Page 6 of When Annika Met Thom

“Of course!” Leo’s tone was tinged with insincerity. He strode out the door in a hurry, as if he wanted to escape their conversation.

Thom leaned out the door to call after him. “And if you’re not coming back, you’ll tell her, right?”

“Right!” Leo said, waving as he lugged his stuff down the corridor. “Don’t worry!”

He was walking more quickly than Thom had ever seen him move.

Worse, he started to whistle when the elevator came.

Funny how tastes differed. Cerise was attractive, but Thom wouldn’t have turned his back on her for an instant. There was an insincerity about her.

Maybe she and Leo suited each other.

It wasnothis problem.

He looked around the main room. The apartment felt a lot bigger without Leo’s ego filling all the corners. It was a bit dingy and if it had been his, he’d have made a trip to the thrift store for some new furnishings.

But it was Leo’s. Still.

Thom didn’t believe for a minute that Leo would be back soon or at all, regardless of his so-called promise. Cerise and Leo had already been at it for a week, with no signs of diminished interest.

At least they’d stopped doing it at the apartment. Thom patted Cerberus, knowing her enthusiastic and unscheduled interruptions had been a major contributing factor in that decision. She had a big cold nose and a healthy curiosity.

“He’s got to call Annika and tell her,” Thom said to his black Great Dane and best buddy. Cerberus jumped onto the couch—well, actually, she stepped onto the couch—and collapsed, putting her head on the armrest with such obvious satisfaction that Thom smiled. “You’d like it just fine if it was the two of us,” he said to her and she sighed contentment as her eyes closed. She’d never liked Leo much, and the feeling had been mutual.

What if Leo didn’t come back? Thom liked the place well enough and the rent was paid. He could afford to have it to himself. It was a tempting possibility but he knew better than to hope for it.

He checked out the bedroom, surprised to see that Leo really had taken everything. There wasn’t so much as a pack of gum left.

Hewasn’tcoming back.

It was hard not to be glad about that.

Maybe Thom’s luck was finally changing.

Thom began to move his stuff into the bedroom, more than looking forward to the luxury of sleeping in an actual bed—even with a Great Dane pushing him out one side.

Little did he know that his satisfaction with the new situation was destined to last just twenty-four hours.

* * *

Annika’sfirst experience of Manhattan didn’t win her over. The train got into Penn Station a bit late and she was momentarily disoriented by how complicated the station was—and how filthy it was. Leo wasn’t there to meet her, which he hadn’t promised to do but she’d had hopes. She wrangled her luggage alone, glad that she’d packed lightly, but didn’t have the patience to work out the subway map. Instead, she went up to the street—hauling Percival’s cage up about a zillion stairs—and tried to hail a cab.

She failed her first Manhattan test. They all drove right past her, as if she was invisible. A guy in a suit strode to the curb and raised his hand. A cab cut across two lanes of traffic to squeal to a halt before him. Annika tried to figure out what he’d done differently and switched the cage to her other hand to try again.

“Just take this one,” the guy said with a smile.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. Welcome to New York.” He put her suitcase on the floor in the back while she maneuvered the cage onto the seat. When she turned to thank him, he was stepping into another cab.

“Thank you!” she shouted and he waved to her again.

“Meter’s running,” the driver reminded her and she got in, liking the city a bit more than she had a few minutes previously. She gave him the address and he sighed mightily.

Before she could ask, the screen mounted on the back of his seat—behind the iron grill—began to play a safety reminder about seatbelts.

Annika was busy looking out the windows for her first glimpse of the glittering city she’d always wanted to visit. It wasn’t glittering on this spring day. The rain was pouring down and the pedestrians looked as if they shared her cabbie’s mood as they navigated their way around large dark puddles. The buildings stretched high into the sky, their higher floors lost in the fog, their windows sleek with water.

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