Addison

 

Thank you so much for agreeing to do this for me! I don’t know how I will ever repay you for all you’ve done for me. You rock!

I could barely believe I had agreed to do this. I had made the decision to avoid seeing Todd Blakely, and now Sabrina wanted me to go to his apartment?

Talk about being thrown into the lion’s den.

Of course, I’d said yes. How could I not? Sabrina needed my help collecting her things from Todd’s place, and she was in Orlando, on the other side of the country.

And what’s more, I hadn’t told Sabrina I’d met Todd. It felt too awkward. It may just have been my guilt talking, but I suspected she would be able tell how I felt about him the instant I mentioned his name.

But then, I might have been being a little oversensitive about this. I mean, she might believe fate brought us together that night at the airport, but she wasn’t psychic.

I stood on the sidewalk, looking up at an impressive, immaculately maintained terra-cotta stucco building. The ground floor had tall arched windows with neoclassical detailing. The whole building had an air of money to it—old money, established wealth.

I looked up and down the street, trying to find my nerve. It was full of equally imposing buildings, with elegant trees and perfect hedging. I cleared my throat. I didn’t want to think about the last time I’d gotten up close and personal with a hedge.

I had been impressed with Sabrina’s neighborhood, but this one made hers look almost shabby in comparison. Sabrina had couriered some of my things to me, and I had selected my cutest summer dress and pair of sandals. Being San Francisco, I’d paired it with a cardigan to keep out that famous summer chill.

I clenched my fists at my sides and took a deep breath.

It’s now or never.

I located Todd’s apartment number on the ornate brass list and pressed the corresponding button. I took a step back and chewed the inside of my lip. I knew he was home because Sabrina had arranged this time with him, although she hadn’t mentioned it was me coming to “do the deed.”

“Hello?” Todd’s voice said through the intercom.

My heart rate turned up a notch. “Oh, err . . . Sabrina sent me?”

Why did I ask a question? I should have said, “Hello, Todd. It’s Addison Bloom. We’ve met a couple of times before. I’m sure you remember. Sabrina asked me to come over today.” But no. I had to sound like a nervous, self-conscious kid, trying to talk to a grown-up.

“Sure. Come on up. Third floor.”

With a buzzing sound, the door popped and I pulled it open. The lobby was wall-to-wall black and white marble tiles in a circular formation, the walls a rich cream, decorated with oversized silver-trimmed mirrors. An elaborate chandelier hung overhead.

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Addi.

I spotted the old-fashioned, wrought iron elevator and decided to take the stairs. I was nervous enough about seeing Todd again, I didn’t need to add “elevator plunges to ground with girl inside” stress to my day.

Once on the third floor, I wandered along the carpeted corridor with the same cream walls and oversized silver-trimmed mirrors as the lobby until I found Todd’s door. I wiped my hands down my dress. I raised my hand to knock, but as I did so, the door swung opened.

“It’s you,” he said, just as he’d done when he came to The Flower Girl that day.

Unlike that time, I was prepared.

I lowered my hand and smiled at him, doing my best to ignore how he looked in his snug-fitting jeans, the way his white T-shirt hinted at an athletic physique beneath. I had to clear my throat. “Yes, it’s me. Addison.”

He looked intently at me for a moment with those hazel eyes with the gold flecks, and those butterflies began to bat their wings in my belly.

“I remember.” His face crinkled into a smile, his eyes now sparkling. “Only, I didn’t know Sabrina was sending you. All she said was ‘her friend’ was coming to pick up the stuff.”

I shifted my weight. “Surprise!” I chimed, doing jazz hands.

Jazz hands? Really?

 I scrunched my eyes shut. Kill me now.

Todd shot me a quizzical look. “Would you like to come in?”

“Sure!” I replied with a little too much enthusiasm. The sooner we got this over with, the better.

He stood back, and I brushed past him, into his apartment. I looked around. Despite the high ceilings and neoclassical detailing—the columns on the walls, the amazing fireplace— with its ubiquitous black leather sofas, lack of decoration, and general mess, it was a fairly typical “boy” apartment.

“Make yourself comfortable, Kiwi. Can I get you a drink?” Todd offered, closing the heavy door behind himself.

I turned back to look at him, trying not to make a big deal of how he’d given me that nickname—and how much I liked it. “Oh, I won’t be long. I just need to get the . . . stuff, and then I’ll get out of your hair.”

I couldn’t help but look up at his hair. He ran his fingers through it, perhaps as a reflex action, perhaps out of nerves.

Whatever the reason, it was totally hot.

I looked away, studying the cover of a magazine left lying on a table. Something about golf, a topic I had zero interest in.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Come on. Just one drink.” He turned and walked over to his kitchen. He opened the refrigerator. “I’ve got Coke, and orange juice, and some iced coffee?” He held up a bottle of iced coffee and smiled at me.

I was sorely tempted. It was my favorite brand. That and the guy holding it made my legs turn to jelly.

I knew I shouldn’t, really really shouldn’t. But I caved. “Sure, why not?”

“Excellent.”

As he poured out the iced coffee into glasses, I cleared a discarded sweatshirt from one of the black sofas and sat down. Adjusting my dress, I looked out the large window, trying not to think about what I was doing here. I could see down the hill toward the harbor, the late afternoon fog stretching along the bay. It was a quintessential San Francisco view.

He returned with our drinks and handed me one, sitting on the sofa opposite mine. A little part of me felt regret he hadn’t chosen to sit next to me, but my brain told it to be quiet and remember who he was.

Sabrina’s Todd.

“Cheers,” he said, raising his glass.

I hardly thought it was in good taste to make a toast on the day your ex fiancée had sent someone to collect her things, but I raised my glass all the same. “Cheers.”

“We do have to stop meeting like this,” he said with a glint in his eye. “First the bike crash, then the shop, now my place?”

I let out a small laugh. Why did he have to look so darn good? “I guess. But, after this, I don’t think we’ll see one another again.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Why not?”

I took a sip of my coffee. “This is nice. Thank you.” I knew I was deflecting—and he did too.

“What if I wanted to see you again?”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that.

The butterflies in my belly beat their wings. “I . . . err . . . well then, I guess we would see each other, although I don’t see why that would need to happen, you know, once I get the stuff for Sabrina and you’re . . . well, you no longer have them, and things.”

Smooth, Addi.

I took a long drink of my coffee, averting my eyes.

When I looked back at him, I saw his face had broken into a broad smile. “This is your first trip to San Francisco, right?”

I nodded.

“It’s an awesome city.”

“Oh, I know! It’s got such a great feel to it. The harbor, the beautiful architecture, the bridge.” I couldn’t help gushing.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Who wouldn’t? I’ve not seen a lot yet, but I did go on the cable car.” I thought of Asher and the fact that he’d asked me out. I needed to focus on him, despite the fact that I hadn’t called him back.

Oh, but it was so hard to think of Asher while I was sitting in Todd’s living room, on Todd’s sofa, drinking Todd’s coffee—with Todd!

“The cable car is something every tourist has to do here. It’s kind of like the law.” He shot me a cheeky smile. “Have you been out on the water yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“That settles it, then.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “That settles what?”

He leaned forward in his seat. “Kiwi, I’m going to be your tour guide. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Oh, I’m working at The Flower Girl.”

Ah, work: the perfect excuse.

I thought I detected a whisper of sadness pass over Todd’s face. But just as it had the last time, a moment later, it was gone.

“Of course. Maybe some other time?”

I smiled at him. “Sure. Another time.”

Like not at all? Not at all would work just fine for me.

“How did you meet Sabrina?”

I looked at him in surprise. He was clearly comfortable enough to mention the tall, gorgeous elephant in the room. Personally, if my fiancé had sent someone to collect his things from my place, I would have thrown those things at that person, slammed the door, and never mentioned his name again.

But, maybe that was just me?

I knew I had to word this very carefully. Sabrina hadn’t instructed me not to tell people how we’d met, just not to tell them where she was right now, until she’d worked things out. The fact that I met her shortly after she’d climbed out of a toilet window to avoid having to marry the guy sitting opposite me only made this situation all the more awkward—for both of us.

“We, ah . . . we met at an airport.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You did? Here in San Francisco?”

“Ah, no. S-somewhere else.” I looked down at my dress and started twisting the fabric in my fingers.

“Oh.”

The penny must have dropped. I untwisted the fabric and peered at him from behind my lashes. He looked lost in thought, and I could hardly blame him. Here I was, the woman who helped his bride escape their future together.

He must hate me.

Without another word, he stood up and left the room. What was he doing? Was I meant to leave now?

I hoped he hadn’t left to cry. If there was one thing I couldn’t cope with, it was a man crying. When my granny died a couple of years back, my dad had cried. It’d set me, my mother, and my sister off, and we worked ourselves up into such a frenzy, I swear the neighbors dubbed us “The Wailing Blooms.”

A moment later, a dry-eyed Todd walked back into the room, holding a cardboard box in his arms. “This should be all of Sabrina’s stuff. If I find anything else, I’ll bring it to the shop.”

I stood up and faced him, taking the box. It was surprisingly light for someone who was intending to move in here after the wedding. I wondered whether Sabrina had been having doubts for a long time?

“Thanks. I’ll get the box to her.”

“Thank you.”

We stood looking at one another for a moment, me holding the box, wondering what to say to this guy in front of me. He must be hurting; he had to be hurting. He wasn’t the one to shimmy out of a window and flee to the nearest airport.

I decided to say something.

“I’m sorry about you and Sabrina. It must be really hard.”

He looked down. “Yeah, it is.” He let out a breath and looked back up at me. “It was the right call, though.”

My eyes widened. “It was?”

He nodded.

“But you were left at the altar! That must have been so horrible for you, not to mention all those guests left high and dry.” I stopped myself from saying anything more. I’d said too much, already.

What was it about this guy that made me so darn nervous?

He let out a laugh. “Oh, man. It sucked!” He shook his head.

I bit back a smile. This was no laughing matter. Was it?

“I mean, there I was, dressed in my tux, with a flower in my lapel, standing in front of everyone, waiting for a bride who never walked down the aisle. Sabrina’s mom and my mom went insane. It was like a freakin’ sitcom!”

He laughed again, and this time I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It must have been nerves, because the image of Todd standing there, waiting for his bride, alone, was heartbreaking. But he was right, it was like a sitcom. Friends, where Rachel escaped through the window from her wedding. Only, Todd was nothing like cheating Barry.

Todd was . . . well, he was perfect.

Not for the first time I wondered why Sabrina would want to run away from a guy like him.

We laughed together, me eventually having to put the box down on the sofa to wipe the tears from my eyes. When I’d regained my composure, I managed to ask, “Aren’t you meant to marry the maid of honor in those situations?”

I thought of pretty, fashionista Naomi, and I knew I was testing the waters. What for, I didn’t want to think about.

“Naomi? Are you kidding?” He chuckled briefly.

And then the room fell silent.

“Well, I’d better go,” I said, breaking it. “And thanks.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “You could have been a real jerk about this.” I glanced at him. “And no one would blame you,” I added hurriedly.

He shrugged. “Why would I do that? You’re doing Sabrina a favor.”

Again, that whisper of sadness passed over his face, and again, my heart went out to him. My gut told me Todd was good people. Although I understood why Sabrina did what she did, leaving someone like Todd at the altar was . . . well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have done it.

And then, before I knew what I was doing, I stepped into him and wrapped my arms around him, giving him a firm squeeze. In my defense, it was pure instinct. He looked wounded, somehow smaller than his six feet. He looked like he needed a hug.

I felt him hug me back, and we stood, holding one another. After some time, as we pulled away, our eyes locked and the atmosphere between us changed.

I swallowed, hard. “I . . .” I began, trying my best to break the gaze.

“Yeah,” Todd replied.

He tore his eyes from mine and I stepped back, clearing my throat and smoothing down my dress.

“I’ll walk you out,” Todd said, his tone bright as he turned his back and walked toward the door.

“Good idea. Great.” I collected up the box and followed him to the door.

He pulled it open, and I ducked under his arm and out into the relative safety of the corridor. “Thanks again!” I trilled, sounding a lot like Mickey Mouse.

“No problem,” Todd replied, shooting me that devastating smile of his.

“I’ll see you around, then. Or not? Whatever. It’s all good to me.” I paused for a moment before adding, “Bye, now.”

Without looking back, I turned on my heel and scooted down the hall, putting as much distance as I could between Todd and myself.

I heard him call out “Bye!” as I reached the stairs.

Once hidden from his view, I paused, scrunching my eyes shut and leaning heavily against the wall.

Was that “a moment”? Did something almost happen between us back there? Or—much more likely—was it all in my imagination?

I let out a long, slow breath.

Whatever it was, it could not happen again. Ever.

That was the one thing I was absolutely sure about.