I hit send and take comfort in the thought of those two simple words winging their way past satellites and cell phone towers until they eventually make it across town and appear on Erin’s phone.

I’m pretty pleased with myself. In the two days we were together, Erin got under my skin. I got used to her in my apartment. Even before the sun rose this morning I was already dreading the day, knowing full well that she needed to go to work, leaving me here, alone, something that never bothered me before now.

Still, I’ve managed to keep myself occupied all day, and didn’t break down and text her until 4:30 in the afternoon.

My phone’s incoming text signal chimes and I snatch it up, almost before the unique sound ends, and read the text.

I grin and quickly tap out another message.

A second later, her response, an eyeroll smiley face, appears on my screen.

I glance at the clock. Erin’s office officially closes its doors in twenty minutes, which would give me just enough time to make a stop and still pick her up.

I quickly send her another text.

I hurry out of my office and am in the middle of changing my shirt when I get a text.

Rather than reply, I simply grab my keys and stuff my wallet into my pocket. I need to get over there before she takes off.

The door to my apartment swings open a split second before I open it. Hannah walks through with her teenage son, Eli, close at her heels.

“Oh Garret!” Hannah’s perpetually tired eyes widen. “I didn’t expect you to be here. You’re usually locked in your office.”

I smile at her. I hired her shortly after moving into this apartment. In exchange for cleaning up after me, she has a Dovetail apartment at no charge. She also does a great deal of work for the other tenants as well. I appreciate the fact that in addition to being a hard worker, she’s also very discreet. I don’t have to worry about her telling her other clients about me and vice versa. That’s not an easy to trait to find in housekeepers.

I grin at the pair. “I thought I’d shake things up and take off for a few hours. It’ll give you a chance to get into my office and properly clean it.” Since I’m normally working when Hannah is here, the issue of what to do with my office is always a sensitive subject. The compromise that we’ve worked out is that at least once a week, I let her in to thoroughly scrub.

“You’re going out, like, actually leaving the apartment?” Eli shifts his weight from one foot to the other. He looks everywhere but at me. Strange, since usually Eli and I get along just fine.

“In this case, leaving the building,” I tell him. “I’ve got a date.” I cock my head to one side and consider the gangly teen. “Maybe you should get one too. Than you’d be so busy concentrating on her, you wouldn’t get in the kind of trouble that leads to you getting suspended from school.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He still looks nervous.

“He’d better not get suspended again.” Hannah’s tone is harsh. “This time he only has to follow me around and clean apartments. It’s pretty easy work, but the next time, I’ll send him to live with his Uncle Jordan, who’ll put him to work spreading asphalt in the hot sun.  That’ll teach him a lesson about breaking the rules.”

My heart goes out to Eli. He reminds me so much of me that sometimes it’s like staring in a mirror. Thanks to all of Hannah’s hard work, Eli lives better than I did, but he’s still surrounded by people who are wealthier than he is, who think less of him because his mother is a housecleaner, and he’s smart.  Scary smart. Smart enough that I’m fairly certain that the main reason he gets into so much trouble at school is because he’s bored.

Despite his reputation for being a troublemaker, Eli is normally calm and polite. But tonight, he’s jumpy. Like he’s up to something.

Normally, I’d hang around, taking the time to attempt to find out what’s going on with Eli, but today I don’t have time, not if I want to catch Erin before she slips out of the office for the day.

Nodding to both of them, I hurry out the door.

‘May I help you, sir?” A tall, slender blond woman dressed in a simple brown suit walks across the mauve and charcoal gray lobby toward me. Before I have a chance to answer her question, she extends a manicured hand toward me. “I’m Tracy Reynolds. The T in E and T Marketing and Advertising.”

I shake her hand. “Hi Tracy. I’m looking for Erin. Is she still in?”

“Oh, you know, I’m not real sure.” Tracy looks over her shoulder. “I think I see movement in her office.” Her attention snaps back to me. “It’s closing time, but I can see if she wants to stick around a little longer.” Her eyes drop to the brightly colored mums I’m holding. “Is this business or pleasure?”

“A little bit of both.”

“Oh, those are my favorite kinds of meetings.” Tracy’s grin is infectious. Between it and her warm personality, I can see why she and Erin were able to keep their friendship strong while creating a business in an industry that has a reputation for tearing people apart. They’re both sunny, relatively optimistic people. “Follow me,” Tracy adds as she turns and moves toward one of the doors.

Tracy shoves the door open. “Erin. There’s someone here to see you.” She sends me a teasing smile over her shoulder. “And he brought flowers.”

Erin is standing beside her desk, flipping through a notebook. She looks over and for a spilt second, her expression freezes, then a slow smile spreads across her face.

“Garret.” My body tightens in a direct response to her warm voice. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw these—” I hold the mums aloft. “And promptly thought of you.”

“Oh Garret,” Erin coos. “They’re gorgeous. Thank you.”

“I’ll go and find something to put them in,” Tracy murmurs. She starts to turn to go, but hesitates. Her gaze meets Erin’s. “And Erin, with regards to that question you had earlier. In this case—” Her gaze flicks to me. “—I still think you should give it a shot.”

Erin nods before burying her nose in the round blossoms. “These are so pretty, Garret. I love them.”

If a few flowers are all it takes to put that expression of sheer joy on her face, then I’ll happily buy out an entire florist shop just to make her happy.

“I have a confession.” I shove my hands in my pockets. Erin’s wary gaze meets my own.

“What?” she cautiously asks.

“Those flowers are part bribe.”

Erin’s eyes narrow. “A bribe for what?”

“I hoped they’d be enough to get you to take a ride with me.”