She shakes her head. “I don’t want to overreact. I mean, it could be… a mouse.”
Joel looks at the knife in her hand. “Give me that. I’ll go look.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to call the police?”
He raises his eyebrows at her. “So you were going to go check it out with a knife, but you’re scared to let me do it?”
Hmm. Good point.
Joel strides in the direction of the bathroom so quickly, she can tell he’s not scared there’s actually someone in there. When they get to the bathroom, the curtain is still drawn as it was before. It doesn’t look any different. He hesitates for a split-second, then yanks open the curtain.
There’s no one there.
Cassie’s knees are weak with relief. “Sorry. I guess I got carried away.”
“It’s okay.” He puts down the knife and hugs her again. “Why did you think there was someone in here in the first place?”
“The vase that’s on my bookcase,” she says. “It was moved to the table by the door. And I wasn’t the one who moved it.”
Joel drops his head. “Oh. That was me. I moved it.”
“You?” She frowns at him. “But… why?”
“I kept almost knocking it over on the bookcase.” He shrugs. “I didn’t want it to break. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“It isn’t.” Cassie manages her first smile since she got home. “Except I just broke it.”
“Damn.” He returns her smile. “Well, sorry again. I’ll help you clean it up.”
So the two of them spend the next fifteen minutes cleaning up the shards of the broken vase. They talk about their days while they clean, and it’s really nice. She loves being with him. Maybe they don’t have a great love story like Wuthering Heights, but she does love him.
“Are you okay with leftover Chinese for dinner?” she asks him as they clean up the last of the ceramic pieces.
“Of course,” Joel says. “It’s always better the second day anyway.”
Cassie pulls out the container of chicken with broccoli and the second container of shrimp lo mein while Joel gets out the plates. He already knows his way around her kitchen.
“Can you spend the night?” she asks him as they scoop food onto their plates.
He nods. “Yeah, but I gotta bring over more scrubs. I think I’m down to my last pair here.”
“I could wash them for you?”
“No, you don’t have to do that…” He frowns. “Listen, I don’t want to put any pressure on you or anything, but… this going back and forth between our apartments is kind of a pain, isn’t it?”
Her heart speeds up. Not as fast as when she thought there was someone in her bathroom, but not slow either. “Yes…”
“So… how would you feel about moving in with me?”
Cassie takes a bite of chicken, chewing thoughtfully. Moving in with Joel makes sense. The cash she’d get from the sale of this apartment would improve her financial situation—it might be the answer she’s looking for. She’s not sure what he’d expect her to contribute to rent, considering his rent is certainly considerable given how nice his place is. But he wouldn’t ask her to pay anything she can’t afford—she knows that much.
Of course, if they moved in together, she’d have to level with him about her financial problems. She should have told him already. She hates keeping secrets. That was what broke up his relationship with Francesca.