“About time.”
When I look at her, she’s raising her eyebrows at me. “That he threw me out?”
“You weren’t happy, Hilary. Anyone could see that. You should have ended it a long time ago.”
She’s right, so I don’t argue. “Well, now I’m homeless.”
“Hilary?” she says, exasperated, her eyes wide in a what-kind-of-idiot-are-you way.
“What?”
“I told you, I need a roommate. Mine’s moving out on the first.”
I’d totally forgot. After the month I’ve had, this feels like hitting the lottery. “You haven’t found anyone?”
She shakes her head. “I thought I had someone, but it fell through a few days ago. I was starting to panic.” She throws her arms around me again. “It’s karma, Hilary! It was meant to be! This is the universe telling us we’re supposed to be roomies!” But then she pulls away and her eyes flick to where Alessandro is trying to gracefully untangle himself from Mrs. Burke and three other ladies who are sort of swarming him. “So what’s the deal with you and the hottie with the hot accent? I thought you decided not to see him anymore.”
I shrug. “I just sort of ended up there last night.”
She looks at me with an expression that says, “And?”
I finger the butterfly pendant at my neck. “Nothing happened, Jess.”
Her mouth slants in a disappointed half frown as her eyes flick to Alessandro again. “You should come back to my place . . . unless you two have plans.”
“I have to get some of my stuff from Brett’s, and I promised Mallory I’d be there for Christmas.” I look at her. “Where are you going for Christmas?”
“Nowhere. Even if I could have gotten the time off, I couldn’t afford to go back to Biloxi.”
“You’re coming to Mallory’s with me,” I say as Alessandro steps up behind me and lays a hand on the small of my back.
“Are you ready?”
I turn to him, and for a second think about inviting him to Mallory’s too, but then realize that would be a very bad idea. “Yeah.”
We leave the church, and Jess and Alessandro walk ahead, chatting, as I dial Mallory. It’s early, but I know the boys are up. Henri was probably bouncing on Mallory and Jeff’s bed at five A.M.
I press call and wait two rings before Mallory answers. “Hilary. You’re up before noon!”
“Yeah, but I can’t make it this morning. I’ll try to come later.”
“Great,” she says, that familiar disappointment in her voice, and I can almost hear her eye roll. “Henri’s been waiting for you to open anything.”
“I’m sorry. I just . . .” I swallow and my dry throat clicks. “I left Brett last night.”
“Oh, no,” she gasps. “What happened?”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “I was just done, I guess.”
“Are you okay?” she asks warily.
“Yeah . . . I just need to get some things straightened out here. Will you wait dinner for me? I want to give the boys their presents. I have to go back to Brett’s to get them, but I’ll come for dinner, okay?”
“Will you be okay going back there? Don’t do it for the boys’ presents. They’ll get over it.”
“All my stuff’s there. I’ll be fine, though.”
Her breath blusters over the phone line as she breathes out a sigh. “Just be careful and we’ll see you later.”
Chapter Twenty
I RANG THE buzzer from downstairs, but Brett didn’t answer. He probably went to his parents’ in Connecticut for Christmas. I turn the key in the apartment door and push it open slowly, just to be sure he’s not still naked and passed out on the couch or something. When I find the living room is empty, I push the door wider and step through, Jess and Alessandro behind me.
“We’re gonna have to move that thing again,” I say with a gesture at the coffee table, looking back at Alessandro.
He smiles as if that’s in some way amusing.
“Let’s just get your stuff and get out of here,” Jess says, crossing toward the bedroom. “The energy in here sucks.”
But as she disappears through the door, I hear her, “Shit!” then the rustling of sheets and a “Get out!” that’s definitely not Jess’s.
Jess comes back out and looks at me. “Do you have a suitcase or something? I’ll get your clothes.”
Damn. “Brett’s in there?”
“Um . . . yeah,” she says with a glance back at the door. “You really don’t want to go in there.”
“Did that nimrod puke on himself again?” I say moving past her into the bedroom . . . and find Brett and Bambi twisted into the sheets.
Bambi? Seriously?
There’s a split second where I want to be mad, but out of nowhere, a giggle bursts up my throat. The next second, I’m bent at the waist cackling like a lunatic. Alessandro steps into the room, probably to see what’s so funny, and steps out again when he sees a buck-naked Bambi, sitting up in bed.
We’ve got priests and prostitutes and a gay girl from Biloxi. Yep, just your average Christmas morning.
Brett sits up and gives her a gentle shove, his blurry, bloodshot eyes never leaving me. He looks like something the cat threw up. He must have been all kinds of drunk last night to look this bad in the morning. “Go get cleaned up or something,” he tells her.
Bambi looks over her shoulder at him, then glares a dagger at me before standing and disappearing up the hall to the bathroom.
Brett stands, grabbing his warm-up pants from the floor and swaying dangerously as he tugs them on. “What are you doing here?”
I fight for control, cutting off the last of the giggles. “My Christmas gifts are here. If you’d have let me get my stuff last night, I wouldn’t have interrupted your orgy.”
He shoots me a bloodshot glare. “You left me blue. What did you expect me to do?”
“That.” I say, with a wave at the bed. “Exactly that.”
I step into the closet and grab my suitcase, tossing my clothes in. When I come out with my suitcase and bag of Christmas gifts, Brett is sitting on the bed with his head in his hand. I nudge his shoulder with the cologne box, and when he lifts his head, I hand it to him. “Merry Christmas.”
He stares up at me with bleary eyes. “You’re really doing this? Leaving?”
I look at him for a second and wonder why I ever thought what we had was working. “Yep. I’m really doing this.”
He lowers his head back into his hand as I tow my suitcase to the dresser and unload my drawers into it. I go to the bathroom, where Bambi’s still in the shower, and walk in without knocking. There’s a plastic Macy’s bag under the counter that I load all my bathroom stuff into. I sweep my makeup and hair products into the bag, but decide to leave my shampoo and conditioner, because there’s no way I’m going in the shower right now to get them. I snag my bathrobe off the hook next to Brett’s and grab every last towel, because they’re all mine. The shower turns off just as I click the door closed and head back to the bedroom.
I hand Jess the Macy’s bag and cram the towels and robe into my suitcase, then tip it up onto its wheels. “Can you handle this and that?” I ask her, motioning to the bag of gifts.
She reaches for the handle and sets the Macy’s bag on top of the suitcase, then grabs my gifts in her free hand. “Got it.”
We step into the hall, Alessandro following behind, and find Bambi standing there dripping, wrapped in Brett’s bathrobe and glaring a dagger at me. She scurries into the bedroom after we pass.
“You ready, mister furniture-moving expert?” I ask Alessandro when we hit the living room.
“I’m yours to command,” he says with a smile and a small bow.
“Come on.” I turn to Jess. “Can you go ahead of us and hold the door?”