Page 69 of Dark Endures

But she always smiles. Figuring out each one of them has become a hobby of mine. I love her sleepy smiles. This one, I’m not liking at all. What’s wrong? I step out of the truck.

“We could have come up. You didn’t have to meet us out here.” Thankfully, no one is loitering around her apartment building.

Canyon raises an eyebrow at me.

Fine, that wasn’t the smoothest thing for me to say. But everything about this place makes me angry. “Hey, Mindy.”

Canyon shakes his head. “We should get going. Lead the way to your apartment.”

“No need.” Mindy holds the door open. “My boxes are right here.”

Here? Stacked carefully by the door are twenty large boxes. She hauled them down herself? We told her we were coming. “It’s easier to load the furniture first.”

“No furniture. This is it.”

Is she a minimalist? That doesn’t feel right for her. She drained her bank account but that was recent. What is going on that a girl like Mindy’s entire life fits in twenty boxes? I’d bet almost all of them are clothes.

Canyon grabs a box. “This should take no time at all. Thanks for having it organized and ready. You should see some of the places. Half the time we’re packing boxes as we move the stuff.” He nudges me as he walks by.

“Oh, I’d never do that.” She reaches for a box.

I grab it before she can and give her a stern look. Mindy did enough bringing them down. At least she had an elev—There’s no elevator. Mindy carried all these boxes down the stairs by herself.

I want to punch something. Anything.

She ignores my look, picks up a box, and walks out.

Stubborn, irritating woman!

It takes almost no time for the three of us to load up the truck.

Canyon goes around to the driver’s side to get in as I open the passenger side for her to get in.

She looks at me, then looks at the truck and doesn’t move.

Mindy doesn’t want to be stuck between the two of us. I hop in.

Canyon leans over and whispers, “Didn’t want me sitting next to your woman?”

Mindy hops in before I can respond.

Her vanilla perfume, with just a hint of spice, reaches me first. This is going to be a long ride.

Comfortable Shoulder

Mindy

I set the last box down as my knees go weak. My body screams that I’m exceeding my limits. But there’s more to do.

Maybe I can sneak in a nap between moving in and work this afternoon? If I do that, I’ll have to get up earlier and work longer tomorrow.

Why aren’t there more hours in the day? All I need is about six more hours…to sleep.

At least I won’t have to do laundry for a while since it’s all clean and folded in the boxes.

A yawn escapes.

Maddox will be here in a few minutes. Moving everything down here was totally worth the pain and exhaustion. I would have died from embarrassment if Maddox had seen my apartment. It’s bad enough knowing he’s going to feel pity for me seeing the building.

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