Page 34 of Passion

“Vera, I’m so glad you called.” Lucas sounded cheery. He probably thought I was calling to talk about life or maybe our next date. “How did the shoot go yesterday?” I thought my anger over the ceiling issue would burst out of my mouth before I got it contained, but when he asked me about my recent shoot, I almost started to cry.

“I, uh…” I swallowed hard. “Something is wrong with my air conditioning and there is water running out of the ceiling where the light fixture should be.” I braced myself, thinking he was about to say “I told you so”, but he didn’t. His reaction surprised me.

“Wow, that doesn’t sound good. Do you need the name of a good plumber?”

I figured it was about the hardest thing he had to say in his life. If I knew him the way I thought I did, he was choosing his words carefully to support me. It made me wish I had never left his house. He actually cared so much. He should have been lecturing me and telling me off.

“Luke, please… I need you.” I heard the whimper in my voice and hated myself for feeling weak like this, but he was the only person I knew who could help me.

“I thought you’d never ask. Pack your things as much as possible. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Okay?”

I waited until the call ended before I let the first tear out. I was furious with myself for failing, but more so, I was furious with Mr. Kline for the state of this apartment. Which only made me furious with myself for not demanding that he fix things before I moved in to begin with. I sat there on the edge of the airbed feeling sorry for myself for far too long. When Lucas knocked on the door, I hadn’t packed a thing.

I shuffled over to the door and opened it up, half expecting to see Mr. Kline instead of Lucas, but no such luck. That man really didn’t care at all about his tenants. I welcomed Lucas in and wiped my eyes. He looked up at the ceiling and shook his head, glaring at the mess.

“That landlord is going to hear about this.” He clicked his tongue and put an arm around my waist as he looked down at me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I was happy he would fight this battle for me. I didn’t think Kline would take me seriously, anyway. “I just want to go home.”

It felt strange calling his house home, but he smiled about it. When he kissed me, it felt different. It wasn’t the soft forehead kiss that said he thought about me or missed me. It was warmer, like he was claiming me for himself. I sort of liked it. I was so thankful he was there to comfort me, and even though I felt defeated, like I’d failed at being my own person, I wasn’t upset about it.

“Let’s pack up, okay?” Lucas let me go, and I nodded.

We spent the better part of half an hour shoving as much stuff as we could into bags and the few boxes I still had in the place. Not everything would fit in the car because Hector had driven Lucas to my place. Lucas promised to send for the rest of my stuff in the next few days with a strongly worded letter to the landlord. I wasn’t going to protest his doing that, either. I learned my lesson. Lucas knew more than I did, and he cared a lot. It was time I just let him be what he wanted to be to me. Lord knew, I needed it.

28

LUCAS

By the time I got Vera out of that disaster of an apartment, it was after dark. We were both exhausted. I hadn’t said a single word to her about being right about the apartment. I could tell by the way her shoulders drooped and she hardly made eye contact that she knew it. The unspoken exchanges between us as we packed things into bags and boxes had been enough. I had a mind to buy the building and renovate it just to provide proper living conditions to the tenants.

We left most of her things in the car since it was late, carrying in only a few bags that Vera said were essential. Hector offered to bring everything in, but I had a feeling Vera wanted privacy, so I politely declined his help. He left, taking Ella with him, and the house was empty.

Vera trudged up the stairs carrying her duffel bag, and I followed behind. I wasn’t sure how to start the conversation or if I even should. She had to have been feeling quite down about the fact that she had attempted to strike out on her own and wound up in a bad situation, so I said nothing, but I did try to interpret her needs and be there to help her as she needed me.

She struggled to get the doorknob, her hands full of items she carried, so I reached around her and opened it for her. She smiled and entered the bedroom and dropped her load on the ground. She stared at it blankly without speaking, and I set my armful of things on the end of the dresser. I heard her sniffle, so I walked to the nightstand and plucked a single tissue from the box there and handed it to her. She brought it to her face and wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

“Are you tired?” I asked, seeing the way her eyes blinked open and shut slowly. The dark circles beneath her eyes indicated that she hadn’t been sleeping well or that she had been crying a lot. She didn’t move or look at me. She licked her lips slowly, and I noticed the way they were chapped. I left her standing there and walked into the bathroom, taking the cup I left sitting on the bathroom vanity and filling it with water.

I returned with the water and put it in her hand, and she sipped it. Her gaze had a melancholy look to it. She turned slowly to look at me as she handed the glass back. Something was wrong, and I felt like it was more than just the apartment. I set the glass down and took her hand, pulling her into my chest. She didn’t protest, so I held her and tried to decide what to do next. I was tired. It was obvious she was tired too.

“Hey, let’s just leave this stuff here. You look tired. We can unpack in the morning.” The fact that she’d come straight to the master bedroom and not the guest room told me this was where she either wanted to be or thought that I expected her to be. So I asked, “Do you want me to stay in the guest room?”

She peered up at me and took my hand, leading me to the bed. “Just hold me,” she mumbled as she kicked her shoes off and crawled beneath the covers.

“You’re not putting on pajamas?” I asked, tucking the comforter up around her shoulders. She shrugged and turned on her side. It broke my heart that she was feeling this bad. She never went to bed without washing off her makeup, but it appeared she didn’t even care about that.

I stripped off, leaving my clothes on the floor next to the bed and wearing only my boxers. Then I shut the lights off and climbed into bed behind her. She pulled my arm across her body and held it against her chest. I felt the rhythmic beating of her heart and the soft kisses she placed on my fingers. Having her back in my arms was incredible. The circumstances under which she returned weren’t so great, and the fact that she was really hurting made me wish I had been wrong about that apartment.

She sighed, and I held her tighter. Her hair smelled nice. I had missed that. Her steady breathing lulled me into a state of relaxation. I thought about how empty the house had felt only yesterday, how I had trouble sleeping and eating. How I’d taken my frustration out on Tina and Frank, and even Henry. It was strange how something as simple as her presence changed my entire mood. I never wanted to feel that way again, and I never wanted her to leave again.

“What are you thinking?” I was surprised she asked me that, though I could understand that she probably had some apprehension about things moving forward.

“I was thinking how much I missed you and how you must feel about this whole situation.”

Vera turned to her back and stared up at me. The light from the bathroom streamed into the bedroom and illuminated her face. “How I feel?”

“Yes, about the apartment not being what you thought. I’m sorry things worked out this way.” I pushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes.

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