Page 61 of Cakes for the Grump

Janice points to me. “Are you finally up? Great. Get your stuff together and leave right away. I’m evicting you, and you better not be here when I get back!”

A door is slammed shut.

Janice has left. Abruptly. Some might think it’s getting the last word in, but I know she is running to consult the search engine on her computer to look up culpability, building manager rights, and also Luke Abbot himself to see how serious of a threat he is.

I almost smile before I realize that I have, in fact, been immediately evicted. That fact alone has me collapsing onto my back. And at some point, I must have drifted off—if only for a few minutes, because almost just as suddenly I woke up to a rush of relief against my forehead. There is a cold cloth pressed against it.

“I’ve got you.”

Luke is crouched on his knees, a position I haven’t ever seen him in. Our faces are close.

“I’m homeless,” I whisper.

“You are not.”

“How?”

“You’re staying with me.”

“But how long?—”

“You can ask questions or you can focus on getting better. I’d rather you do the latter.”

“She kicked me out because of you,” I blurt out. “And the other tenants—my friends—I can’t leave them?—”

I catch the flash of guilt across his face before he buries it. “My lawyers will sort it out. They’ll be protected. But in the meantime, if you don’t leave now, she’ll come back and make it worse.”

I gulp down some of my water, trying to keep my hands steady. It’s a hard task since I’m weak and doing mental math at the same time. If I leave this place, there is no way I can afford the rental market in Barcelona. This flat was heavily subsidized, and now it’s gone.Gone.

Luke sees the worry on my face, but misreads it as he says, “What I said earlier about you being unproductive… You should know, it was a lie.”

“I’m aware.”

“Good.”

Neither of us bring up the wealth of information Luke got out of Janice regarding her treatment of me. The chores, water restrictions…my mother dying in labor…

“So,” Luke says after it’s been quiet for a while. “Your building manager is a piece of work. A real manipulator.”

“It takes one to know one?”

He stiffens as if I’ve struck him.

Shit,I didn’t mean that! He’s not like Janice at all.

Before I can take it back, Luke gets up to his feet again. “If it makes it easier to leave this place and come to mine, keep remembering I’m the bastard who kicked you out after you brought me soup. Think of taking up one of my bedrooms as squatter revenge.”

“Listen, I didn’t mean to insinuate Janice and you are?—”

“Let’s not go there,” says Luke, interrupting me.

“Still—”

“Normally, I find your insatiable ability to talk enjoyable to spar with, but I think getting you in front of a doctor is of aslightlyhigher priority right now, since you’ve basically been in and out of consciousness. Come on, let’s go.”

“How? I can’t leave all my stuff behind.”

“What stuff?” Luke does a round around the room, swiftly due to his long legs and because I live in a human-sized cupboard.