Page 60 of All the Ugly Things
“Every day of my life.”
I cracked a smile and glanced up. My first smile that didn’t feel totally broken. “I’m shocked.”
He moved to the small window near my bed while I flipped through the papers.
Yesterday, job offers.
Today, new homes.
Would there ever be a limit to how much the Valentines were willing to help me? Did I want there to be? I might not have fully trusted them or their motives, but yesterday I decided to take them like gifts, use them to my own advantage.
Anything would be better than staying in this hellhole, two doors down from Manny or in a building where he resided. And I still hadn’t called Ellen, but when she found me this place it took three weeks. I didn’t have that time right now.
One building grabbed my attention. Furnished with furniture that didn’t look like something for temporary housing. Thick comfortable couches. A building with a shining, primary-colored playground in the rear, fenced in for safety with newly spread mulch. The building itself boasted of a fitness center and a fourth-floor seating deck for residents to grill and congregate. They were styled as lofts. Brick walls, exposed beams and ductwork on the ceilings. Some of them had sliding, barn styled doors.
In short, they were incredible.
It made me imagine the life I could have had… should have had… as a graduate of Purdue, potentially law school from somewhere even more distinguished, moving into an apartment similar to this, making friends and having barbecues on Thursdays and happy hour meet-ups after work in the sun at the community grill area.
A drop of water hit the paper, smearing the colorful image of the playground, and I blinked.
“You okay?”
Hudson’s voice shocked me more than my tears.
“Yeah.” I wiped them away and turned the page. “Just a memory and a dream of a life I will never have.” I glanced up at him cautiously, afraid to see anger or the familiar glare of irritation, instead, all I saw was compassion.
“Do you think I could go see this one?” I asked. Because damn it. I had one chance to make a somewhat decent life out of the lemons I’d been handed.
And I was making lemonade.
15
Hudson
My lies were growing like sludge in my stomach, threatening to fall to my feet and ruin everything. I prided myself on my moral compass both in my personal and business life and there I was, spewing lies from my mouth at every moment when it came to Lilly.
I’d bury us before we could become anything more if I kept it up. Yet in this, I followed Melissa. I was controlled by the dying wish of a sister.
Heaven help me.
Yes, I knew where Lilly lived. How it had ever escaped my notice when it came to this project was a travesty. She should have been notified as soon as she moved in but it was too late to go back and fix that error. I wasn’t surprised when her attention and edges of her lips lifted when she saw that particular building.
Mine. Where I lived, and I wouldn’t hide that from her.
It was brand new and had just opened over the summer, but they also weren’t apartments. They were loft-style condos. There were two larger penthouse condos on the top floor, and I owned one of them. We could lose the mortgages we’d get on sales for a few months to a year, though. Long term that loss was a drop in the bucket. Besides, there were only four units left to sell.
“I can drive you over there to see it, if you have the time.”
It was just as likely she’d slap me in the face as it was she’d agree. Still, no risk came without the possibility of great reward. And spending the afternoon with Lilly, getting her to realize we didn’t do this to her specifically, felt like a risk worth taking.
She bit on her lower lip, ran her fingertip over the swing set in the photograph and looked up at me, head tilted to the side. “Are there others available in this building?”
“A few.”
“Hmm.” She flipped through the rest of the selections, five in total. One was only two blocks away. Not much of a step up from here, but it was in an area she knew. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she chose that, based on location and the fact she didn’t seem to think she was worth much anymore. A lie, but I could see how that rot could have festered inside her over the years. It’s not like she had anyone ever build her up.
“Okay.” She nodded, like she’d convinced herself of something. “I need to make a stop downstairs first if that’s okay.”
