.”
I mean, that makes sense. But still, I feel like an idiot. I thought… oh, it doesn’t matter what I thought. “Still… you totally forgot about our plans. How am I not going to be upset about it?”
Part of me feels as if maybe I’m putting some of my own baggage onto Andrew and overreacting, but any way you cut it, standing me up was rude and disrespectful.
He steps up and squeezes my shoulders with both hands. “You deserve to be upset. I can’t apologize enough.”
I stare up at him and I can see his sincerity. Some of the ire leaves my body. At least he feels bad. Unlike my parents, when they forgot about me time and time again when I was younger. They’d always act as though I was overreacting and brush it off. Andrew is taking responsibility and apologizing for his actions.
“It’s fine. Just don’t do it again.”
“You have my word.” He holds his right hand up in the Boy Scout salute.
I can’t help but chuckle. “Do they even have Boy Scouts in England?”
He shrugs. “We have Scouts. You Americans always think you have everything.” He lets his other hand drop from my shoulder. “Do you forgive me?”
My shoulders slump. “Well, put it this way… my birthday is next month, and I’ll be lucky if either of my parents even remembers to send me a text about it. So, your error wasn’t as egregious as theirs.”
He cocks his head to the side. “When is your birthday?”
“On the tenth.” I wave it off. “That’s not the point. My point is that I know I had a right to be upset, but I may have taken some of my own shit out on you. For that, I’m sorry.”
“I can’t believe you.”
My forehead wrinkles. “What?”
“I’m in the wrong, but somehow you find a reason to apologize to me.” He steps closer to me and cups my face.
All the air leaves my lungs in one giant whoosh, because the feel of his palm on my cheek sends tingles straight down my throat to my abdomen and between my thighs.
“You’re always thinking of others and putting them first, which is amazing, but don’t forget to stand up for yourself.” He steps even closer, and now I can feel the fabric of his coat brush against the cotton hoodie I’m wearing. “You’re an amazing woman, Kenz.”
There it is. That shortened version of my name again.
He tilts his head down and we stand there, breathing each other in, on the precipice of something more.
I feel as though I’m standing at the edge of a cliff with a parachute on, looking down into a cavernous void, wanting to take the dive, feel the adrenaline and excitement of the free fall, but worried my parachute will fail and I’ll plummet to the ground.