Page 39 of If I See You Again

Malcolm

Three Months Later…

T he apartment was beautiful. It was a little smaller than my place back in Chicago had been, but it didn’t matter. This was about starting over. A new chapter. New beginnings.

A soft breeze blew the curtains from the open patio door as Dad helped David unload the last of the boxes from the car.

We’d picked out the furnishings together, and they’d arrived a few days ago.

The place already looked lived in before we’d even set anything else up.

David said it wouldn’t have been right had he done everything, and while it would have been easy to just relocate all of my furniture, it was more fun to blend our styles.

Holy. Hell. This was real.

If you had told me a year ago that I’d be happily unemployed and moving in with the man of my dreams, I would have thought you’d lost your damn mind.

My job had been going great, but I’d still been stuck on the path of being forever stood up.

All it took was getting stood up that last time for a stranger to notice me at another table and take over my failed date.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

I jumped as David’s hand landed on my shoulder. He laughed because he’d startled me out of my thoughts.

“Ye—yeah?” I stammered, looking around the room in a frantic attempt to figure out what I’d missed.

“Your mom and dad are getting ready to head out. Did you want to say anything before they leave?”

My eyes widened before I ran out into the hall where my parents stood at the bank of elevators. I hurried over to them, right as the doors slid open.

“Thank you for coming today. We really appreciate all the help.”

Mom shrugged before pulling me into a hug. “I’m just happy to have you closer to home. That man is good for you. Don’t mess this one up.”

I laughed nervously because if she only knew all the ways I’d almost sabotaged things along the way.

The second the doors closed, the other elevator opened, and a pretty woman with long blonde hair in a ponytail disembarked.

She looked far too professional for this part of Waukegan.

Her pressed pencil skirt, blazer, and high heels said this woman meant business.

If we’d been back in Chicago, I wouldn’t have even questioned her appearance, but it seemed so out of place here.

She checked a small wristwatch before walking down the hall and I followed at a distance to hopefully not come across as a creeper.

I needed to get back to the apartment somehow.

My brow furrowed, and I frowned as she stopped right in front of my door. She huffed and wrinkled her nose before she raised a hand to knock.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked.

She jumped back, pressing a hand to her chest, turning familiar blue eyes on me. Eyes that I’d gotten to know all too well over the last several months. The front door swung open, surprising the woman again as her gaze darted between me and David.

“Audrey?”

“Jesus, David. I wasn’t sure I had the right place. It’s so damn quiet and then this guy stopped me in the hallway…”

At that point, both David and I were laughing, while Audrey did not look that impressed.

“It’s not funny. Then you laugh at me. What the hell is this place, anyway? You said, ‘ Move to Chicago, Audrey .’ Not whatever this little Podunk town is.”

I placed a hand on the small of her back to move her to the side to get into the apartment. She tensed under my touch until she realized who I was.

“Oh. Oh, my God. You’re him. And here I am standing out here yammering away like a fucking idiot. Audrey Garrison. You must be Malcolm.” She held out her hand, which I gratefully took, but surprised her again by pulling her into a hug. She squeaked, but then returned the embrace, giggling.

David had told me a lot about his sister, and I’d even had the chance to talk to her over the phone a few times, but we’d never met face to face.

Shortly after quitting my job, he’d come clean about the problems he’d been having with his parents.

They’d initially helped him and Audrey get started, but then drove their own business into the ground.

They’d been trying to manipulate the siblings into saving them, and David’s move to Chicago had primarily been about trying to escape them.

It was a bonus that he’d met me in the process.

When he knew things were going to work out, he convinced his sister to move as well.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here today,” I said as I finally released her to get a better look. While she seemed overly professional, she looked just like her brother. Most days, it was an effort to get David out of a suit as well.

When I looked over at the aforementioned man, he was blushing and looking away.

“Really? David told me to be here like an hour ago. I got lost and drove around for a while before I finally found the place.”

David cleared his throat. “Well, I was going to make it a surprise, a meet-the-whole-family type thing, but you missed Malcolm’s parents literally by seconds.”

Audrey’s head snapped to look down the hall.

“Oh shit, is that why you were down there?”

I laughed and tugged her the rest of the way through the doorway, closing it behind her. “It’s so nice to meet you finally. When David said you were a spitfire, he wasn’t kidding.”

She turned a suspicious stare at her brother, her brow furrowed. “ Spitfire ? What else did he have to say about me? I bet you he told you about how much I’m a royal pain in his ass.”

Watching the two of them made my heart twist a little.

I missed my brother every single day, but it was nice that they had each other and these moments where they could rib each other and enjoy one another’s presence.

I only hoped they’d never take it for granted.

Everything was so fleeting, and you could lose it all so quickly.

David led his sister through the apartment, showing her the different rooms. The kitchen, bathroom, living room, and even our bedroom.

All I could think about was how I couldn’t wait for tonight and the opportunity to break it in.

We hadn’t had the chance to stay in the new place yet, both wanting to wait until our official moving-in day.

David had helped me buy out my lease back in the city so we could get this place because he swore he’d never take me away from my family.

He’d already won me over. He didn’t have to keep trying so dang hard.

Though he was so damn swoony while he was at it.

After the tour, David brought his sister back into the living room, and we sat down to order some food.

We ended up ordering from the same pizza place we’d had over Thanksgiving at my parents’ place.

The food was good, and Audrey had said she’d never had the true Chicago classics.

Being the gracious host I was, I had to oblige.

“So, when did you get to Illinois?” I asked after the order was placed, and we’d settled in to wait.

Audrey slumped in her seat for a moment before she answered.

“I know David has told you a little about how things are with our parents. Tying up loose ends in North Carolina wasn’t as easy as packing my bags and saying deuces, you know?

The offices were just starting to get used to me being in charge, and I was already handing things off to someone else.

Then there was making sure that Mom and Dad didn’t stick their noses where they didn’t belong.

Had to get some legal things involved with that… ”

“That’s not the question he asked, Aud.” David shoved his sister’s shoulder, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“This is what I meant by being a pain in his ass. I’m telling the whole story, and he just wants me to give the minor details. But I got here last week. I found myself a nice place in the city, and starting tomorrow, I’ll be looking for a place to open our offices here.”

That caught my attention.

“Your offices here?”

David chuckled. “I said this was permanent, didn’t I, gorgeous?”

Audrey beamed as she sat up a little straighter again. “That’s right. Thanks to your advertising campaign, our last launch was a huge success, and we’re able to open another office.”

And just like that, everything felt perfect. Complete. What started off as a wild night of fun with a stranger had turned into a promising future. Because if you thought that David and Audrey were using anyone else for advertising after that, you’d be severely mistaken. This was our forever.