Bleeding Heart

He’d miss her. He’d even miss Ryan. But the worst of it was the idea of sitting by himself in his apartment again, tossing treats at his cat while wondering what in the hell he was going to do with himself for another night.

‘Are you going to come visit us?’ she asked after a minute, brushing an errant corkscrew of her brown hair from in front of her eye. ‘Ryan’s getting a barbecue.’

Again, he held his tongue. He hated the pity he heard under the cheerful invitation. Still, he told her what she wanted to hear. ‘You’re not even out of my face yet and you want to get back in it. Once you two are settled.’

‘God, I hate that word.’

‘Maybe so, but that’s what you’re doing. Another year, and then there’ll be a ring and maybe a –’

‘Don’t even think about saying what you’re about to say, unless you want Ryan to go totally over the top. Are you going to see us off?’

‘I don’t know if my little heart can take it.’

He wasn’t exactly kidding. Their moving was so final. Even though he would miss them, he had no desire to drive to the suburbs to see them. There was no sultry invitation in her tone to indicate that this visit would be anything like the last few times he had been their guest, and the last thing he wanted to do was sit on a lawn chair and watch them be couplish in front of him while he pretended he didn’t mind.

Still, he took her hand and walked with her to the elevator. ‘I am going to miss our teatime.’

‘You’ll have to make teatime with the new tenant.’

Jesus Christ. Here we go. Not even out of the building and she was already well on her way to becoming one of those meddling matchmakers who aren’t happy until they have everyone in their social sphere tied up.

‘What was that?’ Evie asked.

He didn’t realise he’d made a sound until she asked, and so he gave her another easy answer. ‘She’s barely out of her teens and just out of her parents’ house.’

‘So was I, remember? Not coming out of my teens, but still pretty sheltered.’

‘Yeah, well…’

Well, nothing. He hadn’t gone for Evie back then because his heart wasn’t in it, and he wouldn’t go for the new neighbour for the same reason – even if she did look like a pinup girl with those long legs and round hips.

Speak of the devil, there she was as he and Evie stepped outside. ‘Oh, look. Ryan found a stray.’

‘Don’t tell me you’re jealous.’ He teased Evie with a poke.

‘Hell, yeah. Look at them. If they bred, they’d create a real-life Barbie.’

No truer words spoken. They looked like they had been ripped out of an online advertisement selling beach-bum chic.

‘And that would be your apartment’s new owner,’ he said.

April Kaye. Twenty years old and just out of a two-year business course with her first job. He’d almost refused to rent to her on account of her age and lack of any kind of credit, but she had been shrewd in her walkthrough. She brought a checklist, for Christ’s sake, and had grilled him mercilessly about the lack of an electrical outlet in the bathroom – so much so that when he’d agreed to rent to her she’d insisted that he have one installed.

He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake. He’d rented to women in their early twenties before, and they always had selective hearing when it came to the rules. Evie had been an exception. Right away she’d struck him as just a sweet girl. That first night the sound of Rufus Wainwright coming down the fire escape was accompanied by humming and the smell of something mouthwatering cooking on the stove. When the weekend brought an invitation to come up for tea, he knew he had a good tenant.

He wouldn’t go so far as to say she came off as vapid, but the new tenant looked typical. Iced coffee in one hand and cellphone in the other.

And she was eye-fucking Ryan so hard, Seth didn’t blame Evie for her testiness, even if the young woman had a snowball’s chance in hell of competing with Evie in Ryan’s lovestruck eyes.

Ryan glanced in their direction, then pointed. With the young woman’s wave came her gaze upon Seth, and a smile.

‘See? Teenager.’

‘She’s not that young. You’re just turning into a cranky old man,’ Evie countered. ‘Now go over there and get her away from Ryan before she offers him a blowjob.’

‘It’s kind of hard not to. Like I said, Ryan is the prettiest man in the building.’

‘Well, with Ryan gone, I guess that makes you the prettiest man in the building.’

They stepped forward, and April thrust her hand out at Evie. ‘Hi, I’m April. I’m moving into your apartment.’

‘Lucky you, especially since Seth has been fixing it up the last few weeks,’ Evie replied with a pointed look at Ryan, who snorted.

‘Yeah, he even put in a dishwasher.’

‘New everything,’ Seth added.

Evie pulled her keys from her pocket. ‘Who gets the honours?’

Seth stepped back and smiled as April lit up as she took the keys to her first apartment. He remembered that feeling, even if the last time he experienced it was a lifetime ago. Even fresher was having the key to the lockbox for every apartment in the building, though it was his late wife who had gleefully snagged that key.

April tucked the key into her pocket and grinned. ‘I guess I’d better start moving in now that you guys are taking off. It was great meeting you.’

‘You too – enjoy the shiny newness,’ Evie offered, and they all watched as she rushed up the walkway.

Cute little thing, Seth thought. With a body like that, she’d be a hell of a lot of fun and a hell of a lot of trouble.

‘Nice ass.’

Seth turned his frown on Ryan, and then on the nodding Evie as she agreed.

‘Very nice. I especially like how you can see her thong through the skirt.’

‘Maybe I should move into the nice house and you can stay here and build your den of sin.’ Embarrassed – which was ridiculous given his sordid history with the couple – he banged on the moving truck. ‘I ought to get up there and give her a walkthrough.’

And that’s when Evie started crying.

He’d seen enough of her tears in the last few weeks and, even though this time it wasn’t Ryan’s fault, Seth still had the urge to thump the other man in the neck.

‘Aw, Jesus, knock it off.’

Still, he welcomed her hug. He expected it would be the last one for a while.

‘Text me some pictures of the new place when you get set up,’ Seth said, offering Ryan a hand.

At the last moment, he grasped hard and pulled Ryan into a hug. Hell, he’d even miss this pain in the ass.

It took a few seconds after their parting for Ryan to wipe the surprise off his face, and then he turned to his girlfriend. ‘Ready?’