Page 12 of Cross-Checked

Five days...My eyebrows scrunch as I do the math. Five days ago was right in between Games 1 and 2. We were at the children’s hospital that afternoon, and I left right before it wrapped up because I needed to get home and order takeoutbefore my brother and his girlfriend arrived. They tend to stay at my place when I’m out of town, both because it’s more comfortable than their tiny apartment, and also so they can cat-sit my extremely unfriendly cat, Tabitha.

“The only lobby I was in that afternoon was my own,” I say flippantly, as the plane takes a turn onto the runway and begins increasing speed. What is he on about?

“No, I’m pretty sure you were inmylobby.”

We look at each other, in a stalemate of sorts, because obviously only one of us can be right in this instance. “Okay, so where do you live then?” I ask, confident I can prove him wrong.

“89 Ashburn Street.”

This isn’t happening.I do a long, slow blink as the plane accelerates and I feel the front wheels lift off the ground, but when I open my eyes, we’re still on the plane and he’s still sitting next to me. How is this my life? “Bullshit.”

“I think I know where I live, AJ.”

Turning my head toward him, I open my eyes as I level him with a glare. “That’s whereIlive.”

“Nooo.” The word is a low growl coming from between his clenched teeth, and our eyes are locked like we’re each trying to convince the other this isn’t possible.

“What unit are you in?” I ask.

“Why? You planning on visiting?”

I huff out a small laugh. “Making sure I can avoid you, is more like it.”

“1705.”

I press my eyes shut tightly. This isn’t possible. If this man lived across the hall from me, surely I’d have seen him sometime in the last couple of months since moving in.

“You?” he asks. His voice is tight, like it always is when he speaks to me. Grumpy is McCabe’s default, but I’ve occasionallyseen him relax enough to look like he’s enjoying himself. Just never when he knows I’m around.

“1706.”

I glance down in time to see his fists tighten on the arm rests again, and now that we’re airborne, I know it’s not because of the takeoff.

“Well, this is awkward,” he says as he reclines his seat, closing his eyes and resting his head against his headrest.

I guess this conversation is over?

Chapter Six

AJ

Ordinarily, I can’t wait to get home and into my own bed after a road trip. This return trip is different—my body is jittery with nerves as I approach my building.

I drive down the ramp into the underground parking garage and my eyes are scanning the reserved spaces for McCabe’s black Range Rover. When the elevator doors open, I half-expect him to be inside. And when I walk down the hall of the seventeenth floor to my condo, my eyes flick over to his door.

How is it possible that he lives right on the other side of the hall?

I wonder if I will feel this keyed up every time I come home now, or if it’s just because this is new information?

My heart races as I step through my door, and I let out a deep sigh of relief as if I narrowly avoided running into him. Even though I’ve lived here for months and never seen him, now that I know that we’re not only in the same building, but also just across the hall, I can’t help but expect him to be everywhere.

Standing there with my back against the front door, I catch sight of my asshole of a cat, Tabitha, who hisses at me as she arches her back, her black fur standing on end, before she runs toward the doorway across from my bedroom.

Just then, my brother steps into the hallway in nothing but a pair of jersey shorts, and Tabitha snakes her way around his ankles, rubbing against him like he’s her best friend. I’m not sure why she hates me, or if maybe she just prefers men?

“Shit,” I say, glancing at my watch. “Did I wake you? It’s not even five yet, I’m sorry.” I always try to be as quiet as possible when we get home from a road trip, because the worst possible way to thank my brother and his girlfriend for cat sitting is to wake them up at the ass crack of dawn.

“I was half-awake,” he says.

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