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“You’ll be working tonight?” she asked softly, and I nodded as I pressed a kiss on her head. “Will you be back super late?”
“If I need to do my cool job, yes,” I told her, and she nodded understandingly. “Do you want me to get you something?”
“No, Granny Elise already has some of my stuff.” This was not how a five-year-old acted. “Okay, Daddy, bye bye!”
She pushed me away the moment she noticed her friends, and I chuckled as I waved at Ms. Helen who noticed my daughter’s abrupt change in attitude. After loudly saying goodbye to her, I walked back to my apartment building to get my stuff ready for work and made the necessary arrangements for Anne’s stay with Granny Elise.
She already had a key to my apartment, and whenever I would leave Anne with her, she would fetch the extra clothes, snacks, and games from my apartment so that Anne could be entertained.
Granny Elise was an elderly woman who lived a floor down from us, and she had been a huge help ever since I moved to Chicago with my daughter. If I hadn’t met her that day, I doubt I would be coping at all. She was an angel!
After gathering my stuff, I made my way down to the administrative office in my apartment building. I knocked on Thomas’ office door, and he gave me permission to enter almost immediately.
“She has to go” was the very first thing I said as soon as I stepped into his office, and Thomas sighed as he leaned back in his chair.
“You’re doing it again, Asher,” he breathed out, the twitching in his eyebrow intensifying as I crossed my arms over my chest. “It hasn’t even been a full week. What did she do?”
“She almost burnt down her apartment with candles!” I told him, and he tilted his head as he looked me up and down for a second.
“Just like how the other three before her almost burnt down their apartment?” They actually didn’t; they all just had some terrible manners I didn’t appreciate. I was a bit particular about it; if I could choose my neighbors, I would.
“Did you get her door fixed?” I deflected the question, and he nodded as he watched me carefully. “I broke it while I was trying to save her life, and she had a problem with that. So, get rid of her.”
“No. I’m the one who always has to do the explaining when the auditors come. You have to come up with proof of some kind that she’s not adhering to the contract.”
“I just did. She almost burnt her apartment down. Next time, she’ll burn the whole building down, and you would have more than just auditors to explain to. The insurance company, land owners, family members, the bank. Do you really want to go through that because of some careless person?”
Thomas seemed to be thinking of my subtle threat as he slowly nodded his head, staring blankly at the door.
“You’re right. I’ll give her a warning and remind her to be considerate of others when lighting her candles. Will that ease you worry?” No, it won’t ease my worry.
“She needs to be kicked out. Gone. Away from here.”
“No, I won’t be doing that, Asher. You need to learn how to play nice with your neighbors. Besides, Brooke already came and apologized to me about her mistake and fixed the door out of her own pocket.” He shrugged, and I clenched my jaw as I took a deep breath in.
Her name is Brooke, huh?
“If I get a petition, and more than half of the tenants sign it, will you kick her out?” Thomas looked at me, shocked; he had no idea about the extent I was willing to go through to get rid of this careless girl.
“Half of the tenants don’t even like you. Do you know how many have come to me and asked me to get rid of you?”
“Answer my question,” I ignored his comment because I didn’t care about those people; they added nothing to my life.
“Yes,” he sighed as he searched through his drawers before finding a document, throwing it across his desk, and pointing at it with his finger. “If you get enough signatures, Brooke’s lease and stay will be terminated.”
“Hmm,” I responded as I picked up the document. I left his office as he expressed how I should give her a chance, but I didn’t care about her. She almost killed herself, and all she did was stand in front of the fire like an idiot in just her towel.
What was wrong with her?
“Why do you look so angry?” A familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I noticed Jax was standing outside my apartment building.
“What are you doing here?”
“No, that isn’t how you answer questions, my big cupcake. But since you asked so sweetly, I came to give you a ride to work.” He pointed to his newest convertible. The rich boy was a fireman just for fun, but he came from a wealthy family.
“What do you want, Jax?” I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest, and he rolled his eyes as he walked over to the driver’s side.
“I told you, we’re going to work together, and then after that, you’ll let me know who made you so angry.” He pretended to pout, and I rolled my eyes. Out of all the people I could attract in this new place, it had to be the weird rich boy who wouldn’t leave me alone.
