I hadn’t heard from Birdie and was about to come unglued. I’d left at least five voicemails and texted countless times yet had gotten nothing back.

I’d checked all the news stations to make sure no planes had crashed, that’s how worried I’d been, and I wasn’t happy that she hadn’t had the common decency to call me back.

“Fuck!” I yelled, then got up from the couch and walked through my apartment, holding my phone and willing it to do something.

It was eight o’clock here and Chicago was an hour behind, so maybe she’d gotten caught up at the company she’d been hired by. I decided to give it another hour before taking action. What that meant, I wasn’t sure, but if it meant calling Chicago’s finest and putting them on the case, then so fucking be it.

On the fourth trip down the hallway and into my room, looking out the window, I noticed that her bedroom light was on. Had she flown back tonight? She’d told me she might be there through next Tuesday.

I called her again and when she still didn’t pick up, I’d had it. Pulling on my jacket, I left my apartment and made my way to her stoop and up, where I buzzed her apartment at the door. Nothing. I tried several more times and when she still didn’t answer, I wondered if maybe she’d accidentally left her bedroom light on. That was probably it. But back at my place, I walked down the hallway to my bedroom, and opening the blind, saw that her fucking light was out.

 

 

Something was buzzing on my chest and I swiped at it to get it to stop, then a loud clank woke me. Shit. I’d fallen asleep watching a ballgame which was now over and something else was on. I sat up feeling disoriented when it hit me that I’d been waiting for Birdie to call. Now where the hell was my phone?

Looking around, I saw it on the floor under the coffee table and realized that’s what I’d accidentally knocked off my chest. Picking it up, I saw I had four missed calls, all from Birdie. I stood and dialed her back, pacing as I waited for her to pick up.

“Hey,” she answered.

“Birdie? Are you okay?”

There was a pause before she asked, “Yes, why?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m in Chicago. You know I flew out this morning.” She sounded annoyed. “I’m coming back tomorrow since their accountant had already known what the problem was, but I guess they just needed me to verify that she was right.”

“Does Jaden have a key to your place? Or your parents?” I asked.

“Yes, they all do. Why?”

“I thought maybe you’d come home because your bedroom light was on earlier, so I went over and buzzed your apartment. But when you didn’t answer, I thought maybe you’d just left your light on. Except that when I came back here and looked, it was out.”

“What? That’s weird. Let me call Mom and Jaden to see if they’d gone by. But I don’t know why they wouldn’t have answered the buzzer. I’ll call you back.”

She hung up and walking back to my bedroom, I looked through the blinds to see her bedroom was still dark. Fucking weird. My phone rang a couple minutes later.

“What’d you find out?” I asked.

“Nobody went by! Do you think someone broke in? Or maybe the super had to get in because he smelled a gas leak? Oh, my God! This is totally creeping me out now!”

“What time does your flight come in tomorrow?

“I leave here at two, so,” I heard her talking to herself, calculating when she’d land.

“Just before six,” I answered for her.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

“I’ll call your super tomorrow to see if he might’ve been there. If he wasn’t, you’re to come straight here when you get in and we’ll go check it out. And, Birdie? You’re staying with me and are not to go there by yourself until we get it figured out, do you hear me?”

“You don’t have to be so bossy,” she muttered.

“I do because I know you.”

And that made me smile because I actually knew her well enough to know that she’d do whatever it took to get to the bottom of things, including busting down her apartment door and going in guns blazing just to find out what was really going on.

“Beck? I just thought of something but it’s going to sound really bizarre to you, so just listen, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I had a meeting yesterday on the tenth floor after you left. I was up there for a little over an hour and when I got back to the boardroom, Linda came by and asked what I carried for protection when I traveled because her daughter has to go to Maryland by herself this weekend. I reached inside my purse for my keys to show her the pepper spray I’ve got attached to the ring but my keys were gone. I checked my coat pockets and they weren’t there either. So thinking maybe for some ridiculous reason I’d carried them to the tenth floor with me, I went back up to check but they weren’t there either. When I came back down and went back into the boardroom, they were on the floor under the table.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“I think someone took them while I was in the meeting, made copies, but didn’t get them back in time. So when I went back up to the tenth floor, that gave them a chance, so they went to the boardroom and just tossed them in there on the floor.”

“Are you sure they weren’t on the floor when you looked for them the first time? Like maybe they’d fallen out of your purse and were under it but you didn’t see them?”

“I don’t think so. Linda was in there and she didn’t see them either. Do you think maybe that Rance guy would do that? He’s kind of stalkerish,” she asked.

“I don’t know if he has the balls to do something like that but I’ll fucking check into it,” I bit out, angry that someone was possibly fucking with her.

We were both quiet for a moment until she said, “Do you want to explain the picture in the Post?”

“Will you believe me when I tell you the truth?”

“Would you lie to me?”

“Never,” I declared.

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

I explained how I’d been angry at her for what she’d said at the office and decided I needed a guy’s night out and that my friend Mike would hook me up. I then told her how sad it was that those girls were basically whoring themselves out in the hopes of making it big.

“That is sad,” she agreed.

We were quiet for a moment, so I said, “I’ll let you go so you can have your alone time that you need. And, Birdie?”

“Yes?”

“I know we now live right next to each other through some strange twist of fate, but I fucking swear I won’t purposely smother you. I’ve got a life too and I don’t have to be with you all the time. I just…like being with you.”

“I like it too. I’m sorry I freaked out on you. But this is scary stuff, Beck.” She paused before blurting, “You’re getting divorced so you should probably date other women to see what else is out there besides me.”

That made me laugh. “I know what’s out there and I don’t want it. I want you. But if you want me to date around to prove you’re what I want, I’ll do it. Which would be fucking insane by the way, but whatever you need, Birdie, I’m willing to work with you to show you that I love you.”

“Can we talk about it when I get back? There’s already too much going on, what with Rance breaking into my apartment! Ugh!”

“You don’t know for sure that it was him. But we’ll get it figured out, okay?” I promised.

“Okay.”

We were quiet again when she whispered, “Beck?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, honey. ‘Night.”