Obviously.
On the phone, Cami said, "You could've yelled at him or something."
"Right," I muttered. "As ifthatwould stop him. But forget the phone. I haven't told you the rest. After he agrees to fix up the house, he tells me that healsoowns the place across the street."
"You mean across from your grandparent's place?"
"Right," I said. "And he invites me – noordersme, actually – to stay the night over there, I mean, overhere, in the guest bedroom, so we can work out the details in the morning, meaning today."
Sounding more horrified than ever, she said, "And you agreed?"
"What else was I gonna do?" I said. "You already know that Jason stood me up, which meant that I had no place to stay. And you remember what happened with my car."
Just last month, I'd sold it to send Jason more money – payment for some sort of plumbing issue, something that according to Jason couldn't wait.
Now, I wanted to kick myself.God, what a total waste.
Thanks to my own stupidity, I had no house, no car, and maybe fifty bucks total in my purse.
When Cami's only reply was a string of non-curses, I continued, "So really, whether he realized it or not, Brody was actually doing me a favor by making me stay here."
"Oh yeah?" she shot back. "And what abouthim? Ishestaying there, too?"
"You mean Brody? Actually, I don't know. Maybe he is. Or maybe he went back to his condo."
"Wait," Cami said. "He owns a condo, too?"
"Supposedly. I mean, that's what he said." I sighed. "And I'm sure it's true. Cripes, he probably owns half the town."
With obvious concern, Cami said, "So you don't even know if he's staying with you?"
"No, I don't," I replied. "Last night, all I wanted was to be alone. What Brody was doing, I had no idea. And I sure as heck wasn't gonna ask him."
The reason for this was obvious. By then, I'd had more than enough humiliation for one night.
If I'd asked Brodyanythingabout where he planned to sleep, he surely would've assumed that I was hitting on him or something – because yes, he was that arrogant.
Cami said, "But you at least locked the door, right?"
"To the bedroom?" I flopped over on the bed and gave the door a quick glance.Oh yeah, I'd locked it, alright.But probably, that was a waste, too. As I'd seen firsthand, a locked door would hardly keep Brody out.
Still, I assured Cami that I was being careful and finished by promising her another update after Brody and I talked.
After we ended the call, I got up, trudged into the small private bathroom, and prepared to face him.
Using toiletries from my own duffle bag, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I threw on fresh clothes and even a little makeup – not because I wanted to impress him, but rather because it's what I normally did before venturing out.
Turns out, it was all for nothing.
Other than myself, the house was empty.
Standing in the modest kitchen, I took a quick look around.
Thanks to the home's location – directly across the street from my grandparent's place – I'd seen this house plenty of times from the outside. It was a tidy ranch-style home with three bedrooms, maybe four.
As far as the exact number, I wasn't sure. I mean, it's not like I started opening doors or anything.
Still, I remained fairly certain that the house was empty. Itfeltempty, even if itdidsmell like bacon. My mouth watered at the mere thought, and I couldn't stop myself from opening the fridge, just to check.
