“I could, but I’m not going to. I’m happy to go over any of the notes I left you on his account, though, if you want to talk strategy. But that’s a onetime offer.”
“Oh, gee, fuck you very much for your fucking scraps of help.” She stood. “You can save it. Thanks for nothing.”
“Rosalyn, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry my decision makes you angry. I promise I’m not doing it to piss you off.”
She scoffed. “Could have fooled me.” Her eyes darted around and landed on the plastic Christmas tree in the corner. “I guess you’re really doing this, huh? This is you? Mr. Roper. Handling your tenants. Fixing squeaky floorboards. Wasting your MBA.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry again, Roz. It doesn’t need to be ugly.”
She continued like she hadn’t heard me. “When you were in the shower, one of them came by, and I thought, ‘This is William’s life now—sorry,Will—He’s gone from managing millions of dollars to being on call when someone’s toilet needs plunging.’” She shook her head.
“If you knew me before my accident, you might understand better.” I stretched out my scarred fingers exaggeratedly, anticipating her averted gaze. She didn’t disappoint me.
“Well, if anything, I believe I’ve come around to your way of thinking,” she said, crooking one hand against her hip. “It’s a good thing we didn’t get married.”
I hmphed. Then my brain caught up to what she’d said. “Did you say someone came by earlier when I was in the shower? A clogged toilet?”
“Yeah. Not specifically about the toilet. She said she’d catch you later. Didn’t want to leave a message.”
A low pit formed in my stomach. “What did she look like?”
Rosalyn frowned. “Good-looking. About our age. Reddish hair, but the roots were growing out.”
Shit!“Rosalyn, you need to leave right now.”
“What?”
“Landlord tenant emergency.”
She sputtered as I grabbed her wet dress and shoved it in her hands, along with her purse, pushing her gently but firmly toward the door. “Goodbye, Roz. I’m confident you can figure it out with Wicklein.”
“Thanks for nothing, William.” Exhaling, she gathered her things with dignity and walked into the hall. Turning around, she shot me an appraising look that morphed into an expression of grudging respect. “When did you get a backbone?”
“The minute I realized what not having one would cost me.”
I raced down the hall to Brenand Chase’s apartment, knocking sharply.
Maureen opened the door, stepping back to invite me in. “I figured you’d show up soon enough.”
If I’d had any doubt she recognized the woman in my apartment as the woman she’d met five years ago, the look on her face quickly resolved it.
“That wasn’t what it looked like,” I rushed out. “Rosalyn came by with no warning, then she spilled scalding coffee in my lap, and since I wanted to keep my testicles intact, I had to jump in the shower.”
Maureen shut the door behind me with a soft click. “Let me guess—while you were in the shower rinsing off, she helped herself to spare clothes from your room.”
I huffed. “Yeah. I told her it was an overstep, but she’s a bit of a bulldozer. She came by to try to get me to do something for the business—for Wallingford—and got pissed when I told her no.”
Maureen appeared thoughtful. “I figured it was something like that.”
“You did?”
“I’m not dense, Will. We were halfway to your bedroom last night. I know you didn’t suddenly decide to chuck it all to invite your ex-fiancée over for a quickie.”
I let out a relieved breath. “God. I panicked for a moment that this would be history repeating itself, you finding me with Rosalyn—even though this time it was completely innocent—and I’d have to go five more years without kissing you.”
I stepped forward to touch her face, but she backed away.
“The thing is, Will. It’s still history repeating itself, isn’t it?”
