Page 56 of Renegade Rift

“Totally,” Jo agrees, but there’s no missing the skepticism in her voice. “Well, I better get my groceries in the fridge. It was nice meeting you, Etta. I hope to see you around.”

“Same,” I mutter, keeping my eyes trained on Jo as she walks away and ignoring the deeply amused stare coming from my best friend.

“So…” Paige doesn’t even pretend to feign innocence. “You and Ford aren’t practically siblings?”

I roll my eyes. “Nope. Not having this conversation.”

“Fine. I’ll let you keep your secret for now.” She strolls past me in the direction Franklin and Jo went. “But let the record show I called this.”

“There’s nothing to call.”

“Uh-huh.”

We walk the short distance to apartment seventeen-oh-seven, finding my boxes outside the door. Ford had movers pick up the rest of my stuff and they’ll be delivered tomorrow morning while the rest of my furniture will be put into storage until I find a new place.

The moment I open the door, Lodhi jumps from my arms. I yell at him to come back. Ford has too many breakable things that damn cat can destroy with a single swipe of his paw. Of course, he makes a liar out of me and instead of scaling the expensive curtains he prances straight for the newly added cat tree in the window directly across from the door.

“Does Ford have cats?” Paige asks.

“No.”

“So he had that delivered in the twenty-four hours since agreeing to allow you to stay here, specifically for your cat.”

“It would seem so.” It would also seem like the asshole cheated on me and had someone come and clean his apartment before I arrived. There isn’t a single spec of dust on any surface which is not how I left it four days ago. We’ve been focusing so much on organizing that the actual cleaning part of my job has gone by the wayside.

Paige plops down onto the sofa, moaning as it envelops her. “This is the most comfortable couch I have ever sat on.”

“Right?” I’ve tried to get Ford to tell me where it came from, but he said it’s a secret he wouldn’t divulge. When I asked why he said he needed something that would keep me coming back to visit him after the apartment was organized.

Paige takes her time, scanning the rest of the apartment. “And we’re still not going to talk about how Ford is your friend and no longer your brother-in-law.”

“Not a chance.”

She kicks her feet up on the coffee table. “Okay. Just checking. But when you’re ready to stop lying to yourself, I’ll be here.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

JULIET

“You’re a traitor, you know that?” I holler after Lodhi as he saunters away, ditching Paige and me for the epic cat room Ford had made for him.

Yes. He turned his entire second guest bedroom into a freaking cat room.

The damn man isn’t even here and he’s already bribing my cat to like him. So now there is Ford’s room. My room. And Lodhi’s room. There’s a platform for him to lounge in the sun and watch birds fly by. Not to mention three towers and a maze of planks on the wall for him to practice kitty parkour.

“I mean can you blame him?” Paige shoves another bite of zucchini lasagna into her mouth, a satisfying moan escaping her followed by a sharp inhale as she tries to battle the piping hot cheese.

She’s right. I can’t blame Lodhi for loving this place. It’s only been four days, and I’m just as big a traitor considering the amount of cooking I have done in this kitchen. And don’t even get me started on the bathroom. I’d forgotten how unbelievably relaxing it is to have a tub that’s deep enough to fill with water and cover my entire body. It’s made all the difference in battling the aches after the long days at both jobs.

I toss Paige a napkin to wipe the cheese dripping down her chin. “You know you’re going to have to eventually learn to cook for yourself.”

She ignores the napkin and licks the cheese from her chin before taking another bite. “Until then, I have you.”

“As long as I have a kitchen to cook in you mean.” There’s no way I could have made this in my apartment. The stove never actually made it to the right temperature and with only one burner on the stove, it would have taken forever.

I wanted to hate the idea of moving in here, even for a short period of time, but it’s been nice. Ford thought of everything we could possibly want or need. He even stocked the pantry with gluten free snacks for me. I don’t know how he did it in twenty-four hours, but then again, I’ve seen what money can do in a short amount of time.

I’ll never forget the time Tyler decided he wanted to decorate for Christmas on the twenty-fourth of December after telling me all month it was a commercialized holiday, and we wouldn’t be supporting it. That was the only time in the later years of our marriage my tears inspired him into action. He paid five times what it should have cost, but he made it happen. We stayed up late drinking hot chocolate and reminiscing about the big Christmas Eve parties my parents used to throw when we were in high school. He kissed me tenderly and made love to me under the lights of the tree.

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