Page 416 of A Matter of Time

“This is kind of exciting, huh?”

It was something, I just wasn’t sure what. I pointed down the street because I saw the sign. “Is that it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

The sign for the Drake Garden Apartments boasted air conditioning, a twenty-four-hour on-premises laundry room, and a heated pool. After Tyler parked and we walked inside, I used the large square key to open the security door and we walked into the courtyard. The building was shaped like a U, with all the balconies overlooking where we were standing.

“So where to?”

I shrugged. I certainly had no idea.

“We could go door to door and try the key.” He smiled at me.

Even running back over every cool scenario from all the TV I had watched over the years yielded no easy way to figure out which lock the key fit. I had no alternative but to seek out the people in the office.

“You should go,” I told Tyler. “I could be at this for hours.”

“Oh, no way.” He smiled at me. “I’m intrigued. I gotta know what you’re gonna do next.”

“Then you’ll help?”

“Whatever you need.”

“Okay, c’mon,” I said, walking back the way we had come to go to the office we’d passed earlier. “I have a plan.”

Two minutes later Tyler went alone into the office, key in hand, armed with what I felt was a pretty plausible story. It wouldn’t hurt, at all, that he was gorgeous. I told him to flirt, and he asked if I was high. I was actually feeling much more positive than I had in days. He was back in no time to where I was, waiting next to a tree, with a stunned look on his face and a pink star-shaped Post-it note.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. “You look weird.”

“I just can’t believe that worked.”

I scoffed. “Of course it worked. You’re cute, and you look harmless.”

“Remind me never to lose the keys to my apartment.”

I took the sticky from him. “This is it? Apartment three-ten?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks, man.” I patted his shoulder, turning to head back toward the courtyard.

“You were great. How did she know what apartment the key belonged to?”

“Apparently the three random letters engraved on the other side correspond to an apartment number.”

“I didn’t see any letters on the other side,” I said, stopping to turn the key over, inspecting it.

He showed me where I should have been looking, and I saw the small letters that looked like they had been stamped on. I might have noticed eventually, but it wouldn’t have helped even if I had discovered them on my own.

“There’s no way you would have come up with three-ten from those letters.”

“Nope, I’m lucky you were here to help me.” I started walking again.

He followed me, close behind, and I could hear the amazement in his voice. “Your story was great. I did it just like you said. I told her my buddy gave me the key so I could crash at his place, but he forgot to tell me which one it was. I told her I was really tired since I came cross-country on a Greyhound bus⁠—”

“Greyhound bus is always a nice touch,” I assured him, starting up the stairs on the side of the building. “I never leave it out.”

“Jory, she bought it,” he said, stopping and looking up at me from the first landing. “What the hell? That was scary.”